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THE  LIBRARY  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF 

NORTH  CAROLINA 


ENDOWED  BY  THE 

DIALECTIC  AND  PHILANTHROPIC 

SOCIETIES 


GTT5 

.S8 

1906 


UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


10001301280 


THE  LIBRARY  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF 

NORTH  CAROLINA 


-A.-^ 


1 


PRESENTED  BY 

^■'ny  B.   Johnson 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2011  with  funding  from 

University  of  North  Carolina  at  Chapel  Hill 


http://www.archive.org/details/folkwaysstudyofssumn 


W'lLLiA-M   Graham   Su.mxer  {igo2) 


FOLKWAYS 


A  STUDY  OF  THE   SOCIOLOGICAL  IMPOR- 
TANCE OF  USAGES,  MANNERS,  CUS- 
TOMS, MORES,  AND   MORALS 


BY 

WILLIAM   GRAHAM   SUMNER 

Professor  of  Political  and  Social  Science  in  YalE;  University 


Thus  it  is  clearly  seen  that  use,  rather  than  reason,  has 
power  to  introduce  new  things  amongst  us,  and  to  do  away 
with  old  things. —  Castiglione ,  II  libra  del  Cortegiano,  I,  §  i 

That  monster,  custom,  who  all  sense  doth  eat, 
Of  habits  devil,  is  angel  yet  in  this, 
That  to  the  use  of  actions  fair  and  good 
He  likewise  gives  a  frock  or  livery. 
That  aptly  is  put  on.  — Hamlet,  III,  4 

What  custom  wills,  in  all  things  should  we  do't. 
Coriolanus,  II,  3 


GINN  AND  COMPANY 

BOSTON     ■     NEW  YORK     •     CHICAGO     -     LONDON 
ATLANTA     •     DALLAS     •     COLUMBUS     •     SAN  FRANCISCO 


Entered  at  Stationers'  Hall 


Copyright,  1906,  bv 
WILLIAM   GRAHAM   SUMNER 


ALL    RIGHTS    RESERVED 


715.10 


TCbe   atbenseum   S^Ttee 

GINN  AND  COMPANY  •  PRO- 
PRIETORS •  BOSTON  •  U.S.A. 


PREFACE 

In  1899  I  began  to  write  out  a  text-book  of  sociology  from 
material  which  I  had  used  in  lectures  during  the  previous  ten  or 
fifteen  years.  At  a  certain  point  in  that  undertaking  I  found  that 
I  wanted  to  introduce  my  own  treatment  of  the  "  mores,"  I  could 
not  refer  to  it  anywhere  in  print,  and  I  could  not  do  justice  to  it 
in  a  chapter  of  another  book.  I  therefore  turned  aside  to  write 
a  treatise  on  the  "Folkways,"  which  I  now  offer.  For  definitions 
of  "folkways"  and  "mores"  see  sees,  i,  2,  34,  39,  43,  and  66. 
I  formed  the  word  "folkways"  on  the  analogy  of  words  already  in 
use  in  sociology.  I  also  took  up  again  the  Latin  word  "mores" 
as  the  best  I  could  find  for  my  purpose.  I  mean  by  it  the  popular 
usages  and  traditions,  when  they  include  a  judgment  that  they  are 
conducive  to  societal  welfare,  and  when  they  exert  a  coercion  on 
the  individual  to  conform  to  them,  although  they  are  not  coordi- 
nated by  any  authority  (cf.  sec.  42).  I  have  also  tried  to  bring  the 
word  "  Ethos  "  into  familiarity  again  (sees.  y6,  79).  "  Ethica,"  or 
"Ethology,"  or  "The  Mores"  seemed  good  titles  for  the  book 
(sees.  42,  43),  but  Ethics  is  already  employed  otherwise,  and  the 
other  words  were  very  unfamiliar.  Perhaps  "  folkways  "  is  not 
less  unfamiliar,  but  its  meaning  is  moresobvious.  I  must  add  that 
if  any  one  is  liable  to  be  shocked  by  cmy  folkways,  he  ought  not  to 
read  about  folkways  at  all.  "  Nature  her  custom  holds,  let  shame 
say  what  it  will  "  {Hamlet,  IV,  7,  ad  JiJi.).  I  have  tried  to  treat 
all  folkways,  including  those  which  are  most  opposite  to  our  own, 
with  truthfulness,  but  with  dignity  and  due  respect  to  our  own 
conventions. 

Chapter  I  contains  elaborate  definitions  and  expositions  of  the 
folkways  and  the  mores,  with  an  analysis  of  their  play  in  human 


IV  FOLKWAYS 

society.  Chapter  II  shows  the  bearing  of  the  folkways  on  human 
interests,  and  the  way  in  which  they  act  or  are  acted  on.  The 
thesis  which  is  expounded  in  these  two  chapters  is  :  that  the  folk- 
ways are  habits  of  the  individual  and  customs  of  the  society  which 
arise  from  efforts  to  satisfy  needs ;  they  are  intertwined  with  gob- 
linism  and  demonism  and  primitive  notions  of  luck  (sec.  6),  and 
so  they  win  traditional  authority.  Then  they  become  regulative  for 
succeeding  generations  and  take  on  the  character  of  a  social  force. 
They  arise  no  one  knows  whence  or  how.  They  grow  as  if  by  the 
play  of  internal  life  energy.  They  can  be  modified,  but  only  to  a 
limited  extent,  by  the  purposeful  efforts  of  men.  In  time  they 
lose  power,  decline,  and  die,  or  are  transformed.  While  they  are 
in  vigor  they  very  largely  control  individual  and  social  undertak- 
ings, and  they  produce  and  nourish  ideas  of  world  philosophy  and 
life  policy.  Yet  they  are  not  organic  or  material.  They  belong  to 
a  superorganic  system  of  relations,  conventions,  and  institutional 
arrangements.  The  study  of  them  is  called  for  by  their  social 
character,  by  virtue  of  which  they  are  leading  factors  in  the 
science  of  society. 

When  the  analysis  of  the  folkv/ays  has  been  concluded  it  is 
necessary  that  it  should  be  justified  by  a  series  of  illustrations,  or 
by  a  setting  forth  of  cases  in  which  the  operation  of  the  mores 
is  shown  to  be  what  is  affirmed  in  the  analysis.  Any  such  exposi- 
tion of  the  mores  in  cases,  in  order  to  be  successful,  must  go  into 
details.  It  is  in  details  that  all  the  graphic  force  and  argumenta- 
tive value  of  the  cases  are  to  be  found.  It  has  not  been  easy  to 
do  justice  to  the  details  and  to  observe  the  necessary  limits  of 
space.  The  ethnographical  facts  which  I  present  are  not  subse- 
quent justification  of  generalizations  otherwise  obtained.  They  are 
selections  from  a  great  array  of  facts  from  which  the  generaliza- 
tions were  deduced.  A  number  of  other  very  important  cases 
which  I  included  in  my  plan  of  proofs  and  illustrations  I  have 
been  obliged  to  leave  out  for  lack  of  space.  Such  are  :  Demonism, 
Primitive  Religion,  and  Witchcraft  ;  The  Status  of  Women ; 
War ;    Evolution  and  the  Mores ;    Usury ;    Gambling ;    Societal 


PREFACE 


Organization  and  Classes  ;  Mortuary  Usages  ;  Oaths  ;  Taboos  ; 
Ethics  ;  yEsthetics  ;  and  Democracy.  The  first  four  of  these  are 
written.  I  may  be  able  to  publish  them  soon,  separately.  My 
next  task  is  to  finish  the  sociology. 


W.  G.  SUMNER 


Yale  University 


With  the  reprinting  of  Folkways  it  seems  in  place  to  inform  the  ad- 
mirers of  this  book  and  of  its  author  concerning  the  progress  of  Professor 
Sumner's  work  between  1907  and  his  death,  in  his  seventieth  year,  in 
April,  19 10.  Several  articles  bearing  on  the  mores,  and  realizing  in  part 
the  programme  outlined  in  the  last  paragraph  of  the  foregoing  Preface, 
have  been  published  :  "  The  Family  and  Social  Change,"  in  the  American 
/our?ial  of  Sociology  for  March,  1909  (14:  577-591);  "Witchcraft,"  in 
the  Forum  for  May,  1909  (41  :  410-423);  "The  Status  of  Women  in 
Chaldea,  Egypt,  India,  Judea,  and  Greece  to  the  time  of  Christ,"  in  the 
Forum  for  August,  1909  (42  :  1 13-136)  ;  "  Mores  of  the  Present  and  the 
Future,"  in  the  Yale  Review  for  November,  1909  (18  :  233-245);  and 
"  Religion  and  the  Mores,"  in  the  American  Jour?ial  of  Sociology  for  March, 
igio  (15  :  577-591)-  Of  these  the  first  and  last  were  presidential  ad- 
dresses before  the  American  Sociological  Society.  All  five,  together  with 
other  isolated  essays  of  the  last  twenty-five  years,  are  presently  to  be  pub- 
lished in  a  memorial  volume  of  collected  essays,  by  the  Yale  University 
Press. 

Regarding  the  treatise  on  the  "science  of  society"  (for  he  had  decided 
to  call  it  that  instead  of  "  sociology ")  mentioned  in  the  Preface,  it 
should  be  said  that  Professor  Sumner  left  a  considerable  amount  of 
manuscript  in  the  rather  rough  form  of  a  first  draft,  together  with  a  great 
mass  of  classified  materials.  He  wrote  ver^-  little  on  this  treatise  after  the 
completion  of  Folkways,  and  not  infrequently  spoke  of  the  latter  to  the 
present  writer  as  "  my  last  book."  It  is  intended,  however,  that  the  Science 
of  Society  shall  be,  at  some  time  in  the  future,  completed,  and  in  such  form 
as  shall  give  to  the  world  the  fruits  of  Professor  Sumner's  intellectual 
power,  clarity  of  vision,  and  truly  herculean  industr}^ 

The  present  revision  of  Folkways  incorporates  but  few  and  unimpor- 
tant corrections.  Certain  of  these  are  from  the  hand  of  the  author,  and 
others  from  that  of  the  present  writer. 


vi  FOLKWAYS 

A  photograph  of  Professor  Sumner  has  been  chosen  for  insertion  in 

the  present  edition.    It  was  taken  April  i8,  1902,  and  is  regarded  by 

many  as  being  the  most  faithful  representation  in  existence  of  Sumner's 

expression  and  pose,  as  he  appeared  in  later  years.    This  is  the  Sumner 

of  the  "  mores,"  with  mental  powers  at  ripe  maturity  and  bodily  vigor 

as  yet  unimpaired  by  age.    The  Yale  commencement  orator  of  1909  said 

of  Sumner,  in  presenting  him  for  the  Doctorate  of  Laws :  "  His  intellect 

has  broadened,  his  heart  has  mellowed,  as  he  has  descended  into  the 

vale  of  years."    While  advancing  age  weakened  in  no  respect  the  sheer 

power  and  the  steady-eyed  fearlessness  of  mind  and  character  which  made 

Sumner  a  compelling  force  in  the  university  and  in  the  wider  world,  it 

seems  to  some  of  us  that  the  essential  kindliness  of  his  nature  came  out 

with  fespecial  clearness  in  his  later  years.    And  it  is  the  suggestion  of  this 

quality  which  lends  a  distinctive  charm,  in  our  eyes,  to  the  portrait  chosen 

to  head  this  volume. 

A.  G.  KELLER 
Yale  University 


CONTENTS 

Chapter  Page 

I.  Fundamental  Notions  of  the  Folkways  and  of  the 

Mores i 

II.    Characteristics  of  the  Mores 75 

III.  The  Struggle  for  Existence 119 

IV.  Labor,  Wealth 158 

V.    Societal  Selection 173 

VI.  Slavery 261 

VII.  Abortion,  Infanticide,  Killing  the  Old 308 

VIII.  Cannibalism 329 

IX.  Sex  Mores 342 

X.  The  Marriage  Institution 395 

XI.  The  Social  Codes 417 

XII.  Incest , 479 

XIII.  Kinship,    Blood    Revenge,    Primitive    Justice,    Peace 

Unions 493 

XIV.  Uncleanness  and  the  Evil  Eye 509 

XV.    The   Mores  can   make  Anything  Right  and  prevent 

Condemnation  of  Anything 521 

XVI.    Sacral  Harlotry,  Child  Sacrifice 533 

XVII.    Popular  Sports,  Exhibitions,  Drama 560 

XVIII.   Asceticism 605 

XIX.    Education,  History 628 

XX.    Life  Policy,  Virtue  vs.  Success 639 

LIST   OF  BOOKS 655 

(Titles  are  under  the  name  of  the  author,  or  the  leading  word  of  the  title) 
INDEX 671 


FOLKWAYS 


CHAPTER  I 

FUNDAMENTAL  NOTIONS  OF  THE  FOLKWAYS 
AND  OF  THE  MORES 

Definition  and  mode  of  origin  of  the  folkways.  —  The  folkways  are 
a  societal  force.  —  Folkways  are  made  unconsciously.  —  Impulse  and  in- 
stinct ;  primeval  stupidity ;  magic.  —  The  strain  of  improvement  and  con- 
sistency. —  The  aleatory  element.  —  All  origins  are  lost  in  mystery.  —  Spencer 
on  primitive  custom.  —  Good  and  bad  luck ;  ills  of  life ;  goodness  and 
happiness.  —  Illustrations.  —  Immortality  and  compensation.  —  Tradition 
and  its  restraints.  —  The  concepts  of  "primitive  society";  "  we-groups " 
and   "  others-groups."  —  Sentiments   in    the    in-group    towards    out-groups. 

—  Ethnocentrism.  —  Illustrations.  —  Patriotism.  —  Chauvinism.  —  The 
struggle  for  existence  and  the  competition  of  life ;  antagonistic  coopera- 
tion. —  Four  motives  :  hunger,  love,  vanity,  fear.  —  The  process  of  making 
folkways.  —  Suggestion  and  suggestibility.  —  Suggestion  in  education. — 
Manias.  —  Suggestion  in  politics.  —  Suggestion  and  criticism  — Folkways 
based  on  false  inferences.  —  Harmful  folkways.  —  How  "  true  "  and  "  right " 
are  found.  —  The  folkwa3'S  are  right;  rights;  morals.  ^ — The  folkways  are 
true.  —  Relations  of  world  philosophy  to  folkways.  —  Definition  of  the 
mores.  —  Taboos.  —  No  primitive  philosophizing;  myths;  fables;  notion  of 
social  welfare.  —  The  imaginative  element.  —  The  ethical  policy  and  the 
success  policy.  —  Recapitulation.  —  Scope  and  method  of  the  mores. — 
Integration  of  the  mores  of  a  group  or  age.  —  Purpose  of  the  present 
work.  —  Why  use  the  word    "mores."  —  The  mores  are  a  directive   force. 

—  Consistency  in  the  mores.  —  The  mores  of  subgroups.  —  What  are 
classes  ?  —  Classes  rated  by  societal  value.  —  Class  ;  race  ;  group  solidarity. 

—  The  masses  and  the  mores.  —  Fallacies  about  the  classes  and  the  masses. 

—  Action  of  the  masses  on  ideas.  —  Organization  of  the  masses.  —  Institu- 
tions of  civil  liberty.  —  The  common  man.  —  The  "  people  "  ;  popular  im- 
pulses. —  Agitation.  —  The  ruling  element  in  the  masses.  —  The  mores  and 
institutions.  —  Laws.  —  How  laws  and  institutions  differ  from  mores.  — 
Difference  between  mores  and  some  cognate  things.  —  Goodness  or  badness 
of  the  mores.  —  More  exact  definition  of  the  mores.  —  Ritual.  —  The  ritual 
of  the  mores.  —  Group  interests  and  policy.  —  Group  interests  and  folkways. 

—  Force  in  the  folkways.  —  Might  and  right.  —  Status.  —  Conventionaliza- 
tion.—  Conventions  indispensable.  —  The  "ethos"  or  group  character; 
Japan.  —  Chinese  ethos.  —  Hindoo  ethos.  —  European  ethos. 


2  FOLKWAYS 

1.  Definition  and  mode  of  origin  of  the  folkways.    If  we  put 

together  all  that  we  have  learned  from  anthropology  and  ethnog- 
raphy about  primitive  men  and  primitive  society,  we  perceive  that 
the  first  task  of  life  is  to  live.  Men  begin  with  acts,  not  with 
thoughts.  Every  moment  brings  necessities  which  must  be  satis- 
fied at  once.  Need  was  the  first  experience,  and  it  was  followed 
at  once  by  a  blundering  effort  to  satisfy  it.  It  is  generally  taken 
for  granted  that  men  inherited  some  guiding  instincts  from  their 
beast  ancestry,  and  it  may  be  true,  although  it  has  never  been 
proved.  If  there  were  such  inheritances,  they  controlled  and  aided 
the  first  efforts  to  satisfy  needs.  Analogy  makes  it  easy  to  assume 
that  the  ways  of  beasts  had  produced  channels  of  habit  and  predis- 
position along  which  dexterities  and  other  psychophysical  activi- 
ties would  run  easily.  Experiments  with  newborn  animals  show 
that  in  the  absence  of  any  experience  of  the  relation  of  means 
to  ends,  efforts  to  satisfy  needs  are  clumsy  and  blundering.  The 
method  is  that  of  trial  and  failure,  which  produces  repeated  pain, 
loss,  and  disappointments.  Nevertheless,  it  is  a  method  of  rude 
experiment  and  selection.  The  earliest  efforts  of  men  were  of 
this  kind.  Need  was  the  impelling  force.  Pleasure  and  pain, 
on  the  one  side  and  the  other,  were  the  rude  constraints  which 
defined  the  line  on  which  efforts  must  proceed.  The  ability  to 
distinguish  between  pleasure  and  pain  is  the  only  psychical  power 
which  is  to  be  assumed.  Thus  ways  of  doing  things  were  selected, 
which  were  expedient.  They  answered  the  purpose  better  than 
other  ways,  or  with  less  toil  and  pain.  Along  the  course  on  which 
efforts  were  compelled  to  go,  habit,  routine,  and  skill  were  devel- 
oped. The  struggle  to  maintain  existence  was  carried  on,  not  indi- 
vidually, but  in  groups.  Each  profited  by  the  other's  experience  ; 
hence  there  was  concurrence  towards  that  which  proved  to  be 
most  expedient.  All  at  last  adopted  the  same  way  for  the  same 
purpose  ;  hence  the  ways  turned  into  customs  and  became  mass 
phenomena.  Instincts  were  developed  in  connection  with  them. 
In  this  way  folkways  arise.  The  young  learn  them  by  tradition, 
imitation,  and  authority.  The  folkways,  at  a  time,  provide  for 
all  the  needs  of  life  then  and  there.  They  are  uniform,  universal 
in  the  group,  imperative,  and  invariable.    As  time  goes  on,  the 


FUNDAMENTAL  NOTIONS  3 

folkways  become  more  and  more  arbitrary,  positive,  and  impera- 
tive. If  asked  why  they  act  in  a  certain  way  in  certain  cases, 
primitive  people  always  answer  that  it  is  because  they  and  their 
ancestors  always  have  done  so.  A  sanction  also  arises  from 
ghost  fear.  The  ghosts  of  ancestors  would  be  angry  if  the  liv- 
ing should  change  the  ancient  folkways  (see  sec.  6). 

2.  The  folkways  are  a  societal  force.  The  operation  by  which 
folkways  are  produced  consists  in  the  frequent  repetition  of  petty 
acts,  often  by  great  numbers  acting  in  concert  or,  at  least,  acting 
in  the  same  way  when  face  to  face  with  the  same  need.  The 
immediate  motive  is  interest.  It  produces  habit  in  tjie  individual 
and  custom  in  the  group.  It  is,  therefore,  in  the  highest  degree 
original  and  primitive.  By  habit  and  custom  it  exerts  a  strain 
on  every  individual  within  its  range ;  therefore  it  rises  to  a 
societal  force  to  which  great  classes  of  societal  phenomena  are 
due.  Its  earliest  stages,  its  course,  and  laws  may  be  studied  ; 
also  its  influence  on  individuals  and  their  reaction  on  it.  It  is 
our  present  purpose  so  to  study  it.  We  have  to  recognize  it  as 
one  of  the  chief  forces  by  which  a  society  is  made  to  be  what  it 
is.  Out  of  the  unconscious  experiment  which  every  repetition  of 
the  ways  includes,  there  issues  pleasure  or  pain,  and  then,  so 
far  as  the  men  are  capable  of  reflection,  convictions  that  the  ways 
are  conducive  to  societal  welfare.  These  two  experiences  are  not 
the  same.  The  most  uncivilized  men,  both  in  the  food  quest  and 
in  war,  do  things  which  are  painful,  but  which  have  been  found 
to  be  expedient.  Perhaps  these  cases  teach  the  sense  of  social 
welfare  better  than  those  which  are  pleasurable  and  favorable  to 
welfare.  The  former  cases  call  for  some  intelligent  reflection  on 
experience.  When  this  conviction  as  to  the  relation  to  welfare 
is  added  to  the  folkways  they  are  converted  into  mores,  and,  by 
virtue  of  the  philosophical  and  ethical  element  added  to  them, 
they  win  utility  and  importance  and  become  the  source  of  the 
science  and  the  art  of  living. 

3.  Folkways  are  made  unconsciously.  It  is  of  the  first  impor- 
tance to  notice  that,  from  the  first  acts  by  which  men  try  to 
satisfy  needs,  each  ^ct  stands  by  itself,  and  looks  no  further  than 
the  immediate  satisfaction.    From  recurrent  needs  arise  habits  for 


4  FOLKWAYS 

the  individual  and  customs  for  the  group,  but  these  results  are 
consequences  which  were  never  conscious,  and  never  foreseen  or 
intended.  They  are  not  noticed  until  they  have  long  existed,  and 
it  is  still  longer  before  they  are  appreciated.  Another  long  time 
must  pass,  and  a  higher  stage  of  mental  development  must  be 
reached,  before  they  can  be  used  as  a  basis  from  which  to  deduce 
rules  for  meeting,  in  the  future,  problems  whose  pressure  can  be 
foreseen.  The  folkways,  therefore,  are  not  creations  of  human 
purpose  and  wit.  They  are  like  products  of  natural  forces  which 
men  unconsciously  set  in  operation,  or  they  are  like  the  instinc- 
tive ways  of  animals,  which  are  developed  out  of  experience, 
which  reach  a  final  form  of  maximum  adaptation  to  an  interest, 
which  are  handed  down  by  tradition  and  admit  of  no  exception 
or  variation,  yet  change  to  meet  new  conditions,  still  within  the 
same  limited  methods,  and  without  rational  reflection  or  purpose. 
From  this  it  results  that  all  the  life  of  human  beings,  in  all  ages 
and  stages  of  culture,  is  primarily  controlled  by  a  vast  mass  of 
folkways  handed  down  from  the  earliest  existence  of  the  race, 
having  the  nature  of  the  ways  of  other  animals,  only  the  top- 
most layers  of  which  are  subject  to  change  and  control,  and  have 
been  somewhat  modified  by  human  philosophy,  ethics,  and  religion, 
or  by  other  acts  of  intelligent  reflection.  We  are  told  of  savages 
that  "  It  is  difficult  to  exhaust  the  customs  and  small  ceremonial 
usages  of  a  savage  people.  Custom  regulates  the  whole  of  a 
man's  actions,  —  his  bathing,  washing,  cutting  his  hair,  eating, 
drinking,  and  fasting.  From  his  cradle  to  his  grave  he  is  the 
slave  of  ancient  usage.  In  his  life  there  is  nothing  free,  nothing 
original,  nothing  spontaneous,  no  progress  towards  a  higher  and 
better  life,  and  no  attempt  to  improve  his  condition,  mentally, 
morally,  or  spiritually."  ^  All  men  act  in  this  way  with  only  a 
little  wider  margin  of  voluntary  variation. 

4.  Impulse  and  instinct.  Primeval  stupidity.  Magic.  "The 
mores  [Sitten)  rest  on  feelings  of  pleasure  or  pain,  which  either 
directly  produce  actions  or  call  out  desires  which  become  causes 
of  action." 2    "Impulse  is  not  an  attribute  of  living  creatures, 

^  Lazarus  in  Ztsft.  fur  Vblkerpsy.,  I,  452. 
2  JAI,  XX,  140. 


FUNDAMENTAL  NOTIONS  5 

like  instinct.  The  only  phenomenon  to  which  impulse  applies  is 
that  men  and  other  animals  imitate  what  they  see  others,  espe- 
cially of  their  own  species,  do,  and  that  they  accomplish  .this  imi- 
tation the  more  easily,  the  more  their  forefathers  practiced  the 
same  act.  The  thing  imitated,  therefore,  must  already  exist,  and 
cannot  be  explained  as  an  impulse."  "  As  soon  as  instinct  ceased 
to  be  sole  ruler  of  living  creatures,  including  inchoate  man,  the 
latter  must  have  made  mistakes  in  the  struggle  for  existence 
which  would  soon  have  finished  his  career,  but  that  he  had 
instinct  and  the  imitation  of  what  existed  to  guide  him.  This 
human  primeval  stupidity  is  the  ultimate  ground  of  religion  and 
art,  for  both  come  without  any  interval,  out  of  the  magic  which 
is  the  immediate  consequence  of  the  struggle  for  existence  when 
it  goes  beyond  instinct."  "  If  we  want  to  determine  the  origin  of 
dress,  if  we  want  to  define  social  relations  and  achievements,  e.g. 
the  origin  of  marriage,  war,  agriculture,  cattle  breeding,  etc.,  if 
we  want  to  make  studies  in  the  psyche  of  nature  peoples,  —  we 
must  always  pass  through  magic  and  belief  in  magic.  One  who 
is  weak  in  magic,  e.g.  a  ritually  unclean  man,  has  a  'bad  body,' 
and  reaches  no  success.  Primitive  men,  on  the  other  hand,  win 
their  success  by  means  of  their  magical  power  and  their  magical 
preparations,  and  hence  become  '  the  noble  and  good.'  For  them 
there  is  no  other  morality  [than  this  success].  Even  the  techni- 
cal dexterities  have  certainly  not  been  free  from  the  influence  of 
belief  in  magic."  ^ 

5.  The  strain  of  improvement  and  consistency.  The  folkways, 
being  ways  of  satisfying  needs,  have  succeeded  more  or  less  well, 
and  therefore  have  produced  more  or  less  pleasure  or  pain. 
Their  quality  always  consisted  in  their  adaptation  to  the  purpose. 
If  they  were  imperfectly  adapted  and  unsuccessful,  they  produced 
pain,  which  drove  men  on  to  learn  better.  The  folkways  are, 
therefore,  (i)  subject  to  a  strain  of  improvement  towards  better 
adaptation  of  means  to  ends,  as  long  as  the  adaptation  is  so  im- 
perfect that  pain  is  produced.  They  are  also  (2)  subject  to  a 
strain  of  consistency  with  each  other,  because  they  all  answer 
their  several  purposes  with  less  friction  and  antagonism  when 

1  Preuss  in  Globus,  LXXXVII,  419. 


6  FOLKWAYS 

they  cooperate  and  support  each  other.  The  forms  of  industry, 
the  forms  of  the  family,  the  notions  of  property,  the  constructions 
of  rights,  and  the  types  of  religion  show  the  strain  of  consistency 
with  each  other  through  the  whole  history  of  civilization.  The 
two  great  cultural  divisions  of  the  human  race  are  the  oriental 
and  the  occidental.  Each  is  consistent  throughout ;  each  has 
its  own  philosophy  and  spirit ;  they  are  separated  from  top  to  bot- 
tom by  different  mores,  different  standpoints,  different  ways,  and 
different  notions  of  what  societal  arrangements  are  advantageous. 
In  their  contrast  they  keep  before  our  minds  the  possible  range 
of  divergence  in  the  solution  of  the  great  problems  of  human  life, 
and  in  the  views  of  earthly  existence  by  which  life  policy  may  be 
controlled.  If  two  planets  were  joined  in  one,  their  inhabitants 
could  not  differ  more  widely  as  to  what  things  are  best  worth 
seeking,  or  what  ways  are  most  expedient  for  well  living. 

6.  The  aleatory  interest.  If  we  should  try  to  find  a  specimen 
society  in  which  expedient  ways  of  satisfying  needs  and  interests 
were  found  by  trial  and  failure,  and  by  long  selection  from  experi- 
ence, as  broadly  described  in  sec.  i  above,  it  might  be  impossible 
to  find  one.  Such  a  practical  and  utilitarian  mode  of  procedure, 
even  when  mixed  with  ghost  sanction,  is  rationalistic.  It  would 
not  be  suited  to  the  ways  and  temper  of  primitive  men.  There 
was  an  element  in  the  most  elementary  experience  which  was 
irrational  and  defied  all  expedient  methods.  One  might  use  the 
best  known  means  with  the  greatest  care,  yet  fail  of  the  result. 
On  the  other  hand,  one  might  get  a  great  result  with  no  effort 
at  all.  One  might  also  incur  a  calamity  without  any  fault  of  his 
own.  This  was  the  aleatory  element  in  life,  the  element  of  risk 
and  loss,  good  or  bad  fortune.  This  element  is  never  absent 
from  the  affairs  of  men.  It  has  greatly  influenced  their  life 
philosophy  and  policy.  On  one  side,  good  luck  may  mean  some- 
thing for  nothing,  the  extreme  case  of  prosperity  and  felicity. 
On  the  other  side,  ill  luck  may  mean  failure,  loss,  calamity,  and 
disappointment,  in  spite  of  the  most  earnest  and  well-planned 
endeavor.  The  minds  of  men  always  dwell  more  on  bad  luck. 
They  accept  ordinary  prosperity  as  a  matter  of  course.  Mis- 
fortunes  arrest   their  attention   and   remain  in   their  memory. 


FUNDAMENTAL  NOTIONS  7 

Hence  the  ills  of  life  are  the  mode  of  manifestation  of  the  alea- 
tory element  which  has  most  affected  life  policy.  Primitive  men 
ascribed  all  incidents  to  the  agency  of  men  or  of  ghosts  and 
spirits.  Good  and  ill  luck  were  attributed  to  the  superior  powers, 
and  were  supposed  to  be  due  to  their  pleasure  or  displeasure  at 
the  conduct  of  men.  This  group  of  notions  constitutes  goblinism. 
It  furnishes  a  complete  world  philosophy.  The  element  of  luck 
is  always  present  in  the  struggle  for  existence.  That  is  why 
primitive  men  never  could  carry  on  the  struggle  for  existence, 
disregarding  the  aleatory  element  and  employing  a  utilitarian 
method  only.  The  aleatory  element  has  always  been  the  con- 
necting link  between  the  struggle  for  existence  and  religion. 
It  was  only  by  religious  rites  that  the  aleatory  element  in  the 
struggle  for  existence  could  be  controlled.  The  notions  of 
ghosts,  demons,  another  world,  etc.,  were  all  fantastic.  They 
lacked  all  connection  with  facts,  and  were  arbitrary  constructions 
put  upon  experience.  They  were  poetic  and  developed  by  poetic 
construction  and  imaginative  deduction.  The  nexus  between 
them  and  events  was  not  cause  and  effect,  but  magic.  They 
therefore  led  to  delusive  deductions  in  regard  to  life  and  its 
meaning,  which  entered  into  subsequent  action  as  guiding  faiths, 
and  imperative  notions  about  the  conditions  of  success.  The 
authority  of  religion  and  that  of  custom  coalesced  into  one  indi- 
visible obligation.  Therefore  the  simple  statement  of  experiment 
and  expediency  in  the  first  paragraph  above  is  not  derived 
directly  from  actual  cases,  but  is  a  product  of  analysis  and  infer- 
ence. It  must  also  be  added  that  vanity  and  ghost  fear  produced 
needs  which  man  was  as  eager  to  satisfy  as  those  of  hunger  or 
the  family.  Folkways  resulted  for  the  former  as  well  as  for  the 
latter  (see  sec.  9). 

7.  All  origins  are  lost  in  mystery.  No  objection  can  lie 
against  this  postulate  about  the  way  in  which  folkways  began, 
on  account  of  the  element  of  inference  in  it.  All  origins  are 
lost  in  mystery,  and  it  seems  vain  to  hope  that  from  any  origin 
the  veil  of  mystery  will  ever  be  raised.  We  go  up  the  stream 
of  history  to  the  utmost  point  for  which  we  have  evidence  of  its 
course.    Then  we  are  forced  to  reach  out  into  the  darkness  upon 


8  FOLKWAYS 

the  line  of  direction  marked  by  the  remotest  course  of  the 
historic  stream.  This  is  the  way  in  which  we  have  to  act  in 
regard  to  the  origin  of  capital,  language,  the  family,  the  state, 
religion,  and  rights.  We  never  can  hope  to  see  the  beginning  of 
any  one  of  these  things.  Use  and  wont  are  products  and  results. 
They  had  antecedents.  We  never  can  find  or  see  the  first  mem- 
ber of  the  series.  It  is  only  by  analysis  and  inference  that 
we  can  form  any  conception  of  the  "beginning"  which  we  are 
always  so  eager  to  find. 

8.  Spencer  on  primitive  custom.  Spencer  ^  says  that  "  guidance 
by  custom,  which  we  everywhere  find  amongst  rude  peoples,  is 
the  sole  conceivable  guidance  at  the  outset."  Custom  is  the 
product  of  concurrent  action  through  time.  We  find  it  existent 
and  in  control  at  the  extreme  reach  of  our  investigations. 
Whence  does  it  begin,  and  how  does  it  come  to  be  ?  How  can 
it  give  guidance  "at  the  outset".?  All  mass  actions  seem  to 
begin  because  the  mass  wants  to  act  together.  The  less  they 
know  what  it  is  right  and  best  to  do,  the  more  open  they  are  to 
suggestion  from  an  incident  in  nature,  or  from  a  chance  act  of 
one,  or  from  the  current  doctrines  of  ghost  fear.  A  concurrent 
drift  begins  which  is  subject  to  later  correction.  That  being  so, 
it  is  evident  that  instinctive  action,  under  the  guidance  of  tradi- 
tional folkways,  is  an  operation  of  the  first  importance  in  all 
societal  matters.  Since  the  custom  never  can  be  antecedent  to 
all  action,  what  we  should  desire  most  is  to  see  it  arise  out  of  the 
first  actions,  but,  inasmuch  as  that  is  impossible,  the  course  of  the 
action  after  it  is  started  is  our  field  of  study.  The  origin  of 
primitive  customs  is  always  lost  in  mystery,  because  when  the 
action  begins  the  men  are  never  conscious  of  historical  action,  or 
of  the  historical  importance  of  what  they  are  doing.  When  they 
become  conscious  of  the  historical  importance  of  their  acts,  the 
origin  is  already  far  behind. 

9.  Good  and  bad  luck ;  ills  of  life  ;  goodness  and  happiness.  There  are 
in  nature  numerous  antagonistic  forces  of  growth  or  production  and  destruc- 
tion. The  interests  of  man  are  between  the  two  and  may  be  favored  or  ruined 
by  either.    Correct  knowledge  of  both  is  required  to  get  the  advantages 

1  Princ.  of  Sociology,  sec.  529. 


FUNDAMENTAL  NOTIONS  9 

and  escape  the  injuries.  Until  the  knowledge  becomes  adequate  the  effects 
which  are  encountered  appear  to  be  accidents  or  cases  of  luck.  There 
is  no  thrift  in  nature.  There  is  rather  waste.  Human  interests  require 
thrift,  selection,  and  -preservation.  Capital  is  the  condition  precedent  of  all 
gain  in  security  and  power,  and  capital  is  produced  by  selection  and  thrift. 
It  is  threatened  by  all  which  destroys  material  goods.  Capital  is  there- 
fore the  essential  means  of  man's  power  over  nature,  and  it  implies  the 
purest  concept  of  the  power  of  intelligence  to  select  and  dispose  of  the 
processes  of  nature  for  human  welfare.  All  the  earliest  efforts  in  this  direc- 
tion were  blundering  failures.  Men  selected  things  to  be  desired  and  pre- 
served under  impulses  of  vanity  and  superstition,  and  misconceived  utility 
and  interest.  The  errors  entered  into  the  folkways,  formed  a  part  of  them, 
and  were  protected  by  them.  Error,  accident,  and  luck  seem  to  be  the 
only  sense  there  is  in  primitive  life.  Knowledge  alone  limits  their  sway,  and 
at  least  changes  the  range  and  form  of  their  dominion.  Primitive  folkways 
are  marked  by  improvidence,  waste,  and  carelessness,  out  of  which  prudence, 
foresight,  patience,  and  perseverance  are  developed  slowly,  by  pain  and 
loss,  as  experience  is  accumulated,  and  knowledge  increases  also,  as  better 
methods  seem  worth  while.  The  consequences  of  error  and  the  effects  of 
luck  were  always  mixed.  As  we  have  seen,  the  ills  of  life  were  connected 
with  the  displeasure  of  the  ghosts.  Per  contra,  conduct  which  conformed  to 
the  will  of  the  ghosts  was  goodness,  and  was  supposed  to  bring  blessing 
and  prosperity.  Thus  a  correlation  was  established,  in  the  faith  of  men,  be- 
tween goodness  and  happiness,  and  on  that  correlation  an  art  of  happiness 
was  built.  It  consisted  in  a  faithful  performance  of  rites  of  respect  towards 
superior  powers  and  in  the  use  of  lucky  times,  places,  words,  etc.,  with  avoid- 
ance of  unlucky  ones.  All  uncivilized  men  demand  and  expect  a  specific 
response.  Inasmuch  as  they  did  not  get  it,  and  indeed  the  art  of  happiness 
always  failed  of  results,  the  great  question  of  world  philosophy  always  has 
been.  What  is  the  real  relation  between  happiness  and  goodness  ?  It  is  only 
within  a  few  generations  that  men  have  found  courage  to  say  that  there  is 
none.  The  whole  strength  of  the  notion  that  they  are  correlated  is  in  the 
opposite  experience  which  proves  that  no  evil  thing  brings  happiness.  The 
oldest  religious  literature  consists  of  formulas  of  worship  and  prayer  by 
which  devotion  and  obedience  were  to  produce  satisfaction  of  the  gods,  and 
win  favor  and  prosperity  for  men.^  The  words  "  ill "  and  "  evil "  have 
never  yet  thrown  off  the  ambiguity  between  wickedness  and  calamity. 
The  two  ideas  come  down  to  us  allied  or  combined.  It  was  the  rites  which 
were  the  object  of  tradition,  not  the  ideas  which  they  embodied. ^ 

10.  Illustrations.    The  notions  of  blessing  and  curse  are  subsequent  ex- 
planations by  men  of  great  cases  of  prosperity  or  calamity  which  came  to 

1  Rogers,  Babyl.  and  Assyria,  I,  304;  Jastrow,  in  Hastings,  Di:t.  Bible,  Supp. 
vol.,  554. 

2  Pietschmann,  Fhoe?iizier,  154. 


lO  FOLKWAYS 

their  knowledge.  Then  the  myth-building  imagination  invented  stories  of 
great  virtue  or  guilt  to  account  for  the  prosperity  or  calamity.^  The  Greek 
notion  of  the  Nemesis  was  an  inference  from  observation  of  good  and  ill 
fortune  in  life.  Great  popular  interest  attached  to  the  stories  of  Croesus 
and  Polycrates.  The  latter,  after  all  his  glory  and  prosperity,  was  crucified 
by  the  satrap  of  Lydia.  Croesus  had  done  all  that  man  could  do,  according 
to  the  current  religion,  to  conciliate  the  gods  and  escape  ill  fortune.  He 
was  very  pious  and  lived  by  the  rules  of  religion.  The  story  is  told  in 
different  forms.  "  The  people  could  not  make  up  their  minds  that  a  prince 
who  had  been  so  liberal  to  the  gods  during  his  prosperity  had  been  aban- 
doned by  them  at  the  moment  when  he  had  the  greatest  need  of  their  aid."  ^ 
They  said  that  he  expiated  the  crime  of  his  ancestor  Gyges,  who  usurped 
the  throne ;  that  is,  they  found  it  necessary  to  adduce  some  guilt  to  account 
for  the  facts,  and  they  introduced  the  notion  of  hereditary  responsibility. 
Another  story  was  that  he  determined  to  sacrifice  all  his  wealth  to  the  gods. 
He  built  a  funeral  pyre  of  it  all  and  mounted  it  himself,  but  rain  extinguished 
it.  The  gods  were  satisfied.  Croesus  afterwards  enjoyed  the  friendship  of 
Cyros,  which  was  good  fortune.  Still  others  rejected  the  doctrines  of  corre- 
lation between  goodness  and  happiness  on  account  of  the  fate  of  Croesus. 
In  ancient  religion  "  the  benefits  which  were  expected  from  the  gods  were 
of  a  public  character,  affecting  the  whole  community,  especially  fruitful 
seasons,  increase  of  flocks  and  herds,  and  success  in  war.  So  long  as  the 
community  flourished,  the  fact  that  an  individual  was  miserable  reflected 
no  discredit  on  divine  providence,  but  was  rather  taken  to  prove  that  the 
sufferer  was  an  evil-doer,  justly  hateful  to  the  gods."^  Jehu  and  his  house 
were  blamed  for  the  blood  spilt  at  Israel,  although  Jehu  was  commissioned 
by  Elisha  to  destroy  the  house  of  Ahab.*  This  is  like  the  case  of  Qidipus, 
who  obeyed  an  oracle,  but  suffered  for  his  act  as  for  a  crime.  Jehovah 
caused  the  ruin  of  those  who  had  displeased  him,  by  putting  false  oracles 
in  the  mouths  of  prophets.^  Hezekiah  expostulated  with  God  because, 
although  he  had  walked  before  God  with  a  perfect  heart  and  had  done 
what  was  right  in  His  sight,  he  suffered  calamity.^  In  the  seventy-third 
Psalm,  the  author  is  perplexed  by  the  prosperity  of  the  wicked,  and  the  con- 
trast of  his  own  fortunes.  "  Surely  in  vain  have  I  cleansed  my  heart  and 
washed  my  hands  in  innocency,  for  all  day  long  have  I  been  plagued,  and 
chastened  every  morning."  He  says  that  at  last  the  wicked  were  cast  down. 
He  was  brutish  and  ignorant  not  to  see  the  solution.  It  is  that  the  wicked 
prosper  for  a  time  only.  He  will  cleave  unto  God.  The  book  of  Job  is  a 
discussion  of  the  relation  between  goodness  and  happiness.    The  crusaders 

1  Pietschmann,  Phoenizier,  115.  ^  Maspero,  Peuples  de  V Orient,  III,  618. 

3  W.  R.  Smith,  Religioi  of  the  Semites,  259. 

*  Hosea  i.  4  ;  2  Kings  ix.  8. 

5  I  Kings  xxii.  22  ;  Judges  ix.  23 ;  Ezek.  xiv.  9;  2  Thess.  ii.  11. 

^  2  Kings  xy.  3. 


FUNDAMENTAL  NOTIONS  II 

were  greatly  perplexed  by  the  victories  of  the  Mohammedans.  It  seemed  to 
be  proved  untrue  that  God  would  defend  His  own  Name  or  the  true  and 
holy  cause.  Louis  XIV,  when  his  armies  were  defeated,  said  that  God  must 
have  forgotten  all  which  he  had  done  for  Him. 

11.  Immortality  and  compensation.  The  notion  of  immortality  has  been 
interwoven  with  the  notion  of  luck,  of  justice,  and  of  the  relation  of  good- 
ness and  happiness.  The  case  was  reopened  in  another  world,  and  compen- 
sations could  be  assumed  to  take  place  there.  In  the  folk  drama  of  the 
ancient  Greeks  luck  ruled.  It  was  either  envious  of  human  prosperity 
or  beneficent.^  Grimm  ^  gives  more  than  a  thousand  ancient  German  apo- 
thegms, dicta,  and  proverb's  about  "  luck."  The  Italians  of  the  fifteenth 
century  saw  grand  problems  in  the  correlation  of  goodness  and  happiness. 
Alexander  VI  was  the  wickedest  man  known  in  history,  but  he  had  great 
and  unbroken  prosperity  in  all  his  undertakings.  The  only  conceivable 
explanation  was  that  he  had  made  a  pact  with  the  devil.  Some  of  the 
American  Indians  believed  that  there  was  an  hour  at  which  all  wishes  uttered 
by  men  were  fulfilled.^  It  is  amongst  half-civilized  peoples  that  the  notion 
of  luck  is  given  the  greatest  influence  in  human  affairs.  They  seek  devices 
for  operating  on  luck,  since  luck  controls  all  interests.  Hence  words,  times, 
names,  places,  gestures,  and  other  acts  or  relations  are  held  to  control  luck. 
Inasmuch  as  marriage  is  a  relationship  in  which  happiness  is  sought  and 
not  always  found,  wedding  ceremonies  are  connected  with  acts  "  for  luck." 
Some  of  these  still  survive  amongst  us  as  jests.  The  fact  of  the  aleatory 
element  in  human  life,  the  human  interpretations  of  it,  and  the  efforts  of 
men  to  deal  with  it  constitute  a  large  part  of  the  history  of  culture.  They 
have  produced  groups  of  folkways,  and  have  entered  as  an  element  into 
folkways  for  other  purposes. 

12.  Tradition  and  its  restraints.  It  is  evident  that  the  "  ways  " 
of  the  older  and  more  experienced  members  of  a  society  deserve 
great  authority  in  any  primitive  group.  We  find  that  this  rational 
authority  leads  to  customs  of  deference  and  to  etiquette  in  favor 
of  the  old.  The  old  in  turn  cling  stubbornly  to  tradition  and 
to  the  example  of  their  own  predecessors.  Thus  tradition  and 
custom  become  intertwined  and  are  a  strong  coercion  which 
directs  the  society  upon  fixed  lines,  and  strangles  liberty. 
Children  see  their  parents  always  yield  to  the  same  custom  and 
obey  the  same  persons.  They  see  that  the  elders  are  allowed  to 
do  all  the  talking,  and  that  if  an  outsider  enters,  he  is  saluted  by 
those  who  are  at  home  according  to  rank  and  in  fixed  order, 

1  Reich,  Mimtts,  718.  2  Teuton.  Mythol.,  1777. 

^  Leland  and  Prince,  Kuloskap,  150. 


1 2  FOLKWAYS 

All  this  becomes  rule  for  children,  and  helps  to  give  to  all  primi- 
tive customs  their  stereotyped  formality.  "The  fixed  ways  of 
looking  at  things  which  are  inculcated  by  education  and  tribal 
discipline,  are  the  precipitate  of  an  old  cultural  development,  and 
in  their  continued  operation  they  are  the  moral  anchor  of  the 
Indian,  although  they  are  also  the  fetters  which  restrain  his 
individual  will."^ 

13.  The  concept  of  ''  primitive  society  "  ;  we-group  and  others- 
group.  The  conception  of  "primitive  society"  which  we  ought 
to  form  is  that  of  small  groups  scattered  over  a  territory.  The 
size  of  the  groups  is  determined  by  the  conditions  of  the  struggle 
for  existence.  The  internal  organization  of  each  group  corre- 
sponds to  its  size.  A  group  of  groups  may  have  some  relation  to 
each  other  (kin,  neighborhood,  alliance,  connubium  and  commer- 
cium)  which  draws  them  together  and  differentiates  them  from 
others.  Thus  a  differentiation  arises  between  ourselves,  the  we- 
group,  or  in-group,  and  everybody  else,  or  the  others-groups, 
out-groups.  The  insiders  in  a  we-group  are  in  a  relation  of  peace, 
order,  law,  government,  and  industry,  to  each  other.  Their 
relation  to  all  outsiders,  or  others-groups,  is  one  of  war  and 
plunder,  except  so  far  as  agreements  have  modified  it.  If 
a  group  is  exogamic,  the  women  in  it  were  born  abroad  some- 
where. Other  foreigners  who  might  be  found  in  it  are  adopted 
persons,  guest  friends,  and  slaves. 

14.  Sentiments  in  the  in-group  and  towards  the  out-group. 
The  relation  of  comradeship  and  peace  in  the  we-group  and  that 
of  hostility  and  war  towards  others-groups  are  correlative  to  each 
other.  The  exigencies  of  war  with  outsiders  are  what  make 
peace  inside,  lest  internal  discord  should  weaken  the  we-group 
for  war.  These  exigencies  also  make  government  and  law  in  the 
in-group,  in  order  to  prevent  quarrels  and  enforce  discipline. 
Thus  war  and  peace  have  reacted  on  each  other  and  developed 
each  other,  one  within  the  group,  the  other  in  the  intergroup 
relation.  The  closer  the  neighbors,  and  the  stronger  they  are, 
the  intenser  is  the  warfare,  and  then  the  intenser  is  the  internal 
organization  and  discipline  of  each.    Sentiments  are  produced  to 

1  Globus,  LXXXVII,  128. 


FUNDAMENTAL  NOTIONS 


13 


correspond.  Loyalty  to  the  group,  sacrifice  for  it,  hatred  and 
contempt  for  outsiders,  brotherhood  within,  warhkeness  without, 
—  all  grow  together,  common  products  of  the  same  situation. 
These  relations  and  sentiments  constitute  a  social  philosophy. 
It  is  sanctified  by  connection  with  religion.  Men  of  an  others- 
group  are  outsiders  with  whose  ancestors  the  ancestors  of  the 
we-group  waged  war.  The  ghosts  of  the  latter  will  see  with 
pleasure  their  descendants  keep  up  the  fight,  and  will  help  them. 
Virtue  consists  in  killing,  plundering,  and  enslaving  outsiders. 

15.  Ethnocentrism  is  the  technical  name  for  this  view  of  things 
in  which  one's  own  group  is  the  center  of  everything,  and  all 
others  are  scaled  and  rated  with  reference  to  it.  Folkways  cor- 
respond to  it  to  cover  both  the  inner  and  the  outer  relation.  Each 
group  nourishes  its  own  pride  and  vanity,  boasts  itself  superior, 
exalts  its  own  divinities,  and  looks  with  contempt  on  outsiders. 
Each  group  thinks  its  own  folkways  the  only  right  ones,  and  if 
it  observes  that  other  groups  have  other  folkways,  these  excite  its 
scorn.  Opprobrious  epithets  are  derived  from  these  differences. 
"Pig-eater,"  "cow-eater,"  "  uncircumcised,"  "jabberers,"  are 
epithets  of  contempt  and  abomination.  The  Tupis  called  the 
Portuguese  by  a  derisive  epithet  descriptive  of  birds  which  have 
feathers  around  their  feet,  on  account  of  trousers.^  For  our 
present  purpose  the  most  important  fact  is  that  ethnocentrism 
leads  a  people  to  exaggerate  and  intensify  everything  in  their 
own  folkv/ays  which  is  peculiar  and  which  differentiates  them 
from  others.    It  therefore  strengthens  the  folkways. 

16.  Illustrations  of  ethnocentrism.  The  Papuans  on  New  Guinea  are 
broken  up  into  village  units  which  are  kept  separate  by  hostility,  cannibal- 
ism, head  hunting,  and  divergences  of  language  and  religion.  Each  village 
is  integrated  by  its  own  language,  religion,  and  interests.  A  group  of  vil- 
lages is  sometimes  united  into  a  limited  unity  by  connubium.  A  wife  taken 
inside  of  this  group  unit  has  full  status  ;  one  taken  outside  of  it  has  not. 
The  petty  group  units  are  peace  groups  within  and  are  hostile  to  all  out- 
siders.*^  The  Mbayas  of  South  America  believed  that  their  deity  had  bidden 
them  live  by  making  war  on  others,  taking  their  wives  and  property,  and 
killing  their  men.^ 

1  Martius,  Ethjiog.  Brasil.,i,i.  2  Krieger,  N'ew  Guinea,  192. 

3  Ty\or,  A ?tthropolog}',  225. 


14  FOLKWAYS 

17.  When  Caribs  were  asked  whence  they  came,  they  answered,  "We 
alone  are  people."  ^  The  meaning  of  the  name  Kiowa  is  "  real  or  principal 
people."  ^  The  Lapps  call  themselves  "  men,"  or  "  human  beings."  ^  The 
Greenland  Eskimo  think  that  Europeans  have  been  sent  to  Greenland  to 
learn  virtue  and  good  manners  from  the  Greenlanders.  Their  highest  form 
of  praise  for  a  European  is  that  he  is,  or  soon  will  be,  as  good  as  a  Green- 
lander.*  The  Tunguses  call  themselves  "  men."  ^  As  a  rule  it  is  found  that 
nature  peoples  call  themselves  "men."  Others  are  something  else  — perhaps 
not  defined  —  but  not  real  men.  In  myths  the  origin  of  their  own  tribe  is 
that  of  the  real  human  race.  They  do  not  account  for  the  others.  The 
Ainos  derive  their  name  from  that  of  the  first  man,  whom  they  worship  as 
a  god.  Evidently  the  name  of  the  god  is  derived*  from  the  tribe  name.^ 
When  the  tribal  name  has  another  sense,  it  is  always  boastful  or  proud. 
The  Ovambo  name  is  a  corruption  of  the  name  of  the  tribe  for  themselves, 
which  means  "  the  wealthy."  ''  Amongst  the  most  remarkable  people  in  the 
world  for  ethnocentrism  are  the  Seri  of  Lower  California.  They  observe  an 
attitude  of  suspicion  and  hostility  to  all  outsiders,  and  strictly  forbid  mar- 
riage with  outsiders.* 

18.  The  Jews  divided  all  mankind  into  themselves  and  Gentiles.  They 
were  the  "  chosen  people."  The  Greeks  and  Romans  called  all  outsiders 
"barbarians."  In  Euripides'  tragedy  of  Iphigenia  in  AuHs  Iphigenia  says 
that  it  is  fitting  that  Greeks  should  rule  over  barbarians,  but  not  contrariwise, 
because  Greeks  are  free,  and  barbarians  are  slaves.  The  Arabs  regarded 
themselves  as  the  noblest  nation  and  all  others  as  more  or  less  barbarous.^ 
In  i8g6,  the  Chinese  minister  of  education  and  his  counselors  edited  a 
manual  in  which  this  statement  occurs :  "  How  grand  and  glorious  is  the 
Empire  of  China,  the  middle  kingdom  !  She  is  the  largest  and  richest  in 
the  world.  The  grandest  men  in  the  world  have  all  come  from  the  middle 
empire."  ^'^  In  all  the  literature  of  all  the  states  equivalent  statements  occur, 
although  they  are  not  so  naively  expressed.  In  Russian  books  and  news- 
papers the  civilizing  mission  of  Russia  is  talked  about,  just  as,  in  the  books 
and  journals  of  France,  Germany,  and  the  United  States,  the  civilizing 
mission  of  those  countries  is  assumed  and  referred  to  as  well  understood. 
Each  state  now  regards  itself  as  the  leader  of  civilization,  the  best,  the 
freest,  and  the  wisest,  and  all  others  as  inferior.  Within  a  few  years  our 
own  man-on-the-curbstone  has  learned  to  class  all  foreigners  of  the  Latin 

1  Martius,  EtJuiog.  Brasil.,  51.  ^  Wiklund,  Ot?t  Lapparna  i  Sverige,  5. 

2  Biir.  Eth.,  XIV,  1078.  *  Fries,  Grbnland,  139. 
^  Hiekisch,  Tungnsen,  48. 

6  Hitchcock  in  U.  S.  Nat.  Mus.,  1890,  432. 
■^  Ratzel,  Hist.  Mankind,  II,  539. 
8  Bur.  Eth.,  XVII  (Part  I),  154. 
^  Von  Kremer,  Kidturgesch.  d.  Orients,  II,  236. 
'^'^  Bishop,  Korea,  438. 


FUNDAMENTAL  NOTIONS  15 

peoples  as  "  dagos,"  and  "  dago  "  has  become  an  epithet  of  contempt.    These 
are  all  cases  of  ethnocentrism. 

19.  Patriotism  is  a  sentiment  which  belongs  to  modern  states.  It  stands 
in  antithesis  to  the  mediaeval  notion  of  catholicity.  Patriotism  is  loyalty  to 
the  civic  group  to  which  one  belongs  by  birth  or  other  group  bond.  It  is 
a  sentiment  of  fellowship  and  cooperation  in  all  the  hopes,  work',  and  suffer- 
ing of  the  group.  Mediaeval  catholicity  would  have  made  all  Christians  an 
in-group  and  would  have  set  them  in  hostility  to  all  Mohammedans  and 
other  non-Christians.  It  never  could  be  realized.  When  the  great  modern 
states  took  form  and  assumed  control  of  societal  interests,  group  senti- 
ment v/as  produced  in  connection  with  those  states.  Men  responded  will- 
ingly to  a  demand  for  support  and  help  from  an  institution  which  could  and  did 
serve  interests.  The  state  drew  to  itself  the  loyalty  which  had  been  given 
to  men  (lords),  and  it  became  the  object  of  that  group  vanity  and  antagonism 
which  had  been  ethnocentric.  For  the  modern  man  patriotism  has  become 
one  of  the  first  of  duties  and  one  of  the  noblest  of  sentiments.  It  is  what 
he  owes  to  the  state  for  what  the  state  does  for  him,  and  the  state  is,  for  the 
modern  man,  a  cluster  of  civic  institutions  from  which  he  draws  security 
and  conditions  of  welfare.  The  masses  are  always  patriotic.  For  them  the 
old  ethnocentric  jealousy,  vanity,  truculency,  and  ambition  are  the  strongest 
elements  in  patriotism.  Such  sentiments  are  easily  awakened  in  a  crowd. 
They  are  sure  to  be  popular.  Wider  knowledge  always  proves  that  they 
are  not  based  on  facts.  That  we  are  good  and  others  are  bad  is  never  true. 
By  history,  literature,  travel,  and  science  men  are  made  cosmopolitan. 
The  selected  classes  of  all  states  become  associated  ;  they  intermarry.  The 
differentiation  by  states  loses  importance.  All  states  give  the  same  security 
and  conditions  of  welfare  to  all.  The  standards  of  civic  institutions  are  the 
same,  or  tend  to  become  such,  and  it  is  a  matter  of  pride  in  each  state  to 
offer  civic  status  and  opportunities  equal  to  the  best.  Every  group  of  any 
kind  whatsoever  demands  that  each  of  its  members  shall  help  defend  group 
interests.  Every  group  stigmatizes  any  one  who  fails  in  zeal,  labor,  and 
sacrifices  for  group  interests.  Thus  the  sentiment  of  loyalty  to  the  group, 
or  the  group  head,  which  \^as  so  strong  in  the  Middle  Ages,  is  kept  up,  as 
far  as  possible,  in  regard  to  modern  states  and  governments.  The  group 
force  is  also  employed  to  enforce  the  obligations  of  devotion  to  group 
interests.    It  follows  that  judgments  are  precluded  and  criticism  is  silenced. 

20.  Chauvinism.  That  patriotism  may  degenerate  into  a  vice  is  shown 
by  the  invention  of  a  name  for  the  vice  :  chauvinism.  It  is  a  name  for  boast- 
ful and  truculent  group  self-assertion.  It  overrules  personal  judgment  and 
character,  and  puts  the  whole  group  at  the  mercy  of  the  clique  which  is 
ruling  at  the  moment.  It  produces  the  dominance  of  watchwords  and 
phrases  which  take  the  place  of  reason  and  conscience  in  determining  con- 
duct. The  patriotic  bias  is  a  recognized  perversion  of  thought  and  judgment 
against  which  our  education  should  guard  us. 


1 6  FOLKWAYS 

21.  The  struggle  for  existence  and  the  competition  of  life ; 
antagonistic  cooperation.  The  struggle  for  existence  must  be 
carried  on  under  life  conditions  and  in  connection  with  the  com- 
petition of  life.  The  life  conditions  consist  in  variable  elements 
of  the  environment,  the  supply  of  materials  necessary  to  support 
life,  the  difficulty  of  exploiting  them,  the  state  of  the  arts,  and 
the  circumstances  of  physiography,  climate,  meteorology,  etc., 
which  favor  life  or  the  contrary.  The  struggle  for  existence  is  a 
process  in  which  an  individual  and  nature  are  the  parties.  The 
individual  is  engaged  in  a  process  by  which  he  wins  from  his 
environment  what  he  needs  to  support  his  existence.  In  the 
competition  of  life  the  parties  are  men  and  other  organisms. 
The  men  strive  with  each  other,  or  with  the  flora  and  fauna  with 
which  they  are  associated.  The  competition  of  life  is  the  rivalry, 
antagonism,  and  mutual  displacement  in  which  the  individual  is 
involved  with  other  organisms  by  his  efforts  to  carry  on  the 
struggle  for  existence  for  himself.  It  is,  therefore,  the  competi- 
tion of  life  which  is  the  societal  element,  and  which  produces 
societal  organization.  The  number  present  and  in  competition 
is  another  of  the  life  conditions.  At  a  time  and  place  the  life 
conditions  are  the  same  for  a  number  of  human  beings  who  are 
present,  and  the  problems  of  life  policy  are  the  same.  This  is 
another  reason  why  the  attempts  to  satisfy  interest  become  mass 
phenomena  and  result  in  folkways.  The  individual  and  social 
elements  are  always  in  interplay  with  each  other  if  there  are  a 
number  present.  If  one  is  trying  to  carry  on  the  struggle  for 
existence  with  nature,  the  fact  that  others  are  doing  the  same  in 
the  same  environment  is  an  essential  condition  for  him.  Then 
arises  an  alternative.  He  and  the  others  may  so  interfere  with 
each  other  that  all  shall  fail,  or  they  may  combine,  and  by  coop- 
eration raise  their  efforts  against  nature  to  a  higher  power.  This 
latter  method  is  industrial  organization.  The  crisis  which  pro- 
duces it  is  constantly  renewed,  and  men  are  forced  to  raise  the 
organization  to  greater  complexity  and  more  comprehensive 
power,  without  limit.  Interests  are  the  relations  of  action  and 
reaction  between  the  individual  and  the  life  conditions,  through 
which  relations  the  evolution  of  the  individual  is  produced.    That 


FUNDAMENTAL  NOTIONS  I  7 

evolution,  so  long  as  it  goes  on  prosperously,  is  well  living,  and  it 
results  in  the  self-realization  of  the  individual,  for  we  may  think 
of  each  one  as  capable  of  fulfilling  some  career  and  attaining  to 
some  character  and  state  of  power  by  the  developing  of  predis- 
positions which  he  possesses.  It  would  be  an  error,  however,  to 
suppose  that  all  nature  is  a  chaos  of  warfare  and  competition. 
Combination  and  cooperation  are  so  fundamentally  necessary  that 
even  very  low  life  forms  are  found  in  symbiosis  for  mutual  depend- 
ence and  assistance.  A  combination  can  exist  where  each  of  its 
members  would  perish.  Competition  and  combination  are  two 
forms  of  life  association  which  alternate  through  the  whole 
organic  and  superorganic  domains.  The  neglect  of  this  fact  leads 
to  many  socialistic  fallacies.  Combination  is  of  the  essence  of 
organization,  and  organization  is  the  great  device  for  increased 
power  by  a  number  of  unequal  and  dissimilar  units  brought  into 
association  for  a  common  purpose.  McGee  ^  says  of  the  desert 
of  Papagueria,  in  southwestern  Arizona,  that  "  a  large  part  of 
the  plants  and  animals  of  the  desert  dwell  together  in  harmony 
and  mutual  helpfulness  [which  he  shows  in  detail] ;  for  their  ener- 
gies are  directed  not  so  much  against  one  another  as  against  the 
rigorous  environmental  conditions  growing  out  of  dearth  of  water. 
This  communality  does  not  involve  loss  of  individuality,  .  .  .in- 
deed the  plants  and  animals  are  characterized  by  an  individuality 
greater  than  that  displayed  in  regions  in  which  perpetuity  of  the 
species  depends  less  closely  on  the  persistence  of  individuals." 
Hence  he  speaks  of  the  "solidarity  of  life  "  in  the  desert.  "The 
saguaro  is  a  monstrosity  in  fact  as  well  as  in  appearance,  —  a 
product  of  miscegenation  between  plant  and  animal,  probably 
depending  for  its  form  of  life  history,  if  not  for  its  very  exist- 
ence, on  its  commensals."^  The  Seri  protect  pelicans  from  them- 
selves by  a  partial  taboo,  which  is  not  understood.  It  seems  that 
they  could  not  respect  a  breeding  time,  or  establish  a  closed  season, 
yet  they  have  such  an  appetite  for  the  birds  and  their  eggs  that 
.they  would  speedily  exterminate  them  if  there  were  no  restraint. 
This  combination  has  been  well  called  antagonistic  cooperation. 

1  Amer.  Ant/irop.,  VIII,  365. 

2  Cf.  also  Bur.  Eth.,  XVII  (Part  I),  190*. 


1 8  FOLKWAYS 

It  consists  in  the  combination  of  two  persons  or  groups  to  satisfy 
a  great  common  interest  while  minor  antagonisms  of  interest 
which  exist  between  them  are  suppressed.  The  plants  and  ani- 
mals of  the  desert  are  rivals  for  what  water  there  is,  but  they 
combine  as  if  with  an  intelligent  purpose  to  attain  to  a  maximum 
of  life  under  the  conditions.  There  are  many  cases  of  animals 
who  cooperate  in  the  same  way.  Our  farmers  put  crows  and 
robins  under  a  protective  taboo  because  the  birds  destroy  insects. 
The  birds  also  destroy  grain  and  fruits,  but  this  is  tolerated  on 
account  of  their  services.  Madame  Pommerol  says  of  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Sahara  that  the  people  of  the  towns  and  the  nomads  are 
enemies  by  caste  and  race,  but  allies  in  interest.  The  nomads 
need  refuge  and  shelter.  The  townspeople  need  messengers  and 
transportation.  Hence  ties  of  contract,  quarrels,  fights,  raids, 
vengeances,  and  reconciliations  for  the  sake  of  common  enter- 
prises of  plunder.^  Antagonistic  cooperation  is  the  most  produc- 
tive form  of  combination  in  high  civilization.  It  is  a  high  action 
of  the  reason  to  overlook  lesser  antagonisms  in  order  to  work 
together  for  great  interests.  Political  parties  are  constantly  forced 
to  do  it.  In  the  art  of  the  statesman  it  is  a  constant  policy.  The 
difference  between  great  parties  and  factions  in  any  parliamentary 
system  is  of  the  first  importance  ;  that  difference  consists  in  the 
fact  that  parties  can  suppress  minor  differences,  and  combine  for 
what  they  think  most  essential  to  public  welfare,  while  factions 
divide  and  subdivide  on  petty  differences.  Inasmuch  as  the  sup- 
pression of  minor  differences  means  a  suppression  of  the  emotional 
element,  while  the  other  policy  encourages  the  narrow  issues  in 
regard  to  which  feeling  is  always  most  intense,  the  former  policy 
allows  far  less  play  to  feeling  and  passion. 

22.  Hunger,  love,  vanity,  and  fear.  There  are  four  great 
motives  of  human  action  which  come  into  play  when  some  num- 
ber of  human  beings  are  in  juxtaposition  under  the  same  life 
conditions.  These  are  hunger,  sex  passion,  vanity,  and  fear  (of 
ghosts  and  spirits).  Under  each  of  these  motives  there  are 
interests.  Life  consists  in  satisfying  interests,  for  "life,"  in  a 
society,  is  a  career  of  action  and  effort  expended  on  both  the 

^  Une  Femme  chez  les  Sahariennes,  105. 


FUNDAMENTAL  NOTIONS 


19 


material  and  social  environment.  However  great  the  errors  and 
misconceptions  may  be  which  are  included  in  the  efforts,  the  pur- 
pose always  is  advantage  and  expediency.  The  efforts  fall  into 
parallel  lines,  because  the  conditions  and  the  interests  are  the 
same.  It  is  now  the  accepted  opinion,  and  it  may  be  correct,  that 
men  inherited  from  their  beast  ancestors  psychophysical  traits, 
instincts,  and  dexterities,  or  at  least  predispositions,  which  give 
them  aid  in  solving  the  problems  of  food  supply,  sex  commerce, 
and  vanity.  The  result  is  mass  phenomena  ;  currents  of  similarity, 
concurrence,  and  mutual  contribution  ;  and  these  produce  folk- 
ways. The  folkways  are  unconscious,  spontaneous,  uncoordinated. 
It  is  never  known  who  led  in  devising  them,  although  we  must 
believe  that  talent  exerted  its  leadership  at  all  times.  Folkways 
come  into  existence  now  all  the  time.  There  were  folkways  in 
stage  coach  times,  which  were  fitted  to  that  mode  of  travel.  Street 
cars  have  produced  ways  which  are  suited  to  that  mode  of  trans- 
portation in  cities.  The  telephone  has  produced  ways  which  have 
not  been  invented  and  imposed  by  anybody,  but  which  are  devised 
to  satisfy  conveniently  the  interests  which  are  at  stake  in  the  use 
of  that  instrument. 

23.  Process  of  making  folkways.  Although  we  may  see  the 
process  of  making  folkways  going  on  all  the  time,  the  analysis  of 
the  process  is  very  difficult.  It  appears  as  if  there  was  a  "mind  " 
in  the  crowd  which  was  different  from  the  minds  of  the  individ- 
uals which  compose  it.  Indeed  some  have  adopted  such  a  doc- 
trine. By  autosuggestion  the  stronger  minds  produce  ideas  which 
when  set  afloat  pass  by  suggestion  from  mind  to  mind.  Acts 
which  are  consonant  with  the  ideas  are  imitated.  There  is  a  give 
and  take  between  man  and  man.  This  process  is  one  of  develop- 
ment. New  suggestions  come  in  at  point  after  point.  They  are 
carried  out.  They  combine  with  what  existed  already.  Every 
new  step  increases  the  number  of  points  upon  which  other  minds 
may  seize.  It  seems  to  be  by  this  process  that  great  inventions 
are  produced.  Knowledge  has  been  won  and  extended  by  it.  It 
seems  as  if  the  crowd  had  a  mystic  power  in  it  greater  than  the 
sum  of  the  powers  of  its  members.  It  is  sufficient,  however,  to 
explain  this,  to  notice  that  there  is  a  cooperation  and  constant 


20  FOLKWAYS 

suggestion  which  is  highly  productive  when  it  operates  in  a 
crowd,  because  it  draws  out  latent  power,  concentrates  what 
would  otherwise  be  scattered,  verifies  and  corrects  what  has 
been  taken  up,  eliminates  error,  and  constructs  by  combination. 
Hence  the  gain  from  the  collective  operation  is  fully  accounted 
for,  and  the  theories  of  Volko'psychologie  are  to  be  rejected 
as  superfluous.  Out  of  the  process  which  has  been  described 
have  come  the  folkways  during  the  whole  history  of  civilization. 

The  phenomena  of  suggestion  and  suggestibility  demand  some 
attention  because  the  members  of  a  group  are  continually  affect- 
ing each  other  by  them,  and  great  mass  phenomena  very  often 
are  to  be  explained  by  them. 

24.  Suggestion  ;  suggestibility.  What  has  been  called  the  psy- 
chology of  crowds  consists  of  certain  phenomena  of  suggestion. 
A  number  of  persons  assembled  together,  especially  if  they  are 
enthused  by  the  same  sentiment  or  stimulated  by  the  same 
interest,  transmit  impulses  to  each  other  with  the  result  that 
all  the  impulses  are  increased  in  a  very  high  ratio.  In  other 
words,  it  is  an  undisputed  fact  that  all  mental  states  and  emo- 
ticiis  are  greatly  increased  in  force  by  transmission  from  man  to 
man,  especially  if  they  are  attended  by  a  sense  of  the  concurrence 
and  cooperation  of  a  great  number  who  have  a  common  senti- 
ment or  interest.  "The  element  of  psychic  coercion  to  which 
our  thought  process  is  subject  is  the  characteristic  of  the  opera- 
tions which  we  call  suggestive."  ^  What  we  have  done  or  heard 
occupies  our  minds  so  that  we  cannot  turn  from  it  to  something 
else.  The  consensus  of  a  number  promises  triumph  for  the 
impulse,  whatever  it  is.  Ca  ira.  There  is  a  thrill  of  enthusiasm 
in  the  sense  of  moving  with  a  great  number.  There  is  no  delib- 
eration or  reason.  Therefore  a  crowd  may  do  things  which  are 
either  better  or  worse  than  what  individuals  in  it  would  do. 
Cases  of  lynching  show  how  a  crowd  can  do  things  which  it  is 
extremely  improbable  that  the  individuals  would  do  or  consent 
to,  if  they  were  taken  separately.  The  crowd  has  no  greater 
guarantee  of  wisdom  and  virtue  than  an  individual  would  have. 
In  fact,  the  participants  in  a  crowd  almost  always  throw  away 

1  Stoll,  Suggestion  tind  Hypnotisrtiiis,  702. 


FUNDAMENTAL  NOTIONS  21 

all  the  powers  of  wise  judgment  which  have  been  acquired  by 
education,  and  submit  to  the  control  of  enthusiasm,  passion, 
animal  impulse,  or  brute  appetite.  A  crowd  always  has  a  com- 
mon stock  of  elementary  faiths,  prejudices,  loves  and  hates,  and 
pet  notions.  The  common  stock  is  acted  on  by  the  same  stimuli, 
in  all  the  persons,  at  the  same  time.  The  response,  as  an  aggre- 
gate, is  a  great  storm  of  feeling,  and  a  great  impulse  to  the  will. 
Hence  the  great  influence  of  omens  and  of  all  popular  supersti- 
tions on  a  crowd.  Omens  are  a  case  of  "egoistic  reference."^ 
An  army  desists  from  a  battle  on  account  of  an  eclipse.  A  man 
starting  out  on  the  food  quest  returns  home  because  a  lizard 
crosses  his  path.  In  each  case  an  incident  in  nature  is  inter- 
preted a^  a  warning  or  direction  to  the  army  or  the  man.  Thus 
momentous  results  for  men  and  nations  may  be  produced  with- 
out cause.  The  power  of  watchwords  consists  in  the  cluster  of 
suggestions  which  has  become  fastened  upon  them.  In  the 
Middle  Ages  the  word  "heretic"  won  a  frightful  suggestion  of 
base  wickedness.  In  the  seventeenth  century  the  same  sugges- 
tions were  connected  with  the  words  "witch"  and  "traitor." 
"  Nature  "  acquired  great  suggestion  of  purity  and  correctness 
in  the  eighteenth  century,  which  it  has  not  yet  lost.  "  Progress  " 
now  bears  amongst  us  a  very  undue  weight  of  suggestion.  Sug- 
gestibility is  the  quality  of  liability  to  suggestive  influence.^ 
"  Suggestibility  is  the  natural  faculty  of  the  brain  to  admit  any 
ideas  whatsoever,  without  motive,  to  assimilate  them,  and  eventu- 
ally to  transform  them  rapidly  into  movements,  sensations,  and 
inhibitions."^  It  differs  greatly  in  degree,  and  is  present  in  dif- 
ferent grades  in  different  crowds.  Crowds  of  different  nation- 
alities would  differ  both  in  degree  of  suggestibility  and  in  the 
kinds  of  suggestive  stimuli  to  which  they  would  respond.  Imi- 
tation is  due  to  suggestibility.  Even  suicide  is  rendered  epidemic 
by  suggestion  and  imitation.'^  In  a  crisis,  like  a  shipwreck,  when 
no  one  knows  what  to  do,  one,  by  acting,  may  lead  them  all 

^  Friedmann,    WaJinidecii  ini   Volkerleben,  222. 

2  Binet,  La  Snggestibilitt,  treats  of  its  use  in  education. 

^  Lefevre,  La  Suggestion,  102. 

*  Funck-Brentano,  Le  Suicide,  117. 


2  2  FOLKWAYS 

through  imitative  suggestibiUty.  People  who  are  very  suggestible 
can  be  led  into  states  of  mind  which  preclude  criticism  or  reflec- 
tion. Any  one  who  acquires  skill  in  the  primary  processes  of 
association,  analogy,  reiteration,  and  continuity,  can  play  tricks 
on  others  by  stimulating  these  processes  and  then  giving  them 
selected  data  to  work  upon.  A  directive  idea  may  be  suggested 
by  a  series  of  ideas  which  lead  the  recipient  of  them  to  expect 
that  the  series  will  be  continued.  Then  he  will  not  perceive  if 
the  series  is  broken.  In  the  Renaissance  period  no  degree  of 
illumination  sufficed  to  resist  the  delusion  of  astrology,  because 
it  was  supported  by  a  passionate  fantasy  and  a  vehement  desire 
to  know  the  future,  and  because  it  was  confirmed  by  antiquity, 
the  authority  of  whose  opinions  was  overwhelmingly  suggested 
by  all  the  faiths  and  prejudices  of  the  time.^ 

25.  Suggestion  in  education.  Manias.  Parents  and  teachers  use  sugges- 
tion in  rearing  children.  Persons  who  enjoy  social  preeminence  operate 
suggestion  all  the  time,  whether  intentionally  or  unintentionally.  Whatever 
they  do  is  imitated.  Folkways  operate  on  individuals  by  suggestion ;  when 
they  are  elevated  to  mores  they  do  so  still  more,  for  then  they  carry  the 
suggestion  of  societal  welfare.  Ways  and  notions  may  be  rejected  by  an 
individual  at  first  upon  his  judgment  of  their  merits,  but  repeated  sugges- 
tion produces  familiarity  and  dulls  the  effect  upon  him  of  the  features  which 
at  first  repelled  him.  Familiar  cases  of  this  are  furnished  by  fashions  of 
dress  and  by  slang.  A  new  fashion  of  dress  seems  at  first  to  be  absurd, 
ungraceful,  or  indecent.  After  a  time  this  first  impression  of  it  is  so  dulled 
that  all  conform  to  the  fashion.  New  slang  seems  vulgar.  It  makes  its 
way  into  use.  In  India  the  lingam  symbol  is  so  common  that  no  one  pays 
any  heed  to  its  sense. ^  This  power  of  familiarity  to  reduce  the  suggestion 
to  zero  furnishes  a  negative  proof  of  the  power  of  the  suggestion.  Con- 
ventionalization also  reduces  suggestion,  perhaps  to  zero.  It  is  a  mischie- 
vous thing  to  read  descriptions  of  crime,  vice,  horrors,  excessive  adventures, 
etc.,  because  familiarity  lessens  the  abhorrent  suggestions  which  those 
things  ought  to  produce.  Swindlers  and  all  others  who  have  an  interest 
to  lead  the  minds  of  their  fellow-men  in  a  certain  direction  employ  sugges- 
tion. They  often  develop  great  practical  skill  in  the  operation,  although 
they  do  not  understand  the  science  of  it.  It  is  one  of  the  arts  of  the  dema- 
gogue and  stump  orator.  A  man  who  wanted  to  be  nominated  for  an  office 
went  before  the  convention  to  make  a  speech.  A  great  and  difficult  question 
agitated  the  party.    He  began  by  saying  that  he  would  state  his  position 

^  Burckhardt,  Renaissance^  512.  2  Nivedita,  Web  of  Indian  Life,  212. 


FUNDAMENTAL  NOTIONS  23 

on  that  question  frankly  and  fully.  "  But  first,"  said  he,  "  let  me  say  that 
I  am  a  Democrat."  This  brought  out  a  storm  of  applause.  Then  he  went 
on  to  boast  of  his  services  to  the  party,  and  then  he  stopped  without  hav- 
ing said  a  word  on  the  great  question.  He  was  easily  nominated.  The 
witch  persecutions  rested  on  suggestion.  "  Everybody  knew "  that  there 
were  witches.  If  not,  what  were  the  people  who  were  burned?  Philip  IV 
of  France  wanted  to  make  the  people  believe  that  the  templars  were  heretics. 
The  people  were  not  ready  to  believe  this.  The  king  caused  the  corpse  of 
a  templar  to  be  dug  up  and  burned,  as  the  corpses  of  heretics  were  burned. 
This  convinced  the  people  by  suggestion. ^  What  "  they  say,"  what  "  every- 
body does,"  and  what  "  everybody  knows "  are  controlling  suggestions. 
Religious  revivals  are  carried  on  by  suggestion.  Mediaeval  flagellations 
and  dances  were  cases  of  suggestion.  In  fact,  all  popular  manias  are  to 
be  explained  by  it.  Religious  bodies  practice  suggestion  on  themselves, 
especially  on  their  children  or  less  enthusiastic  members,  by  symbols,  pic- 
tures, images,  processions,  dramatic  representations,  festivals,  relics,  legends 
of  their  heroes.  In  the  Middle  Ages  the  crucifix  was  an  instrument  of  reli- 
gious suggestion  to  produce  vivid  apprehension  of  the  death  of  Jesus.  In 
very  many  well-known  cases  the  passions  of  the  crowd  were  raised  to  the 
point  of  very  violent  action.  The  symbols  and  images  also,  by  suggestion, 
stimulate  religious  fervor.  If  numbers  act  together,  as  in  convents,  mass 
phenomena  are  produced,  and  such  results  follow  as  the  hysterical  epidemics 
in  convents  and  the  extravagances  of  communistic  sects.'-^  Learned  societies 
and  numbers  of  persons  who  are  interested  in  the  same  subject,  by  meeting 
and  imparting  suggestions,  make  all  the  ideas  of  each  the  common  stock  of 
all.  Hyperboreans  have  a  mental  disease  which  renders  them  liable  to 
suggestion.  The  women  are  afflicted  by  hysteria  before  puberty.  Later 
they  show  the  phenomena  of  "  possession,"  —  dancing  and  singing,  —  and 
still  later  catalepsy.^ 

26.  Suggestion  in  politics.  The  great  field  for  the  use  of  the  devices  and 
apparatus  of  suggestion  at  the  present  time  is  politics.  Within  fifty  years 
all  states  have  become  largely  popular.  Suggestion  is  easy  when  it  falls  in 
with  popular  ideas,  the  pet  notions  of  groups  of  people,  the  popular  common- 
places, and  the  current  habits  of  thought  and  feeling.  Newspapers,  popular 
literature,  and  popular  oratory  show  the  effort  to  operate  suggestion  along 
these  lines.  They  rarely  correct ;  they  usually  flatter  the  accepted  notions. 
The  art  of  adroit  suggestion  is  one  of  the  great  arts  of  politics.  Antony's 
speech  over  the  body  of  Cassar  is  a  classical  example  of  it.  In  politics, 
especially  at  elections,  the  old  apparatus  of  suggestion  is  employed  again,  — 
flags,  symbols,  ceremonies,  and  celebrations.  Patriotism  is  systematically 
cultivated  by  anniversaries,   pilgrimages,  symbols,    songs,  recitations,  etc. 

1  Schotmiiller,  Untergang  des  Templer-Ordens,  I,  136. 

2  Regnard,  Les  Maladies  Epidemicjiies  de  P Esprit. 
»  Globus,  LXXXV,  262. 


24  FOLKWAYS 

Another  very  remarkable  case  of  suggestion  is  furnished  by  modem  advertise- 
ments. They  are  adroitly  planned  to  touch  the  mind  of  the  reader  in  a  way 
to  get  the  reaction  which  the  advertiser  wants.  The  advertising  pages  of 
our  popular  magazines  furnish  evidence  of  the  faiths  and  ideas  which  prevail 
in  the  masses. 

27.  Suggestion  and  criticism.  Suggestion  is  a  legitimate  device,  if  it  is 
honestly  used,  for  inculcating  knowledge  or  principles  of  conduct ;  that  is, 
for  education  in  the  broadest  sense  of  the  word.  Criticism  is  the  operation 
by  which  suggestion  is  limited  and  corrected.  It  is  by  criticism  that  the 
person  is  protected  against  credulity,  emotion,  and  fallacy.  The  power  of 
criticism  is  the  one  which  education  should  chiefly  train.  It  is  difficult  to 
resist  the  suggestion  that  one  who  is  accused  of  crime  is  guilty.  Lynchers 
generally  succumb  to  this  suggestion,  especially  if  the  crime  was  a  heinous 
one  which  has  strongly  excited  their  emotions  against  the  unknown  somebody 
who  perpetrated  it.  It  requires  criticism  to  resist  this  suggestion.  Our 
judicial  institutions  are  devised  to  hold  this  suggestion  aloof  until  the  evidence 
is  examined.  An  educated  man  ought  to  be  beyond  the  reach  of  suggestions 
from  advertisements,  newspapers,  speeches,  and  stories.  If  he  is  wise,  just 
when  a  crowd  is  filled  with  enthusiasm  and  emotion,  he  will  leave  it  and  will 
go  off  by  himself  to  form  his  judgment.  In  short,  individuality  and  personality 
of  character  are  the  opposites  of  suggestibility.  Autosuggestion  properly 
includes  all  the  cases  in  which  a  man  is  "  struck  by  an  idea,"  or  "  takes  a 
notion,"  but  it  is  more  strictly  applied  to  fixed  ideas  and  habits  of  thought. 
An  irritation  suggests  parasites,  and  parasites  suggest  an  irritation.  The 
fear  of  stammering  causes  stammering.  A  sleeping  man  drives  away  a  fly 
without  waking.  If  we  are  in  a  pose  or  role,  we  act  as  we  have  heard  that 
people  act  in  that  pose  or  role.^  A  highly  trained  judgment  is  required  to 
correct  or  select  one's  own  ideas  and  to  resist  fixed  ideas.  The  supreme 
criticism  is  criticism  of  one's  self. 

28.  Folkways  due  to  false  inference.  Furthermore,  folkways 
have  been  formed  by  accident,  that  is,  by  irrational  and  incon- 
gruous action,  based  on  pseudo-knowledge.  In  Molembo  a  pesti- 
lence broke  out  soon  after  a  Portuguese  had  died  there.  After 
that  the  natives  took  all  possible  measures  not  to  allow  any 
white  man  to  die  in  their  country.^  On  the  Nicobar  islands 
some  natives  who  had  just  begun  to  make  pottery  died.  The 
art  was  given  up  and  never  again  attempted.^  White  men  gave 
to  one  Bushman  in  a  kraal  a  stick  ornamented  with  buttons  as 
a  symbol  of  authority.    The  recipient  died  leaving  the  stick  to 

^  Lefevre,  Suggestion,  98.  2  Bastian,  San  Salvador,  104. 

^  Ratzel,  Anthropogeog.,  II,  699. 


FUNDAMENTAL   NOTIONS  25 

his  son.  The  son  soon  died.  Then  the  Bushmen  brought  back 
the  stick  lest  all  should  die.^  Until  recently  no  building  of 
incombustible  materials  could  be  built  in  any  big  town  of  the 
central  province  of  Madagascar,  on  account  of  some  ancient 
prejudice.^  A  party  of  Eskimos  met  with  no  game.  One  of 
them  returned  to  their  sledges  and  got  the  ham  of  a  dog  to 
eat.  As  he  returned  with  the  ham  bone  in  his  hand  he  met 
and  killed  a  seal.  Ever  afterwards  he  carried  a  ham  bone  in 
his  hand  when  hunting.^  The  Belenda  women  (peninsula  of  Ma- 
lacca) stay  as  near  to  the  house  as  possible  during  the  period. 
Many  keep  the  door  closed.  They  know  no  reason  for  this  cus- 
tom. "  It  must  be  due  to  some  now  forgotten  superstition."  * 
Soon  after  the  Yakuts  saw  a  camel  for  the  first  time  smallpox 
broke  out  amongst  them.  They  thought  the  camel  to  be  the 
agent  of  the  disease.^  A  woman  amongst  the  same  people  con- 
tracted an  endogamous  marriage.  She  soon  afterwards  became 
blind.  This  was  thought  to  be  on  account  of  the  violation  of 
ancient  customs.''  A  very  great  number  of  such  cases  could  be 
collected.  In  fact  they  represent  the  current  mode  of  reasoning 
of  nature  people.  It  is  their  custom  to  reason  that,  if  one  thing 
follows  another,  it  is  due  to  it.  A  great  number  of  customs 
are  traceable  to  the  notion  of  the  evil  eye,  many  more  to  ritual 
notions  of  uncleanness.'^  No  scientific  investigation  could  dis- 
cover the  origin  of  the  folkways  mentioned,  if  the  origin  had 
not  chanced  to  become  known  to  civilized  men.  We  must 
believe  that  the  known  cases  illustrate  the  irrational  and  incon- 
gruous origin  of  many  folkways.  In  civilized  history  also  we 
know  that  customs  have  owed  their  origin  to  "historical  acci- 
dent,"—  the  vanity  of  a  princess,  the  deformity  of  a  king,  the 
whim  of  a  democracy,  the  love  intrigue  of  a  statesman  or  prelate. 
By  the  institutions  of  another  age  it  may  be  provided  that  no 
one  of  these  things  can  affect  decisions,  acts,  or  interests,  but 
then  the  power  to  decide  the  ways  may  have  passed  to  clubs, 

1  Lichtenstein,  South  Africa,  II,  61.  *  Ztsft.f.  Et/i.,  XXVIII,  170, 

2  Sibree,  Great  African  Island,  301.  ^  Wilken,   Volkenkunde,  546. 

3  Bur.  Eth.,  XVIII  (Part  I),  325.  «  Sieroshevski,  Yakuty,  558. 

7  See  Chapter  XIV. 


26  FOLKWAYS 

trades  unions,  trusts,  commercial  rivals,  wire-pullers,  politicians, 
and  political  fanatics.  In  these  cases  also  the  causes  and  origins 
may  escape  investigation. 

29.  Harmful  folkways.  There  are  folkways  which  are  posi- 
tively harmful.  Very  often  these  are  just  the  ones  for  which  a 
definite  reason  can  be  given.  The  destruction  of  a  man's  goods 
at  his  death  is  a  direct  deduction  from  other-worldliness  ;  the 
dead  man  is  supposed  to  want  in  the  other  world  just  what  he 
wanted  here.  The  destruction  of  a  man's  goods  at  his  death  was 
a  great  waste  of  capital,  and  it  must  have  had  a  disastrous  effect 
on  the  interests  of  the  living,  and  must  have  very  seriously  hin- 
dered the  development  of  civilization.  With  this  custom  we  must 
class  all  the  expenditure  of  labor  and  capital  on  graves,  temples, 
pyramids,  rites,  sacrifices,  and  support  of  priests,  so  far  as  these 
were  supposed  to  benefit  the  dead.  The  faith  in  goblinism  pro- 
duced other-worldly  interests  which  overruled  ordinary  worldly 
interests.  Foods  have  often  been  forbidden  which  were  plentiful, 
the  prohibition  of  which  injuriously  lessened  the  food  supply. 
There  is  a  tribe  of  Bushmen  who  will  eat  no  goat's  flesh,  although 
goats  are  the  most  numerous  domestic  animals  in  the  district.^ 
Where  totemism  exists  it  is  regularly  accompanied  by  a  taboo 
on  eating  the  totem  animal.  Whatever  may  be  the  real  principle 
in  totemism,  it  overrules  the  interest  in  an  abundant  food  supply. 
"  The  origin  of  the  sacred  regard  paid  to  the  cow  must  be  sought 
in  the  primitive  nomadic  life  of  the  Indo-European  race,"  because 
it  is  common  to  Iranians  and  Indians  of  Hindostan.^  The 
Libyans  ate  oxen  but  not  cows.^  The  same  was  true  of  the 
Phoenicians  and  Egyptians.^  In  some  cases  the  sense  of  a  food 
taboo  is  not  to  be  learned.  It  may  have  been  entirely  capricious. 
Mohammed  would  not  eat  lizards,  because  he  thought  them  the 
offspring  of  a  metamorphosed  clan  of  Israelites.^  On  the  other 
hand,  the  protective  taboo  which  forbade  killing  crocodiles, 
pythons,  cobras,  and  other  animals  enemies  of  man  was  harmful 

1  Ratzel ,  Hist.  Mankind,  II,  276. 

2  W.  R.  Smith,  Religion  of  the  Semites,  299. 

3  Herodotus,  IV,  1S6. 

*  Porphyry,  De  Abstin.,  II,  11  ;  Herodotus,  II,  41. 
6  W.  R.  Smith,  Religion  of  the  Semites,  88. 


FUNDAMENTAL  NOTIONS  27 

to  his  interests,  whatever  the  motive.  "  It  seems  to  be  a  fixed 
article  of  belief  throughout  southern  India,  that  all  who  have 
willfully  or  accidentally  killed  a  snake,  especially  a  cobra,  will 
certainly  be  punished,  either  in  this  life  or  the  next,  in  one  of 
three  ways  :  either  by  childlessness,  or  by  leprosy,  or  by  ophthal- 
mia." ^  Where  this  faith  exists  man  has  a  greater  interest  to 
spare  a  cobra  than  to  kill  it.  India  furnishes  a  great  number  of 
cases  of  harmful  mores.  "  In  India  every  tendency  of  humanity 
seems  intensified  and  exaggerated.  No  country  in  the  world  is 
so  conservative  in  its  traditions,  yet  no  country  has  undergone 
so  many  religious  changes  and  vicissitudes."  ^  "  Every  year  thou- 
sands perish  of  disease  that  might  recover  if  they  would  take 
proper  nourishment,  and  drink  the  medicine  that  science  pre- 
scribes, but  which  they  imagine  that  their  religion  forbids  them 
to  touch."  "  Men  who  can  scarcely  count  beyond  twenty,  and 
know  not  the  letters  of  the  alphabet,  would  rather  did'  than  eat 
food  which  had  been  prepared  by  men  of  lower  caste,  unless  it 
had  been  sanctified  by  being  offered  to  an  idol ;  and  would  kill 
their  daughters  rather  than  endure  the  disgrace  of  having  un- 
married girls  at  home  beyond  twelve  or  thirteen  years  of  age."  ^ 
In  the  last  case  the  rule  of  obligation  and  duty  is  set  by  the 
mores.  The  interest  comes  under  vanity.  The  sanction  of  the 
caste  rules  is  in  a  boycott  by  all  members  of  the  caste.  The 
rules  are  often  very  harmful.  "  The  authority  of  caste  rests 
partly  on  written  laws,  partly  on  legendary  fables  or  narratives, 
partly  on  the  injunctions  of  instructors  and  priests,  partly  on 
custom  and  usage,  and  partly  on  the  caprice  and  convenience  of 
its  votaries."  *  The  harm  of  caste  rules  is  so  great  that  of  late 
they  have  been  broken  in  some  cases,  especially  in  regard  to 
travel  over  sea,  which  is  a  great  advantage  to  Hindoos.^  The 
Hindoo  folkways  in  regard  to  widows  and  child  marriages  must 
also  be  recognized  as  socially  harmful. 

30.  How  "  true  "  and  <'  right  "  are  found.    If  a  savage  puts  his 
hand  too  near  the  fire,  he  suffers  pain  and  draws  it  back.    He 

^  Monier- Williams,   Bra/imaiiism  and  Hinduism,  324. 

2  Ibid.,  loi.  *  Ibid.,  125. 

8  Wilkins,  Hinduism,  299.  6  JASB,  IV,  353. 


28  FOLKWAYS 

knows  nothing  of  the  laws  of  the  radiation  of  heat,  but  his  instinc- 
tive action  conforms  to  that  law  as  if  he  did  know  it.  If  he  wants 
to  catch  an  animal  for  food,  he  must  study  its  habits  and  prepare 
a  device  adjusted  to  those  habits.  If  it  fails,  he  must  try  again, 
until  his  observation  is  "  true  "  and  his  device  is  "  right."  All 
the  practical  and  direct  element  in  the  folkways  seems  to  be  due 
to  common  sense,  natural  reason,  intuition,  or  some  other  original 
mental  endowment.  It  seems  rational  (or  rationalistic)  and  utili- 
tarian. Often  in  the  mythologies  this  ultimate  rational  element 
was  ascribed  to  the  teaching  of  a  god  or  a  culture  hero.  In 
modern  mythology  it  is  accounted  for  as  "natural." 

Although  the  ways  adopted  must  always  be  really  "true  "  and 
"right  "  in  relation  to  facts,  for  otherwise  they  could  not  answer 
their  purpose,  such  is  not  the  primitive  notion  of  true  and  right. 

31.  The  folkways  are  <'right."  Rights.  Morals.  The  folk- 
ways are  the  "right  "  ways  to  satisfy  all  interests,  because  they 
are  traditional,  and  exist  in  fact.  They  extend  over  the  whole  of 
life.  There  is  a  right  way  to  catch  game,  to  win  a  wife,  to  make 
one's  self  appear,  to  cure  disease,  to  honor  ghosts,  to  treat  com- 
rades or  strangers,  to  behave  when  a  child  is  born,  on  the  war- 
path, in  council,  and  so  on  in  all  cases  which  can  arise.  The  ways 
are  defined  on  the  negative  side,  that  is,  by  taboos.  The  "right" 
way  is  the  way  which  the  ancestors  used  and  which  has  been 
handed  down.  The  tradition  is  its  own  warrant.  It  is  not  held 
subject  to  verification  by  experience.  The  notion  of  right  is  in 
the  folkways.  It  is  not  outside  of  them,  of  independent  origin, 
and  brought  to  them  to  test  them.  In  the  folkways,  whatever  is, 
is  right.  This  is  because  they  are  traditional,  and  therefore  con- 
tain in  themselves  the  authority  of  the  ancestral  ghosts.  When 
we  come  to  the  folkways  we  are  at  the  end  of  our  analysis.  The 
notion  of  right  and  ought  is  the  same  in  regard  to  all  the  folk- 
ways, but  the  degree  of  it  varies  with  the  importance  of  the 
interest  at  stake.  The  obligation  of  conformable  and  cooperative 
action  is  far  greater  under  ghost  fear  and  war  than  in  other  mat- 
ters, and  the  social  sanctions  are  severer,  because  group  interests 
are  supposed  to  be  at  stake.  Some  usages  contain  only  a  slight 
element  of  right  and  ought.    It  may  well  be  believed  that  notions 


FUNDAMENTAL  NOTIONS 


29 


of  right  and  duty,  and  of  social  welfare,  were  first  developed  in  con- 
nection with  ghost  fear  and  other-worldliness,  and  therefore  that, 
in  that  field  also,  folkways  were  first  raised  to  mores.  "  Rights" 
are  the  riles  of  mutual  give  and  take  in  the  competition  of  life 
which  are  imposed  on  comrades  in  the  in-group,  in  order  that  the 
peace  may  prevail  there  which  is  essential  to  the  group  strength. 
Therefore  rights  can  never  be  "natural"  or  "God-given,"  or 
absolute  in  any  sense.  The  morality  of  a  group  at  a  time  is  the 
sum  of  the  taboos  and  prescriptions  in  the  folkways  by  which 
right  conduct  is  defined.  Therefore  morals  can  never  be  intuitive. 
They  are  historical,  institutional,  and  empirical. 

World  philosophy,  life  policy,  right,  rights,  and  morality  are 
all  products  of  the  folkways.  They  are  reflections  on,  and  general- 
izations from,  the  experience  of  pleasure  and  pain  which  is  won 
in  efforts  to  carry  on  the  struggle  for  existence  under  actual  life 
conditions.  The  generalizations  are  very  crude  and  vague  in  their 
germinal  forms.  They  are  all  embodied  in  folklore,  and  all  our 
philosophy  and  science  have  been  developed  out  of  them. 

32.  The  folkways  are  "  true."  The  folkways  are  necessarily 
"true  "  with  respect  to  some  world  philosophy.  Pain  forced  men 
to  think.  The  ills  of  life  imposed  reflection  and  taught  fore- 
thought. Mental  processes  were  irksome  and  were  not  under- 
taken until  painful  experience  made  them  unavoidable.^  With 
great  unanimity  all  over  the  globe  primitive  men  followed  the 
same  line  of  thought.  The  dead  were  believed  to  live  on  as  ghosts 
in  another  world  just  like  this  one.  The  ghosts  had  just  the  same 
needs,  tastes,  passions,  etc.,  as  the  living  men  had  had.  These 
transcendental  notions  were  the  beginning  of  the  mental  outfit  of 
mankind.  They  are  articles  of  faith,  not  rational  convictions. 
The  living  had  duties  to  the  ghosts,  and  the  ghosts  had  rights  ; 
they  also  had  power  to  enforce  their  rights.  It  behooved  the 
living  therefore  to  learn  how  to  deal  with  ghosts.  Here  we  have 
a  complete  world  philosophy  and  a  life  policy  deduced  from  it. 
When  pain,  loss,  and  ill  were  experienced  and  the  question  was 
provoked,  Who  did  this  to  us  .?  the  world  philosophy  furnished 
the  answer.    When  the  painful  experience  forced  the  question, 

1  Fritsch,  Eingeborenen  Siidafr.,  57. 


30  FOLKWAYS 

Why  are  the  ghosts  angry  and  what  must  we  do  to  appea;>e  them  ? 
the  "right "  answer  was  the  one  which  fitted  into  the  p)iilosophy 
of  ghost  fear.  All  acts  were  therefore  constrained  and  trained 
into  the  forms  of  the  world  philosophy  by  ghost  fear,  ancestral 
authority,  taboos,  and  habit.  The  habits  and  customs  created  a 
practical  philosophy  of  welfare,  and  they  confirmed  and  developed 
the  religious  theories  of  goblinism. 

33.  Relation  of  world  philosophy  and  folkways.  Jt  is  quite 
impossible  for  us  to  disentangle  the  elements  of  philosophy  and 
custom,  so  as  to  determine  priority  and  the  causative  position  of 
either.  Our  best  judgment  is  that  the  mystic  philosophy  is  regu- 
lative, not  creative,  in  its  relation  to  the  folkways.  Tfvey  reacted 
upon  each  other.  The  faith  in  the  world  philosophy  drew  lines 
outside  of  which  the  folkways  must  not  go.  Crude  and  vague 
notions  of  societal  welfare  were  formed  from  the  notion  of  pleas- 
ing the  ghosts,  and  from  such  notions  of  expediency  as  the 
opinion  that,  if  there  were  not  children  enough,  there  would  not 
be  warriors  enough,  or  that,  if  there  were  too  many  children,  the 
food  supply  would  not  be  adequate.  The  notion  of  welfare  was 
an  inference  and  resultant  from  these  mystic  and  utilitarian 
generalizations. 

34.  Definition  of  the  mores.  When  the  elements  of  truth  and 
right  are  developed  into,  doctrines  of  welfare,  the  folkways  are 
raised  to  another  plane.  They  then  become  capable  of  produc- 
ing inferences,  developing  into  new  forms,  and  extending  their 
constructive  influence  over  men  and  society.  Then  we  call  them 
the  mores.  The  mores  are  the  folkways,  including  the  philosoph- 
ical and  ethical  generalizations  as  to  societal  welfare  which  are 
suggested  by  them,  and  inherent  in  them,  as  they  grow. 

35.  Taboos.  The  mores  necessarily  consist,  in  a  large  part,  of 
taboos,  which  indicate  the  things  which  must  not  be  done.  In 
part  these  are  dictated  by  mystic  dread  of  ghosts  who  might  be 
offended  by  certain  acts,  but  they  also  include  such  acts  as  have 
been  found  by  experience  to  produce  unwelcome  results,  espe- 
cially in  the  food  quest,  in  war,  in  health,  or  in  increase  or 
decrease  of  population.  These  taboos  always  contain  a  greater 
element  of  philosophy  than  the  positive  rules,  because  the  taboos 


FUNDAMENTAL  NOTIONS  3! 

contain  reference  to  a  reason,  as,  for  instance,  that  the  act  would 
displease  the  ghosts.  The  primitive  taboos  correspond  to  the 
fact  that  the  life  of  man  is  environed  by  perils.  His  food  quest 
must  be  limited  by  shunning  poisonous  plants.  His  appetite  must 
be  restrained  from  excess.  His  physical  strength  and  health 
must  be  guarded  from  dangers.  The  taboos  carry  on  the  accumu- 
lated wisdom  of  generations,  which  has  almost  always  been  pur- 
chased by  pain,  loss,  disease,  and  death.  Other  taboos  contain 
inhibitions  of  what  will  be  injurious  to  the  group.  The  laws 
about  the  sexes,  about  property,  about  war,  and  about  ghosts, 
have  this  character.  They  always  include  some  social  philosophy. 
They  are  both  mystic  and  utilitarian,  or  compounded  of  the  two. 

Taboos  may  be  divided  into  two  classes,  (i)  protective  and 
(2)  destructive.  Some  of  them  aim  to  protect  and  secure,  while 
others  aim  to  repress  or  exterminate.  Women  are  subject  to 
some  taboos  which  are  directed  against  them  as  sources  of  possi- 
ble harm  or  danger  to  men,  and  they  are  subject  to  other  taboos 
which  put  them  outside  of  the  duties  or  risks  of  men.  On  account 
of  this  difference  in  taboos,  taboos  act  selectively,  and  thus  affect 
the  course  of  civilization.  They  contain  judgments  as  to  societal 
welfare. 

36.  No  primitive  philosophizing ;  myths ;  fables ;  notion  of 
societal  welfare.  It  is  not  to  be  understood  that  primitive  men 
philosophize  about  their  experience  of  life.  That  is  our  way  ;  it 
was  not  theirs.  They  did  not  formulate  any  propositions  about 
the  causes,  significance,  or  ultimate  relations  of  things.  They 
made  myths,  however,  in  which  they  often  presented  conceptions 
which  are  deeply  philosophical,  but  they  represented  them  in  con- 
crete, personal,  dramatic  and  graphic  ways.  They  feared  pain  and 
ill,  and  they  produced  folkways  by  their  defaces  for  warding  off 
pain  and  ill.  Those  devices  were  acts  of  ritual  which  were 
planned  upon  their  vague  and  crude  faiths  about  ghosts  and  the 
other  world.  We  develop  the  connection  between  the  devices 
and  the  faiths,  and  we  reduce  it  to  propositions  of  a  philosophic 
form,  but  the  primitive  men  never  did  that.  Their  myths,  fables, 
proverbs,  and  maxims  show  that  the  subtler  relations  of  things 
did  not  escape  them,  and  that  reflection  was  not  wanting,  but 


32 


FOLKWAYS 


the  method  of  it  was  very  different  from  ours.  The  notion  of 
societal  welfare  was  not  wanting,  although  it  was  never  consciously 
put  before  themselves  as  their  purpose.  It  was  pestilence,  as  a 
visitation  of  the  wrath  of  ghosts  on  all,  or  war,  which  first  taught 
this  idea,  because  war  was  connected  with  victory  over  a  neigh- 
boring group.  The  Bataks  have  a  legend  that  men  once  married 
their  fathers'  sisters'  daughters,  but  calamities  followed  and  so 
those  marriages  were  tabooed.^  This  inference  and  the  cases 
mentioned  in  sec.  28  show  a  conception  of  societal  welfare  and 
of  its  relation  to  states  and  acts  as  conditions. 

37.  The  imaginative  element.  The  correct  apprehension  of 
facts  and  events  by  the  mind,  and  the  correct  inferences  as  to 
the  relations  between  them,  constitute  knowledge,  and  it  is 
chiefly  by  knowledge  that  men  have  become  better  able  to  live 
well  on  earth.  Therefore  the  alternation  between  experience  or 
observation  and  the  intellectual  processes  by  which  the  sense, 
sequence,  interdependence,  and  rational  consequences  of  facts 
are  ascertained,  is  undoubtedly  the  most  important  process  for 
winning  increased  power  to  live  well.  Yet  we  find  that  this 
process  has  been  liable  to  most  pernicious  errors.  The  imagina- 
tion has  interfered  with  the  reason  and  furnished  objects  of 
pursuit  to  men,  which  have  wasted  and  dissipated  their  energies. 
Especially  the  alternations  of  observation  and  deduction  have 
been  traversed  by  vanity  and  superstition  which  have  introduced 
delusions.  As  a  consequence,  men  have  turned  their  backs  on 
welfare  and  reality,  in  order  to  pursue  beauty,  glory,  poetry,  and 
dithyrambic  rhetoric,  pleasure,  fame,  adventure,  and  phantasms. 
Every  group,  in  every  age,  has  had  its  "ideals"  for  which  it  has 
striven,  as  if  men  had  blown  bubbles  into  the  air,  and  then, 
entranced  by  their  beautiful  colors,  had  leaped  to  catch  them. 
In  the  very  processes  of  analysis  and  deduction  the  most  per- 
nicious errors  find  entrance.  We  note  our  experience  in  every 
action  or  event.  We  study  the  significance  from  experience. 
We  deduce  a  conviction  as  to  what  we  may  best  do  when  the 
case  arises  again.  Undoubtedly  this  is  just  what  we  ought  to  do 
in  order  to  live  well.   The  process  presents  us  a  constant  reiteration 

1  Bijdragen  tot  T.  L.  en  V.-kunde,  XLI,  203. 


FUNDAMENTAL  NOTIONS  33 

of  the  sequence, — act,  thought,  act.  The  error  is  made  if  we 
allow  suggestions  of  vanity,  superstition,  speculation,  or  imagina- 
tion to  become  confused  with  the  second  stage  and  to  enter  into 
our  conviction  of  what  it  is  best  to  do  in  such  a  case.  This  is 
what  was  done  when  goblinism  was  taken  as  the  explanation  of 
experience  and  the  rule  of  right  living,  and  it  is  what  has  been 
done  over  and  over  again  ever  since.  Speculative  and  transcen- 
dental notions  have  furnished  the  world  philosophy,  and  the  rules 
of  life  policy  and  duty  have  been  deduced  from  this  and  intro- 
duced at  the  second  stage  of  the  process, — act,  thought,  act. 
All  the  errors  and  fallacies  of  the  mental  processes  enter  into 
the  mores  of  the  age.  The  logic  of  one  age  is  not  that  of  another. 
It  is  one  of  the  chief  useful  purposes  of  a  study  of  the  mores  to 
learn  to  discern  in  them  the  operation  of  traditional  error,  pre- 
vailing dogmas,  logical  fallacy,  delusion,  and  current  false  estimates 
of  goods  worth  striving  for. 

38.  The  ethical  policy  of  the  schools  and  the  success  policy. 
Although  speculative  assumptions  and  dogmatic  deductions  have 
produced  the  mischief  here  described,  our  present  world  philos- 
ophy has  come  out  of  them  by  rude  methods  of  correction  and 
purification,  and  "great  principles"  have  been  deduced  which 
now  control  our  life  philosophy  ;  also  ethical  principles  have 
been  determined  which  no  civilized  man  would  now  repudiate 
(truthfulness,  love,  honor,  altruism).  The  traditional  doctrines 
of  philosophy  and  ethics  are  not  by  any  means  adjusted  smoothly 
to  each  other  or  to  modern  notions.  We  live  in  a  war  of  two 
antagonistic  ethical  philosophies  :  the  ethical  policy  taught  in  the 
books  and  the  schools,  and  the  success  policy.  The  same  man 
acts  at  one  time  by  the  school  ethics,  disregarding  consequences, 
at  another  time  by  the  success  policy,  in  which  the  consequences 
dictate  the  conduct ;  or  we  talk  the  former  and  act  by  the  latter.^ 

39.  Recapitulation.  We  may  sum  up  this  preliminary  analysis 
as  follows  :  men  in  groups  are  under  life  conditions  ;  they  have 
needs  which  are  similar  under  the  state  of  the  life  conditions  ; 
the  relations  of  the  needs  to  the  conditions  are  interests  under 
the  heads  of  hunger,  love,  vanity,  and  fear ;  efforts  of  numbers 

1  See  Chapter  XX 


34  FOLKWAYS 

at  the  same  time  to  satisfy  interests  produce  mass  phenomena 
which  are  folkways  by  virtue  of  uniformity,  repetition,  and  wide 
concurrence.  The  folkways  are  attended  by  pleasure  or  pain 
according  as  they  are  well  fitted  for  the  purpose.  Pain  forces 
reflection  and  observation  of  some  relation  between  acts  and  wel- 
fare. At  this  point  the  prevailing  world  philosophy  (beginning 
with  goblinism)  suggests  explanations  and  inferences,  which 
become  entangled  with  judgments  of  expediency.  However,  the 
folkways  take  on  a  philosophy  of  right  living  and  a  life  policy  for 
welfare.  Then  they  become  mores,  and  they  may  be  developed 
by  inferences  from  the  philosophy  or  the  rules  in  the  endeavor 
to  satisfy  needs  without  pain.  Hence  they  undergo  improvement 
and  are  made  consistent  with  each  other. 

40.  The  scope  and  method  of  the  mores.  In  the  present  work 
the  proposition  to  be  maintained  is  that  the  folkways  are  the 
widest,  most  fundamental,  and  most  important  operation  by 
which  the  interests  of  men  in  groups  are  served,  and  that  the 
process  by  which  folkways  are  made  is  the  chief  one  to  which 
elementary  societal  or  group  phenomena  are  due.  The  life  of 
society  consists  in  making  folkways  and  applying  them.  The 
science  of  society  might  be  construed  as  the  study  of  them.  The 
relations  of  men  to  each  other,  when  they  are  carrying  on 
the  struggle  for  existence  near  each  other,  consist  in  mutual 
reactions  (antagonisms,  rivalries,  alliances,  coercions,  and  cooper- 
ations), from  which  result  societal  concatenations  and  concretions, 
that  is,  more  or  less  fixed  positions  of  individuals  and  subgroups 
towards  each  other,  and  more  or  less  established  sequences  and 
methods  of  interaction  between  them,  by  which  the  interests  of 
all  members  of  the  group  are  served.  The  same  might  be  said 
of  all  animals.  The  social  insects  especially  show  us  highly 
developed  results  of  the  adjustment  of  adjacent  interests  and 
life  acts  into  concatenations  and  concretions.  The  societal  con- 
cretions are  due  to  the  folkways  in  this  way,  —  that  the  men,  each 
struggling  to  carry  on  existence,  unconsciously  cooperate  to 
build  up  associations,  organization,  customs,  and  institutions 
which,  after  a  time,  appear  full  grown  and  actual,  although  no 
one  intended,  or  planned,  or  understood  them  in  advance.    They 


FUNDAMENTAL  NOTIONS 


35 


stand  there  as  produced  by  "ancestors."  These  concretions  of 
relation  and  act  in  war,  labor,  religion,  amusement,  family  life, 
and  civil  institutions  are  attended  by  faiths,  doctrines  of  philos- 
ophy (myths,  folklore),  and  by  precepts  of  right  conduct  and 
duty  (taboos).  The  making  of  folkways  is  not  trivial,  although 
the  acts  are  minute.  Every  act  of  each  man  fixes  an  atom  in  a 
structure,  both  fulfilling  a  duty  derived  from  what  preceded  and 
conditioning  what  is  to  come  afterwards  by  the  authority  of 
traditional  custom.  The  structure  thus  built  up  is  not  physical, 
but  societal  and  institutional,  that  is  to  say,  it  belongs  to  a 
category  which  must  be  defined  and  studied  by  itself.  It  is  a 
category  in  which  custom  produces  continuity,  coherence,  and 
consistency,  so  that  the  word  "structure"  may  properly  be  ap- 
plied to  the  fabric  of  relations  and  prescribed  positions  with 
which  societal  functions  are  permanently  connected.  The  process 
of  making  folkways  is  never  superseded  or  changed.  It  goes  on 
now  just  as  it  did  at  the  beginning  of  civilization.  "  Use  and 
wont "  exert  their  force  on  all  men  always.  They  produce 
familiarity,  and  mass  acts  become  unconscious.  The  same  effect 
is  produced  by  customary  acts  repeated  at  all  recurring  occasions. 
The  range  of  societal  activity  may  be  greatly  enlarged,  interests 
may  be  extended  and  multiplied,  the  materials  by  which  needs 
can  be  supplied  may  become  far  more  numerous,  the  processes 
of  societal  cooperation  may  become  more  complicated,  and  con- 
tract or  artifice  may  take  the  place  of  custom  for  many  interests  ; 
but,  if  the  case  is  one  which  touches  the  ways  or  interests  of  the 
masses,  folkways  wall  develop  on  and  around  it  by  the  same  process 
as  that  which  has  been  described  as  taking  place  from  the  begin- 
ning of  civilization.  The  ways  of  carrying  on  war  have  changed 
with  all  new  inventions  of  weapons  or  arm.or,  and  have  grown 
into  folkways  of  commanding  range  and  importance.  The  factory 
system  of  handicrafts  has  produced  a  body  of  folkways  in  which 
artisans  live,  and  which  distinguish  factory  towns  from  com- 
mercial cities  or  agricultural  villages.  The  use  of  cotton  instead 
of  linen  has  greatly  affected  modern  folkways.  The  applications 
of  power  and  machinery  have  changed  the  standards  of  comfort  of 
all  classes.     The  folkways,  however,  have  kept  their  character 


36  FOLKWAYS 

and  authority  through  all  the  changes  of  form  which  they  have 
undergone. 

41.  Integration  of  the  mores  of  a  group  or  age.  In  further 
development  of  the  same  interpretation  of  the  phenomena  we 
find  that  changes  in  history  are  primarily  due  to  changes  in  life 
conditions.  Then  the  folkways  change.  Then  new  philosophies 
and  ethical  rules  are  invented  to  try  to  justify  the  new  ways.  The 
whole  vast  body  of  modern  mores  has  thus  been  developed  out 
of  the  philosophy  and  ethics  of  the  Middle  Ages.  So  the  mores 
which  have  been  developed  to  suit  the  system  of  great  secular 
states,  world  commerce,  credit  institutions,  contract  wages  and 
rent,  emigration  to  outlying  continents,  etc.,  have  become  the 
norm  for  the  whole  body  of  usages,  manners,  ideas,  faiths, 
customs,  and  institutions  which  embrace  the  whole  life  of  a 
society  and  characterize  an  historical  epoch.  Thus  India,  Chaldea, 
Assyria,  Egypt,  Greece,  Rome,  the  Middle  Ages,  Modern  Times, 
are  cases  in  which  the  integration  of  the  mores  upon  different 
life  conditions  produced  societal  states  of  complete  and  distinct 
individuality  (ethos).  Within  any  such  societal  status  the  great 
reason  for  any  phenomenon  is  that  it  conforms  to  the  mores  of 
the  time  and  place.  Historians  have  always  recognized  inciden- 
tally the  operation  of  such  a  determining  force.  What  is  now  main- 
tained is  that  it  is  not  incidental  or  subordinate.  It  is  supreme 
and  controlling.  Therefore  the  scientific  discussion  of  a  usage, 
custom,  or  institution  consists  in  tracing  its  relation  to  the 
mores,  and  the  discussion  of  societal  crises  and  changes  consists 
in  showing  their  connection  with  changes  in  the  life  conditions,  or 
with  the  readjustment  of  the  mores  to  changes  in  those  conditions. 

42.  Purpose  of  the  present  work.  "  Ethology  "  would  be  a  con- 
venient term  for  the  study  of  manners,  customs,  usages,  and 
mores,  including  the  study  of  the  way  in  which  they  are  formed, 
how  they  grow  or  decay,  and  how  they  affect  the  interests  which 
it  is  their  purpose  to  serve.  The  Greeks  applied  the  term  "ethos  " 
to  the  sum  of  the  characteristic  usages,  ideas,  standards,  and 
codes  by  which  a  group  was  differentiated  and  individualized  in 
character  from  other  groups.  "  Ethics  "  were  things  which  per- 
tained to  the  ethos  and  therefore  the  things  which  were  the 


FUNDAMENTAL  NOTIONS  37 

standard  of  right.  The  Romans  used  "mores"  for  customs  in 
the  broadest  and  richest  sense  of  the  word,  including  the  notion 
that  customs  served  welfare,  and  had  traditional  and  mystic  sanc- 
tion, so  that  they  were  properly  authoritative  and  sacred.  It  is 
a  very  surprising  fact  that  modern  nations  should  have  lost  these 
words  and  the  significant  suggestions  which  inhere  in  them.  The 
English  language  has  no  derivative  noun  from  "mores,"  and  no 
equivalent  for  it.  The  French  viceiirs  is  trivial  compared  with 
"mores."  The  German  Sitte  renders  "mores"  but  very  imper- 
fectly. The  modern  peoples  have  made  morals  and  morality  a 
separate  domain,  by  the  side  of  religion,  philosophy,  and  politics. 
In  that  sense,  morals  is  an  impossible  and  unreal  category.  It 
has  no  existence,  andean  have  none.  The  word  "moral  "  means 
what  belongs  or  appertains  to  the  mores.  Therefore  the  category 
of  morals  can  never  be  defined  without  reference  to  something 
outside  of  itself.  Ethics,  having  lost  connection  with  the  ethos 
of  a  people,  is  an  attempt  to  systematize  the  current  notions  of 
right  and  wrong  upon  some  basic  principle,  generally  with  the 
purpose  of  establishing  morals  on  an  absolute  doctrine,  so  that 
it  shall  be  universal,  absolute,  and  everlasting.  In  a  general  way 
also,  whenever  a  thing  can  be  called  moral,  or  connected  with 
some  ethical  generality,  it  is  thought  to  be  "raised,"  and  dis- 
putants whose  method  is  to  employ  ethical  generalities  assume 
especial  authority  for  themselves  and  their  views.  These  methods 
of  discussion  are  most  employed  in  treating  of  social  topics,  and 
they  are  disastrous  to  sound  study  of  facts.  They  help  to  hold 
the  social  sciences  under  the  dominion  of  metaphysics.  The 
abuse  has  been  most  developed  in  connection  with  political  econ- 
omy, which  has  been  almost  robbed  of  the  character  of  a  serious 
discipline  by  converting  its  discussions  into  ethical  disquisitions. 
43.  Why  use  the  word  mores.  "  Ethica,"  in  the  Greek  sense, 
or  "ethology,"  as  above  defined,  would  be  good  names  for  our 
present  work.  We  aim  to  study  the  ethos  of  groups,  in  order  to 
see  how  it  arises,  its  power  and  influence,  the  modes  of  its  oper- 
ation on  members  of  the  group,  and  the  various  attributes  of  it 
(ethica).  "Ethology"  is  a  very  unfamiliar  word.  It  has  been 
used  for  the  mode  of  setting  forth  manners,  customs,  and  mores 


38  FOLKWAYS 

in  satirical  comedy.  The  Latin  word  "mores"  seems  to  be,  on 
the  whole,  more  practically  convenient  and  available  than  any 
other  for  our  purpose,  as  a  name  for  the  folkways  with  the  con- 
notations of  right  and  truth  in  respect  to  welfare,  embodied  in 
them.  The  analysis  and  definition  above  given  show  that  in  the 
mores  we  must  recognize  a  dominating  force  in  history,  consti- 
tuting a  condition  as  to  what  can  be  done,  and  as  to  the  methods 
which  can  be  employed. 

.  44.  Mores  are  a  directive  force.  Of  course  the  view  which  has 
been  stated  is  antagonistic  to  the  view  that  philosophy  and  ethics 
furnish  creative  and  determining  forces  in  society  and  history. 
That  view  comes  down  to  us  from  the  Greek  philosophy  and  it 
has  now  prevailed  so  long  that  all  current  discussion  conforms  to 
it.  Philosophy  and  ethics  are  pursued  as  independent  disciplines, 
and  the  results  are  brought  to  the  science  of  society  and  to  states- 
manship and  legislation  as  authoritative  dicta.    We  also  have 

Volkerpsychologie,  Sosialpolitik,  and  other  intermediate  forms 
which  show  the  struggle  of  metaphysics  to  retain  control  of  the 
science  of  society.  The  "historic  sense,"  the  Zeitgeist,  and 
other  terms  of  similar  import  are  partial  recognitions  of  the 
mores  and  their  importance  in  the  science  of  society.  It  can  be 
seen  also  that  philosophy  and  ethics  are  products  of  the  folkways. 
They  are  taken  out  of  the  mores,  but  are  never  original  and 
creative ;  they  are  secondary  and  derived.  They  often  interfere 
in  the  second  stage  of  the  sequence, — act,  thought,  act.  Then 
they  produce  harm,  but  some  ground  is  furnished  for  the  claim 
that  they  are  creative  or  at  least  regulative.  In  fact,  the  real 
process  in  great  bodies  of  men  is  not  one  of  deduction  from  any 
great  principle  of  philosophy  or  ethics.  It  is  one  of  minute  efforts 
to  live  well  under  existing  conditions,  which  efforts  are  repeated  in- 
definitely by  great  numbers,  getting  strength  from  habit  and  from 
the  fellowship  of  united  action.  The  resultant  folkways  become 
coercive.  All  are  forced  to  conform,  and  the  folkways  dominate 
the  societal  life.  Then  they  seem  true  and  right,  and  arise  into 
mores  as  the  norm  of  welfare.  Thence  are  produced  faiths,  ideas, 
doctrines,  religions,  and  philosophies,  according  to  the  stage  of 
civilization  and  the  fashions  of  reflection  and  generalization. 


FUNDAMENTAL  NOTIONS 


39 


45.  Consistency  in  the  mores.  The  tendency  of  the  mores  of 
a  period  to  consistency  has  been  noticed  (sec.  5).  No  doubt  this 
tendency  is  greatly  strengthened  when  people  are  able  to  gener- 
alize "principles"  from  acts.  This  explains  the  modern  belief 
that  principles  are  causative.  The  passion  for  equality,  the  uni- 
versal use  of  contract,  and  the  sentiments  of  humanitarianism 
are  informing  elements  in  modern  society.  Whence  did  they 
come  ?  Undoubtedly  they  came  out  of  the  mores  into  which 
they  return  again  as  a  principle  of  consistency.  Respect  for 
human  life,  horror  at  cruelty  and  bloodshed,  sympathy  with  pain, 
suffering,  and  poverty  (humanitarianism),  have  acted  as  "causes" 
in  connection  with  the  abolition  of  slavery,  the  reform  of  the 
criminal  law  and  of  prisons,  and  sympathy  with  the  oppressed, 
but  humanitarianism  was  a  generalization  from  remoter  mores 
which  were  due  to  changes  in  life  conditions.  The  ultimate 
explanation  of  the  rise  of  humanitarianism  is  the  increased  power 
of  man  over  nature  by  the  acquisition  of  new  land,  and  by  advance 
in  the  arts.  When  men  ceased  to  crowd  on  each  other,  they  were 
all  willing  to  adopt  ideas  and  institutions  which  made  the  com- 
petition of  life  easy  and  kindly. 

46.  The  mores  of  subgroups.  Each  class  or  group  in  a  society 
has  its  own  mores.  This  is  true  of  ranks,  professions,  industrial 
classes,  religious  and  philosophical  sects,  and  all  other  subdivisions 
of  society.  Individuals  are  in  two  or  more  of  these  groups  at 
the  same  time,  so  that  there  is  compromise  and  neutralization. 
Other  mores  are  common  to  the  whole  society.  Mores  are  also 
transmitted  from  one  class  to  another.  It  is  necessary  to  give 
precision  to  the  notion  of  classes. 

47.  What  are  classes  ?  Galton  ^  made  a  classification  of  society 
by  a  standard  which  he  did  not  strictly  define.  He  called  it 
"  their  natural  gifts."  It  might  be  understood  to  be  mental 
power,  reputation,  social  success,  income  from  societal  work,  or 
societal  value.  Ammon  took  up  the  idea  and  developed  it, 
making  a  diagrammatic  representation  of  it,  which  is  reproduced 
on  the  following  page.^ 

^  Hei-editary  Genius,  34. 

2  Ammon,  Gesellschaftsordmtng,  53. 


40 


FOLKWAYS 


48.  If  we  measure  and  classify  a  number  of  persons  by  any 
physical  characteristic  (stature,  weight)  we  find  that  the  results 
always  fall  under  a  curve  of  probable  error.  That  they  should 
do  so  is,  in  fact,  a  truism.  If  a  number  of  persons  with  differ- 
ent degrees  of  power  and  resistance  are  acted  on  by  the  same 
influences,  it  is  most  probable  that  the  greatest  number  of  them 
will  reach  the  same  and  a  mean  degree  of  self-realization,  and 


R 
Unskilled  an 


Defective, 


\ 


Dependent,  and 
'quent 


others  in  proportion  to  their  power  and  resistance.  The  fact 
has  been  statistically  verified  so  often,  and  for  such  a  great 
variety  of  physical  traits,  that  we  may  infer  its  truth  for  all 
traits  of  mind  and  character  for  which  we  have  no  units,  and 
which  we  cannot  therefore  measure  or  statistically  classify. 

49.  Classes  rated  by  societal  value.  If  we  take  societal  value 
as  the  criterion  of  the  classification  of  society,  it  has  the  advan- 
tage of  being  germane  to  the  interests  which  are  most  important 


FUNDAMENTAL  NOTIONS 


41 


in  connection  with  classification,  but  it  is  complex.  There  is 
no  unit  of  it.  Therefore  we  could  never  verify  it  statistically.  It 
conforms,  in  the  main,  to  mental  power,  but  it  must  contain  also 
a  large  element  of  practical  sense,  health,  and  opportunity 
(luck).  On  the  simplest  analysis,  there  are  four  elements,  —  in- 
tellectual, moral,  economic,  and  physical ;  but  each  of  these  is 
composite.  If  one  of  them  is  present  in  a  high  degree,  and  the 
others  in  a  low  degree,  the  whole  is  inharmonic,  and  not  highly 
advantageous.  The  highest  societal  value  seems  to  go  with  a 
harmonious  combination,  although  it  may  be  of  lower  grades. 
A  man  of  talent,  practical  sense,  industry,  perseverance,  and 
moral  principle  is  worth  more  to  society  than  a  genius,  who  is 
not  morally  responsible,  or  not  industrious.  Societal  value  also 
conforms,  in  a  general  way,  to  worldly  success  and  to  income 
from  work  contributed  to  the  industrial  organization,  for  genius 
which  was  not  effective  would  have  no  societal  value.  On  the 
other  hand,  however,  so  long  as  scientific  work  and  books  of 
the  highest  value  to  science  and  art  pay  the  authors  nothing, 
the  returns  of  the  market,  and  income,  only  imperfectly  measure 
societal  value.  All  these  limitations  being  allowed  for,  neverthe- 
less societal  value  is  a  concrete  idea,  especially  on  its  negative 
side  (paupers,  tramps,  social  failures,  and  incompetents).  The 
defective,  dependent,  and  delinquent  classes  are  already  fully 
differentiated,  and  are  made  objects  of  statistical  enumeration. 
The  rest  only  differ  in  degree.  If,  therefore,  all  were  rated  and 
scaled  by  this  value,  the  results  would  fall  under  a  curve  of 
probable  error.  In  the  diagram  the  axis  A'x  is  set  perpendicu- 
lar and  the  ordinates  are  divided  equally  upon  it  in  order  to 
make  the  divisions  correspond  to  "  up  "  and  "  down  "  as  we  use 
those  words  in  social  discussion.  Then  MN  is  the  line  of  the 
greatest  number.  From  O  upwards  we  may  cut  off  equal  sec- 
tions, OA,  AB,  etc.,  to  indicate  grades  of  societal  value  above  that 
of  the  greatest  number,  and  from  O  downwards  we  may  cut 
off  equal  sections  of  the  same  magnitude  to  indicate  grades  of 
societal  value  less  than  that  of  the  greatest  number.  At  the 
top  we  have  a  small  number  of  men  of  genius.  Below  these  we 
may  cut  off  another  section  which  includes  the  men  of  talent. 


42 


FOLKWAYS 


At  the  bottom  we  find  the  dependent,  defective,  and  delinquent 
classes  which  are  a  burden  on  society.  Above  them  is  another 
stratum,  the  proletariat,  which  serves  society  only  by  its  chil- 
dren. Persons  of  this  class  have  no  regular  mode  of  earning  a 
living,  but  are  not,  at  the  moment  at  which  the  classification  is 
made,  dependent.  These  are  the  only  ones  to  whom  the  term 
"proletarian"  could  with  any  propriety  be  applied.  Next  above 
these  is  another  well-defined  stratum,  —  the  self-supporting,  but 
unskilled  and  illiterate.  Then  all  who  fall  between  PQ  and  RS 
are  characterized  by  mediocrity,  and  they  constitute  "  the 
masses."  In  all  new  countries,  and  as  it  would  seem  at  the 
present  time  also  in  central  Europe,  there  is  a  very  strong 
current  upwards  from  the  lower  to  the  upper  strata  of 
PQRS.  Universal  education  tends  to  produce  such  a  current. 
Talented  men  of  the  period  are  very  often  born  in  humble 
circumstances,  but  succeed  in  taking  their  true  place  in  the 
societal  scale.  It  is  true,  of  course,  that  there  is  a  counter- 
current  of  degenerate  sons  and  grandsons.  The  present  diagram 
is  made  unsymmetrical  with  respect  to  MN  to  express  the 
opinion  that  the  upper  strata  of  PQRS  (the  lower  professional 
and  the  semiprofessional  classes)  are  now,  in  any  civilized 
society,  larger  in  proportion  than  symmetry  would  indicate.-^ 
The  line  MN  is  therefore  a  mode,  and  the  class  upon  it  is  the 
modal  class  of  the  society,  by  means  of  which  one  society  might 
be  compared  with  another. 

50.  Galton  estimated  the  number  of  men  of  genius  in  all 
history  at  four  hundred.  An  important  fraction  of  these  were 
related  by  blood.  The  "  men  of  the  time  "  he  rates  at  four  hun- 
dred and  fifty  in  a  million,  and  the  more  distinguished  of  them 
at  two  hundred  and  fifty  in  a  million.  These  latter  he  defines 
by  saying  that  a  man,  to  be  included  amongst  them,  "  should 
have  distinguished  himself  pretty  frequently,  either  by  purely 
original  work,  or  as  a  leader  of  opinion."  He  finds  that  illustri- 
ous men  are  only  one  in  a  million.  On  the  other  hand,  idiots 
and  imbeciles  in  England  and  Wales  are  one  in  four  hundred,  of 
whom  thirty  per  cent  can  be  educated  so  as  to  be  equal  to  one 

1  Ammon  made  the  diagram  symmetrical. 


FUNDAMENTAL  NOTIONS 


43 


third  of  a  normal  man  each  ;  forty  per  cent  can  be  made  worth 
two  thirds  of  a  man ;  twenty-five  or  thirty  per  cent  pass  muster 
in  a  crowd.  Above  these  are  silly  persons  whose  relatives  shield 
them  from  public  knowledge.  Then  above  these  come  the 
Dundreary  type.^ 

51.  Class  ;  race  ;  group  solidarity.  If  the  group  which  is  classi- 
fied is  a  large  one,  and  especially  if  it  is  a  genetic  unit  (race, 
tribe,  or  nation),  there  are  no  gaps  in  the  series.  Each  indi- 
vidual falls  into  his  place  by  virtue  of  his  characteristic  differ- 
ences. Just  as  no  two  are  anthropologically  alike,  so  we  may 
believe  that  no  two  are  alike  or  equal  in  societal  value.  That  all 
men  should  be  alike  or  equal,  by  any  standard  whatever,  is  con- 
trary to  all  the  facts  of  human  nature  and  all  the  conditions  of 
human  life.  Any  group  falls  into  subdivisions,  the  members  of 
each  of  which  are  approximately  equal,  when  measured  by  any 
standard,  because  the  classification  is  imperfect.  If  we  make  it 
more  refined,  the  subdivisions  must  be  subdivided  again.  We 
are  in  a  dilemma  :  we  cannot  describe  mankind  at  all  without 
categories,  and  if  we  go  on  to  make  our  categories  more  and 
more  exact,  each  one  of  them  would  at  last  contain  only  one 
person.  Two  things  result  which  are  practically  im.portant,  and 
which  furnish  us  with  scientific  concepts  which  we  can  employ 
in  further  study:  (i)  The  classification  gives  us  the  notion  of 
the  relative  position  of  one,  or  a  subdivision,  in  the  entire  group. 
This  is  the  sense  of  "  class."  ^  (2)  The  characteristic  differ- 
ences furnish  the  notion  of  individuality  and  personality.  The 
concept  of  a  race,  as  the  term  is  now  used,  is  that  of  a  group 
clustered  around  a  mean  with  respect  to  some  characteristic,  and 
great  confusion  in  the  use  of  the  word  "race"  arises  from  the 
attempt  to  define  races  by  their  boundaries,  when  we  really 
think  of  them  by  the  mean  or  mode,  e.g.  as  to  skin  color.    The 

^  Hereditary  Genius,  25,  47. 

2  Lapouge  affirms  that  "  in  different  historical  periods,  and  over  the  whole 
earth,  racial  differences  between  classes  of  the  same  people  are  far  greater  than 
between  analogous  classes  of  different  peoples,"  and  that  "between  different 
classes  of  the  same  population  there  may  be  greater  racial  differences  than 
between  different  populations  "  {Pol.  Aiith.  Rev.,  Ill,  220,  228).  He  does  not  give 
his  definition  of  class. 


44 


FOLKWAYS 


coherence,  unity,  and  solidarity  of  a  genetic  group  is  a  very 
striking  fact.  It  seems  to  conceal  a  play  of  mystic  forces.  It 
is,  in  fact,  no  more  mysterious  than  the  run  of  dice.  The  propo- 
sitions about  it  would  all  become,  in  the  last  analysis,  identical 
propositions  ;  e.g.  it  is  most  probable  that  we  shall  meet  with 
the  thing  which  is  present  in  the  greatest  number ;  or,  it  is 
most  probable  that  the  most  probable  thing  will  happen.  In 
the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century,  when  attention  was  first 
called  to  the  solidarity  and  internal  correlations  of  groups, 
especially  if  they  were  large  and  genetic,  it  was  believed  that 
occult  and  far-reaching  laws  had  been  discovered.  That  opinion 
has  long  been  abandoned.  If  there  are  four  dice  in  a  box,  each 
having  from  one  to  six  dots  on  its  faces,  the  chance  of  throwing 
four  sixes  is  just  the  same  as  that  of  throwing  four  ones.  The 
mean  of  the  sums  of  the  dots  which  may  fall  uppermost  is  four- 
teen, which  can  be  produced  by  one  hundred  and  forty-six 
throws.  Suppose  that  the  components  of  social  value  are  four,  — 
intellectual,  moral,  physical,  economic,  —  represented  by  the 
four  dice,  and  that  the  degrees  are  represented  by  the  dots. 
We  should  get  four  sixes  once  in  twelve  hundred  and  ninety-six 
throws.  Of  the  one  hundred  and  forty-six  throws  which  give 
the  mean  fourteen,  seventy-two  show  one  six  up.  That  might 
be  a  Hercules  fit  only  for  a  dime  museum.  Seventy-eight  of 
the  combinations  are  inharmonious,  but  have  one  strong 
element. 1  In  societal  matters  it  is  by  no  means  indifferent 
whether  the  equal  sums  of  societal  value  are  made  up  of  very 
unequal,  or  of  harmonious,  components.  So  in  a  group  of  a 
million  persons  the  chance  of  a  great  genius,  who  would  stand 
alone  towards  A^  is  just  the  same  as  that  of  an  utter  idiot  who 
would  stand  alone  towards  ,f,  and  the  reason  why  the  number 
at  the  mode  is  so  great  is  that  the  societal  value  is  the  sum  of 
components,  of  which  many  sums  may  be  equal,  although  the 
components  are  very  unequal.  Two  strata  at  equal  distances 
above  and  below  O  are  equal  in  number,  so  far  as  their  useful 
powers  and  resistances  go,  but  education  introduces  a  new  com- 
ponent which  destroys  their  equality  and  forces  a  redistribution. 

1  Ammon,  Gesellschaftsordimng,  49. 


FUNDAMENTAL  NOTIONS 


45 


Galton  ^  suggests  that,  if  people  who  would  when  adults  fall  in 
classes  V,  W,  or  Jf  in  our  diagram  could  be  recognized  in  infancy, 
and  could  be  bought  for  money,  it  would  be  a  great  bargain  for 
a  nation,  England  for  instance,  to  buy  them  for  much  money  and 
rear  them  as  Englishmen.  Farr  estimated  the  baby  of  an  agri- 
cultural laborer  as  worth  ;^5,  capital  value.  A  baby  who  could 
be  reared  to  take  a  place  in  the  class  X  would  have  a  capital 
value  of  thousands  of  pounds.  The  capital  value  would  be  like 
that  of  land  of  different  degrees  of  natural  advantage,  but  none 
of  it  yet  exploited. 

52.  The  masses  and  the  mores.  In  connection  with  the  mores 
the  masses  are  of  very  great  importance.  The  historical  or 
selected  classes  are  those  which,  in  history,  have  controlled  the 
activities  and  policy  of  generations.  They  have  been  differenti- 
ated at  one  time  by  one  standard,  at  another  time  by  another. 
The  position  which  they  held  by  inheritance  from  early  society 
has  given  them  prestige  and  authority.  Merit  and  societal  value, 
according  to  the  standards  of  their  time,  have  entered  into  their 
status  only  slightly  and  incidentally.  Those  classes  have  had 
their  own  mores.  They  had  the  power  to  regulate  their  lives  to 
some  extent  according  to  their  own  choice,  a  power  which 
modern  civilized  men  eagerly  desire  and  strive  for  primarily  by 
the  acquisition  of  wealth.  The  historical  classes  have,  therefore, 
selected  purposes,  and  have  invented  ways  of  fulfilling  them. 
Their  ways  have  been  imitated  by  the  masses.  The  classes  have 
led  the  way  in  luxury,  frivolity,  and  vice,  and  also  in  refinement, 
culture,  and  the  art  of  living.  They  have  introduced  variation. 
The  masses  are  not  large  classes  at  the  base  of  a  social  pyramid  ; 
they  are  the  core  of  the  society.  They  are  conservative.  They 
accept  life  as  they  find  it,  and  live  on  by  tradition  and  habit. 
In  other  words,  the  great  mass  of  any  society  lives  a  purely 
instinctive  life  just  like  animals.  We  must  not  be  misled  by  the 
conservatism  of  castes  and  aristocracies,  who  resist  change  of 
customs  and  institutions  by  virtue  of  which  they  hold  social 
power.  The  conservatism  of  the  masses  is  of  a  different  kind. 
It  is  not  produced  by  interests,  but  it  is  instinctive.    It  is  due 

1  PSM,  LX,  2i8. 


46  FOLKWAYS 

to  inertia.  Change  would  make  new  effort  necessary  to  win 
routine  and  habit.  It  is  therefore  irksome.  The  masses,  more- 
over, have  not  the  power  to  reach  out  after  "  improvements,"  or 
to  plan  steps  of  change  by  which  needs  might  be  better  satisfied. 
The  mores  of  any  society,  at  a  period,  may  be  characterized  by 
the  promptness  or  reluctance  of  the  masses  to  imitate  the  ways 
of  the  classes.  It  is  a  question  of  the  first  importance  for  the 
historian  whether  the  mores  of  the  historical  classes  of  which  he 
finds  evidence  in  documentary  remains  penetrated  the  masses 
or  not.  The  masses  are  the  real  bearers  of  the  mores  of  the 
society.  They  carry  tradition.  The  folkways  are  their  ways. 
They  accept  influence  or  leadership,  and  they  imitate,  but  they 
do  so  as  they  see  fit,  being  controlled  by  their  notions  and  tastes 
previously  acquired.  They  may  accept  standards  of  character 
and  action  from  the  classes,  or  from  foreigners,  or  from  liter- 
ature, or  from  a  new  religion,  but  whatever  they  take  up  they 
assimilate  and  make  it  a  part  of  their  own  mores,  which  they 
then  transmit  by  tradition,  defend  in  its  integrity,  and  refuse  to 
discard  again.  Consequently  the  writings  of  the  literary  class 
may  not  represent  the  faiths,  notions,  tastes,  standards,  etc.,  of 
the  masses  at  all.  The  literature  of  the  first  Christian  centuries 
shows  us  scarcely  anything  of  the  mores  of  the  time,  as  they 
existed  in  the  faith  and  practice  of  the  masses.  Every  group 
takes  out  of  a  new  religion  which  is  offered  to  it  just  what  it 
can  assimilate  with  its  own  traditional  mores.  Christianity  was 
a  very  different  thing  amongst  Jews,  Egyptians,  Greeks,  Ger- 
mans, and  Slavs.  It  would  be  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  that 
any  people  ever  accepted  and  held  philosophical  or  religious 
teaching  as  it  was  offered  to  them,  and  as  we  find  it  recorded  in 
the  books  of  the  teachers.  The  mores  of  the  masses  admit  of 
no  such  sudden  and  massive  modification  by  doctrinal  teaching. 
The  process  of  assimilation  is  slow,  and  it  is  attended  by  modi- 
fying influences  at  every  stage.  What  the  classes  adopt,  be  it 
good  or  ill,  may  be  found  pervading  the  mass  after  generations, 
but  it  will  appear  as  a  resultant  of  all  the  vicissitudes  of  the  folk- 
ways in  the  interval.  "  It  was  the  most  frightful  feature  of  the 
corruption  of  ancient  Rome,  that  it  extended  through  every  class 


FUNDAMENTAL  NOTIONS  47 

in  the  community."^  "As  in  the  Renaissance,  so  now  [in  the 
CathoHc  reaction]  vice  trickled  downward  from  above,  infiltrat- 
ing the  mass  of  the  people  with  its  virus."  ^  It  is  the  classes 
who  produce  variation ;  it  is  the  masses  who  carry  forward  the 
traditional  mores. 

53.  Fallacies  about  the  masses  and  classes.  It  is  a  fallacy  to 
infer  that  the  masses  have  some  occult  wisdom  or  inspiration  by 
virtue  of  which  they  select  what  is  wise,  right,  and  good  from 
what  the  classes  offer.  There  is,  also,  no  device  by  which  it  is 
possible  to  obtain  from  the  masses,  in  advance  or  on  demand,  a 
judgment  on  any  proposed  changes  or  innovations.  The  masses 
are  not  an  oracle.  If  any  answers  can  be  obtained  on  the  prob- 
lems of  life,  such  answers  will  come  rather  from  the  classes. 
The  two  sections  of  society  are  such  that  they  may  cooperate 
with  advantage  to  the  good  of  all.  Neither  one  has  a  right  or  a 
better  claim  to  rule  the  society. 

54.  Action  of  the  masses  on  thoughts.  Fifty  years  ago  Darwin 
put  some  knowledge  into  the  common  stock.  The  peasants  and 
artisans  of  his  time  did  nothing  of  the  kind.  What  the  masses 
do  with  thoughts  is  that  they  rub  them  down  into  counters  just 
as  they  take  coins  from  the  mint  and  smooth  them  down  by 
wear  until  they  are  only  disks  of  metal.  The  masses  understand, 
for  instance,  that  Darwin  said  that  "  men  are  descended  from 
monkeys."  Only  summary  and  glib  propositions  of  that  kind 
can  ever  get  currency.  The  learned  men  are  all  the  time  trying 
to  recoin  them  and  give  them  at  least  partial  reality.  Ruskin 
set  afloat  some  notions  of  art  criticism,  which  have  penetrated 
all  our  cultivated  classes.  They  are  not  lost,  but  see  what  has 
become  of  them  in  fifty  years  by  popularization.  A  little  later 
a  new  gospel  of  furniture  and  house  decoration  was  published. 
The  masses  have  absorbed  it.  See  what  they  have  made  of  it. 
Eastlake  wanted  no  machine  work,  but  machinery  was  not  to  be 
defeated.  It  can  make  lopsided  things  if  those  are  the  fashion, 
and  it  can  make  all  the  construction  show  if  Eastlake  has  got 
the  notion  into  the  crowd  that  the  pegs  ought  to  be  on  the  out- 
side.   Thinking  and  understanding  are  too  hard  work.    If  any  one 

^  Lecky,  Morals,  I,  262.  -  Symonds,  Catholic  Reaction,  I,  455. 


48  FOLKWAYS 

wants  to  blame  the  masses  let  him  turn  to  his  own  case.  He 
will  find  that  he  thinks  about  and  understands  only  his  own 
intellectual  pursuit.  He  could  not  give  the  effort  to  every  other 
department  of  knowledge.  In  other  matters  he  is  one  of  the 
masses  and  does  as  they  do.  He  uses  routine,  set  formulae, 
current  phrases,  caught  up  from  magazines  and  newspapers  of 
the  better  class. 

55.  Organization  of  the  masses.  Masses  of  men  who  are  on  a 
substantial  equality  with  each  other  never  can  be  anything  but 
hopeless  savages.  The  eighteenth-century  notion  that  men  in  a 
state  of  nature  were  all  equal  is  wrong-side  up.  Men  who  were 
equal  would  be  in  a  state  of  nature  such  as  was  imagined.  They 
could  not  form  a  society.  They  would  be  forced  to  scatter  and 
wander,  at  most  two  or  three  together.  They  never  could 
advance  in  the  arts  of  civilization.  The  popular  belief  that  out 
of  some  such  horde  there  has  come  by  the  spontaneous  develop- 
ment of  innate  forces  all  the  civilization  which  we  possess  is 
entirely  unfounded.  Masses  of  men  who  are  approximately  equal 
are  in  time  exterminated  or  enslaved.  Only  when  enslaved  or 
subjugated  are  some  of  them  carried  up  with  their  conquerors 
by  organization  and  discipline  (negroes  and  Indians  amongst  us). 
A  horde  in  which  the  only  differences  are  those  of  age  and  sex 
is  not  capable  of  maintaining  existence.  It  fights  because  only 
by  conquering  or  being  conquered  can  it  endure.  When  it  is 
subjugated  and  disciplined  it  consists  of  workers  to  belabor  the 
ground  for  others,  or  tax  payers  to  fill  a  treasury  from  which 
others  may  spend,  or  food  for  gunpowder,  or  voting  material  for 
demagogues.  It  is  an  object  of  exploitation  At  one  moment,  in 
spite  of  its  aggregate  muscle,  it  is  helpless  and  imbecile  ;  the 
next  moment  it  is  swept  away  into  folly  and  mischief  by  a  sug- 
gestion or  an  impulse.  Organization,  leadership,  and  discipline 
are  indispensable  to  any  beneficial  action  by  masses  of  men.  If  we 
ignore  this  fact,  we  see  the  machine  and  the  boss  evolved  out 
of  the  situation  which  we  create. 

56.  Institutions  of  civil  liberty.  Institutions  also  must  be  pro- 
duced which  will  hold  the  activities  of  society  in  channels  of 
order,  deliberation,  peace,  regulated  antagonism  of  interests,  and 


FUNDAMENTAL  NOTIONS 


49 


justice,  according  to  the  mores  of  the  time.  These  institutions 
put  an  end  to  exploitation  and  bring  interests  into  harmony 
under  civil  liberty.  But  where  do  the  institutions  come  from  .? 
The  masses  have  never  made  them.  They  are  produced  out  of 
the  mores  by  the  selection  of  the  leading  men  and  classes  who 
get  control  of  the  collective  power  of  the  society  and  direct  it 
to  the  activities  which  will  (as  they  think)  serve  the  interests 
which  they  regard  as  most  important.  If  changes  in  life  conditions 
occur,  the  interests  to  be  served  change.  Great  inventions  and 
discoveries,  the  opening  of  new  continents,  new  methods  of 
agriculture  and  commerce,  the  introduction  of  money  and  finan- 
cial devices,  improved  state  organization,  increase  the  economic 
power  of  the  society  and  the  force  at  the  disposal  of  the  state. 
Industrial  interests  displace  military  and  monarchical  interests 
as  the  ones  which  the  state  chiefly  aims  to  serve,  not  because  of 
any  tide  of  "progress,"  but  because  industrialism  gives  greater 
and  more  varied  satisfactions  to  the  rulers.  The  increase  oi power 
is  the  primary  condition.  The  classes  strive  with  each  other  for 
the  new  power.  Peace  is  necessary,  for  without  peace  none  of 
them  can  enjoy  power.  Compromise,  adjustment  of  interests, 
antagonistic  cooperation  (sec.  21),  harmony,  are  produced,  and 
institutions  are  the  regulative  processes  and  apparatus  by  which 
warfare  is  replaced  by  system.  The  historical  process  has  been 
full  of  error,  folly,  selfishness,  violence,  and  craft.  It  is  so  still. 
The  point  which  is  now  important  for  us  is  that  the  masses  have 
never  carried  on  the  struggles  and  processes  by  which  civilized 
society  has  been  made  into  an  arena,  within  which  exploitation 
of  man  by  man  is  to  some  extent  repressed,  and  where  individ- 
ual self-realization  has  a  large  scope,  under  the  institutions  of 
civil  liberty.  It  is  the  historical  and  selected  classes  which  have 
done  this,  often  enough  without  intending  or  foreseeing  the  re- 
sults of  actions  which  they  inaugurated  with  quite  other,  perhaps 
selfish,  class  purposes  in  view.  A  society  is  a  whole  made  up  of 
parts.  All  the  parts  have  a  legitimate  share  in  the  acts  and  suffer- 
ings of  the  society.  All  the  parts  contribute  to  the  life  and 
work  of  the  society.  We  inherit  all  the  consequences  of  all 
their  acts.    Some  of  the  consequences  are  good  and  some  are  bad. 


50 


FOLKWAYS 


It  is  utterly  impossible  to  name  the  classes  which  have  done 
useful  work  and  made  beneficial  sacrifices  only,  and  the  other 
classes  which  have  been  idle  burdens  and  mischief  makers  only. 
All  that  has  been  done  has  been  done  by  all.  It  is  evident  that 
no  other  view  than  this  can  be  rational  and  true,  for  one  reason 
because  the  will  and  intention  of  the  men  of  to-day  in  what  they 
do  has  so  little  to  do  with  the  consequences  to-morrow  of  what 
they  do.  The  notion  that  religion,  or  marriage,  or  property,  or 
monarchy,  as  we  have  inherited  them,  can  be  proved  evil,  or 
worthy  of  condemnation  and  contempt  on  account  of  the  selfish- 
ness and  violence  interwoven  with  their  history,  is  one  of  the 
idlest  of  all  the  vagaries  of  the  social  philosophers. 

57.  The  common  man.  Every  civilized  society  has  to  carry 
below  the  lowest  sections  of  the  masses  a  dead  weight  of  igno- 
rance, poverty,  crime,  and  disease.  Every  such  society  has,  in 
the  great  central  section  of  the  masses,  a  great  body  which  is 
neutral  in  all  the  policy  of  society.  It  lives  by  routine  and  tradi- 
tion. It  is  not  brutal,  but  it  is  shallow,  narrow-minded,  and 
prejudiced.  Nevertheless  it  is  harmless.  It  lacks  initiative  and 
cannot  give  an  impulse  for  good  or  bad.  It  produces  few 
criminals.  It  can  sometimes  be  moved  by  appeals  to  its  fixed 
ideas  and  prejudices.  It  is  affected  in  its  mores  by  contagion 
from  the  classes  above  it.  The  work  of  "popularization"  con- 
sists in  bringing  about  this  contagion.  The  middle  section  is 
formed  around  the  mathematical  mean  of  the  society,  or  around 
the  mathematical  mode,  if  the  distribution  of  the  subdivisions  is 
not  symmetrical.  The  man  on  the  mode  is  the  "  common  man," 
the  "average  man,"  or  the  "man  in  the  street."  Between  him 
and  the  democratic  political  institutions  —  the  pulpit,  the  news- 
papers, and  the  public  library  —  there  is  a  constant  reaction  by 
which  mores  are  modified  and  preserved.  The  aim  of  all  the 
institutions  and  literature  in  a  modern  state  is  to  please  him. 
His  aim  is  to  get  out  of  them  what  suits  him.  The  yellow  news- 
papers thrive  and  displace  all  the  others  because  he  likes  them. 
The  trashy  novels  pay  well  because  his  wife  and  daughters  like 
them.  The  advertisements  in  the  popular  magazines  are  ad- 
dressed to  him.    They  show  what  he  wants.    The  "  funny  items  " 


FUNDAMENTAL  NOTIONS  5  I 

are  adjusted  to  his  sense  of  humor.  Hence  all  these  things  are 
symptoms.  They  show  what  he  "believes  in,"  and  they  strengthen 
his  prejudices.  If  all  art,  literature,  legislation,  and  political 
power  are  to  be  cast  at  his  feet,  it  makes  some  difference  who 
and  what  he  is.  His  section  of  society  determines  the  mores  of 
the  whole. 

58.  "  The  people."  Popular  impulses.  In  a  democratic  state 
the  great  middle  section  would  rule  if  it  was  organized  independ- 
ently of  the  rest.  It  is  that  section  which  constitutes  "the 
people  "  in  the  special  technical  sense  in  which  that  expression 
is  current  in  political  use.  It  is  to  it  that  the  Jeffersonian  doc- 
trines about  the  "wisdom"  of  the  people  would  apply.  That 
section,  however,  is  never  organized  independently  ;  that  is  to 
say,  "the  people"  never  exist  as  a  body  exercising  political 
power.  The  middle  section  of  a  group  may  be  enthused  by  an 
impulse  which  is  adapted  to  its  ways  and  notions.  It  clings  to 
persons,  loves  anecdotes,  is  fond  of  light  emotions,  and  prides 
itself  on  its  morality.  If  a  man  wins  popularity  in  that  section, 
the  impulse  which  his  name  can  give  to  it  may  be  irresistible 
(Jefferson,  Jackson).  The  middle  section  is  greatly  affected  by 
symbolism.  "The  flag"  can  be  developed  into  a  fetich.  A  cult 
can  be  nourished  around  it.  Group  vanity  is  very  strong  in  it. 
Patriotic  emotions  and  faiths  are  its  favorite  psychological  exer- 
cises, if  the  conjuncture  is  favorable  and  the  material  well-being 
is  high.  When  the  middle  section  is  stirred  by  any  spontaneous 
and  consentaneous  impulses  which  arise  from  its  nature  and 
ways,  it  may  produce  incredible  results  with  only  a  minimum 
of  organization.  "  A  little  prosperity  and  some  ideas,  as  Aris- 
totle saw,  are  the  ferment  which  sets  the  masses  in  ebullition. 
This  offers  an  opportunity.  A  beginning  is  made.  The  further 
development  is  unavoidable."  ^ 

59.  Agitation.  Every  impulse  given  to  the  masses  is,  in  its 
nature,  spasmodic  and  transitory.  No  systematic  enterprise  to 
enlighten  the  masses  ever  can  be  carried  out.  Campaigns  of 
education  contain  a  fallacy.  Education  takes  time.  It  cannot 
be  treated  as   subsidiary  for  a  lifetime  and  then  be  made  the 

1  Gumplowicz,  Soziologie,  126. 


52 


FOLKWAYS 


chief  business  for  six  months  with  the  desired  result.  A  cam- 
paign of  education  is  undemocratic.  It  imphes  that  some  one  is 
teacher  and  somebody  else  pupil.  It  can  only  result  in  the  eluci- 
dation of  popular  interests  and  the  firmer  establishment  of  pop- 
ular prejudice.  On  the  other  hand,  an  agitation  which  appeals 
skillfully  to  pet  notions  and  to  latent  fanaticism  may  stampede 
the  masses.  The  Middle  Ages  furnished  a  number  of  cases. 
The  Mahdis  who  have  arisen  in  Mohammedan  Africa,  and  other 
Moslem  prophets,  have  produced  wonderful  phenomena  of  this 
kind.  The  silver  agitation  was  begun,  in  1878,  by  a  systematic 
effort  of  three  or  four  newspapers  in  the  middle  West,  addressed 
to  currency  notions  which  the  greenback  proposition  had  popu- 
larized. What  is  the  limit  to  the  possibilities  of  fanaticism  and 
frenzy  which  might  be  produced  in  any  society  by  agitation 
skillfully  addressed  to  the  fallacies  and  passions  of  the  masses  .? 
The  answer  lies  in  the  mores,  which  determine  the  degree  of 
reserved  common  sense,  and  the  habit  of  observing  measure  and 
method,  to  which  the  masses  have  been  accustomed.  It  follows 
that  popular  agitation  is  a  desperate  and  doubtful  method.  The 
masses,  as  the  great  popular  jury  which,  at  last,  by  adoption  or 
rejection,  decides  the  fate  of  all  proposed  changes  in  the  mores, 
needs  stability  and  moderation.  Popular  agitation  introduces 
into  the  masses  initiative  and  creative  functions  which  destroy 
its  judgment  and  call  for  quite  other  qualities. 

60.  The  ruling  element  in  the  masses.  The  masses  are  liable 
to  controlling  influences  from  elements  which  they  contain. 
When  crises  arise  in  a  democratic  state  attention  is  concentrated 
on  the  most  numerous  strata  nearest  to  MN  (see  the  diagram, 
p.  40),  but  they  rarely  possess  self-determination  unless  the  ques- 
tion at  issue  appeals  directly  to  popular  interest  or  popular  van- 
ity. Moreover,  those  strata  cannot  rule  unless  they  combine  with 
those  next  above  and  below.  So  the  critical  question  always  is, 
in  regard  to  the  masses  PQRS,  which  parts  of  it  will  move  the 
whole  of  it.  Generally  the  question  is,  more  specifically.  What 
is  the  character  of  the  strata  above  a  line  through  A  or  B,  and 
what  is  their  relation  to  the  rest  of  PQRS?  If  the  upper  part 
of  the  section  PQRS  consists  of  employers  and  the  lower  part 


FUNDAMENTAL  NOTIONS  53 

of  employes,  and  if  they  hate  and  fight  each  other,  coherence 
and  sympathy  in  the  society  will  cease,  the  mores  will  be  char- 
acterized by  discord,  passion,  and  quarrelsomeness,  and  political 
crises  will  arise  which  may  reach  any  degree  of  severity,  for  the 
political  parties  will  soon  coincide  with  the  class  sections.  The 
upper  part  of  PQRS  is  made  up  of  the  strata  which  possess  com- 
fort without  luxury,  but  also  culture,  intelligence,  and  the  best 
family  mores.  They  are  generally  disciplined  classes,  with  strong 
moral  sense,  public  spirit,  and  sense  of  responsibility.  If  we  are 
not  in  error  as  to  the  movement  in  civilized  states  of  the  present 
time  from  the  lower  into  the  upper  strata  of  PQRS,  by  virtue 
of  ambition  and  education,  then  it  follows  that  the  upper  strata 
are  being  constantly  reenforced  by  all  the  elements  in  the  society 
which  have  societal  value,  after  those  elements  have  been  devel- 
oped and  disciplined  by  labor  and  self-denial.  The  share  which 
the  upper  strata  of  the  masses  have  in  determining  the  policy 
of  the  masses  is  therefore  often  decisive  of  public  welfare.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  is  when  the  masses  are  controlled  by  the 
strata  next  above  RS  that  there  is  most  violent  impulsiveness 
in  societal  movements.  The  movements  and  policies  which  are 
characterized  as  revolutionary  have  their  rise  in  these  classes, 
although,  in  other  cases,  these  classes  also  adhere  most  stub- 
bornly to  popular  traditions  in  spite  of  reason  and  fact.  Trade 
unionism  is,  at  the  present  time,  a  social  philosophy  and  a 
programme  of  policy  which  has  its  origin  in  the  sections  of  the 
masses  next  above  RS. 

The  French  Revolution  began  with  the  highest  strata  of  the 
masses,  and  the  control  of  it  passed  on  down  from  one  to  another 
of  the  lower  strata,  until  it  reached  the  lowest,  —  the  mob  gath- 
ered in  the  slums  of  a  great  city. 

61.  The  mores  and  institutions.  Institutions  and  laws  are 
produced  out  of  mores.  An  institution  consists  of  a  concept 
(idea,  notion,  doctrine,  interest)  and  a  structure.  The  structure 
is  a  framework,  or  apparatus,  or  perhaps  only  a  number  of 
functionaries  set  to  cooperate  in  prescribed  ways  at  a  certain  con- 
juncture. The  structure  holds  the  concept  and  furnishes  instru- 
mentalities for  brinffinsf  it  into  the  world  of  facts  and  action  in  a 


54 


FOLKWAYS 


way  to  serve  the  interests  of  men  in  society.  Institutions  are 
either  crescive  or  enacted.  They  are  crescive  when  they  take 
shape  in  the  mores,  growing  by  the  instinctive  efforts  by  which 
the  mores  are  produced.  Then  the  efforts,  through  long  use, 
become  definite  and  specific.  Property,  marriage,  and  rehgion 
are  the  most  primary  institutions.  They  began  in  folkways.  They 
became  customs.  They  developed  into  mores  by  the  addition  of 
some  philosophy  of  welfare,  however  crude.  Then  they  were 
made  more  definite  and  specific  as  regards  the  rules,  the  pre- 
scribed acts,  and  the  apparatus  to  be  employed.  This  produced 
a  structure  and  the  institution  was  complete.  Enacted  institu- 
tions are  products  of  rational  invention  and  intention.  They 
belong  to  high  civilization.  Banks  are  institutions  of  credit 
founded  on  usages  which  can  be  traced  back  to  barbarism.  There 
came  a  time  when,  guided  by  rational  reflection  on  experience, 
men  systematized  and  regulated  the  usages  which  had  become 
current,  and  thus  created  positive  institutions  of  credit,  defined 
by  law  and  sanctioned  by  the  force  of  the  state.  Pure  enacted 
institutions  which  are  strong  and  prosperous  are  hard  to  find. 
It  is  too  difficult  to  invent  and  create  an  institution,  for  a  purpose, 
out  of  nothing.  The  electoral  college  in  the  constitution  of  the 
United  States  is  an  example.  In  that  case  the  democratic  mores 
of  the  people  have  seized  upon  the  device  and  made  of  it  some- 
thing quite  different  from  what  the  inventors  planned.  All  insti- 
tutions have  come  out  of  mores,  although  the  rational  element  in 
them  is  sometimes  so  large  that  their  origin  in  the  mores  is  not 
to  be  ascertained  except  by  an  historical  investigation  (legisla- 
tures, courts,  juries,  joint  stock  companies,  the  stock  exchange). 
Property,  marriage,  and  religion  are  still  almost  entirely  in  the 
mores.  Amongst  nature  men  any  man  might  capture  and  hold 
a  woman  at  any  time,  if  he  could.  He  did  it  by  superior  force 
which  was  its  own  supreme  justification.  But  his  act  brought  his 
group  and  her  group  into  war,  and  produced  harm  to  his  com- 
rades. They  forbade  capture,  or  set  conditions  for  it.  Beyond  the 
limits,  the  individual  might  still  use  force,  but  his  comrades  were 
no  longer  responsible.  The  glory  to  him,  if  he  succeeded,  might 
be  all  the  greater.    His  control  over  his  captive  was  absolute. 


FUNDAMENTAL  NOTIONS  55 

Within  the  prescribed  conditions,  "  capture  "  became  technical 
and  institutional,  and  rights  grew  out  of  it.  The  woman  had  a 
status  which  was  defined  by  custom,  and  was  very  different  from 
the  status  of  a  real  captive.  Marriage  was  the  institutional  rela- 
tion, in  the  society  and  under  its  sanction,  of  a  woman  to  a  man, 
where  the  woman  had  been  obtained  in  the  prescribed  way.  She 
was  then  a  "wife."  What  her  rights  and  duties  were  was  defined 
by  the  mores,  as  they  are  to-day  in  all  civilized  society. 

62.  Laws.  Acts  of  legislation  come  out  of  the  mores.  In  low 
civilization  all  societal  regulations  are  customs  and  taboos,  the 
origin  of  which  is  unknown.  Positive  laws  are  impossible  until 
the  stage  of  verification,  reflection,  and  criticism  is  reached.  Until 
that  point  is  reached  there  is  only  customary  law,  or  common 
law.  The  customary  law  may  be  codified  and  systematized  with 
respect  to  some  philosophical  principles,  and  yet  remain  custom- 
ary. The  codes  of  Manu  and  Justinian  are  examples.  Enact- 
ment is  not  possible  until  reverence  for  ancestors  has  been  so 
much  weakened  that  it  is  no  longer  thought  wrong  to  interfere 
with  traditional  customs  by  positive  enactment.  Even  then  there 
is  reluctance  to  make  enactments,  and  there  is  a  stage  of  tran- 
sition during  which  traditional  customs  are  extended  by  inter- 
pretation to  cover  new  cases  and  to  prevent  evils.  Legislation, 
however,  has  to  seek  standing  ground  on  the  existing  mores,  and 
it  soon  becomes  apparent  that  legislation,  to  be  strong,  must  be 
consistent  with  the  mores. ^  Things  which  have  been  in  the  mores 
are  put  under  police  regulation  and  later  under  positive  law. 
It  is  sometimes  said  that  "public  opinion"  must  ratify  and 
approve  police  regulations,  but  this  statement  rests  on  an  imper- 
fect analysis.  The  regulations  must  conform  to  the  mores,  so 
that  the  public  will  not  think  them  too  lax  or  too  strict.  The 
mores  of  our  urban  and  rural  populations  are  not  the  same  ;  con- 
sequently legislation  about  intoxicants  which  is  made  by  one  of 
these  sections  of  the  population  does  not  succeed  when  applied 
to  the  other.    The  regulation  of  drinking  places,  gambling  places, 

1  "  In  the  reigns  of  Theodosius  and  Honorius,  imperial  edicts  and  rescripts 
were  paralyzed  by  the  impalpable,  quietly  irresistible  force  of  a  universal  social 
need  or  sentiment."  —  Dill,  Rome  frotn.  iVero  to  M.  AiireL,  255. 


56  FOLKWAYS 

and  disorderly  houses  has  passed  through  the  above-mentioned 
stages.  It  is  always  a  question  of  expediency  whether  to  leave  a 
subject  under  the  mores,  or  to  make  a  police  regulation  for  it,  or 
to  put  it  into  the  criminal  law.  Betting,  horse  racing,  dangerous 
sports,  electric  cars,  and  vehicles  are  cases  now  of  things  which 
seem  to  be  passing  under  positive  enactment  and  out  of  the 
unformulated  control  of  the  mores.  When  an  enactment  is 
made  there  is  a  sacrifice  of  the  elasticity  and  automatic  self- 
adaptation  of  custom,  but  an  enactment  is  specific  and  is  pro- 
vided with  sanctions.  Enactments  come  into  use  when  conscious 
purposes  are  formed,  and  it  is  believed  that  specific  devices  can 
be  framed  by  which  to  realize  such  purposes  in  the  society. 
Then  also  prohibitions  take  the  place  of  taboos,  and  punishments 
are  planned  to  be  deterrent  rather  than  revengeful.  The  mores 
of  different  societies,  or  of  different  ages,  are  characterized  by 
greater  or  less  readiness  and  confidence  in  regard  to  the  use  of 
positive  enactments  for  the  realization  of  societal  purposes. 

63.  How  laws  and  institutions  differ  from  mores.  When  folk- 
ways have  become  institutions  or  laws  they  have  changed  their 
character  and  are  to  be  distinguished  from  the  mores.  The  ele- 
ment of  sentiment  and  faith  inheres  in  the  mores.  Laws  and 
institutions  have  a  rational  and  practical  character,  and  are  more 
mechanical  and  utilitarian.  The  great  difference  is  that  institu- 
tions and  laws  have  a  positive  character,  while  mores  are  unfor- 
mulated and  undefined.  There  is  a  philosophy  implicit  in  the 
folkways  ;  when  it  is  made  explicit  it  becomes  technical  philos- 
ophy. Objectively  regarded,  the  mores  are  the  customs  which 
actually  conduce  to  welfare  under  existing  life  conditions.  Acts 
under  the  laws  and  institutions  are  conscious  and  voluntary  ; 
under  the  folkways  they  are  always  unconscious  and  involuntary, 
so  that  they  have  the  character  of  natural  necessity.  Educated 
reflection  and  skepticism  can  disturb  this  spontaneous  relation. 
The  laws,  being  positive  prescriptions,  supersede  the  mores  so 
far  as  they  are  adopted.  It  follows  that  the  mores  come  into 
operation  where  laws  and  tribunals  fail.  The  mores  cover  the 
great  field  of  common  life  where  there  are  no  laws  or  police 
regulations.    They  cover  an  immense  and  undefined  domain,  and 


FUNDAMENTAL  NOTIONS  57 

they  break  the  way  in  new  domains,  not  yet  controlled  at  all. 
The  mores,  therefore,  build  up  new  laws  and  police  regulations 
in  time. 

64.  Difference  between  mores  and  some  cognate  things.  Prod- 
ucts of  intentional  investigation  or  of  rational  and  conscious 
reflection,  projects  formally  adopted  by  voluntary  associations, 
rational  methods  consciously  selected,  injunctions  and  prohibi- 
tions by  authority,  and  all  specific  conventional  arrangements 
are  not  in  the  mores.  They  are  differentiated  by  the  rational 
and  conscious  element  in  them.  We  may  also  make  a  distinction 
between  usages  and  mores.  Usages  are  folkways  which  contain 
no  principle  of  welfare,  but  serve  convenience  so  long  as  all  know 
what  they  are  expected  to  do.  For  instance.  Orientals,  to  show 
respect,  cover  the  head  and  uncover  the  feet ;  Occidentals  do  the 
opposite.  There  is  no  inherent  and  necessary  connection  between 
respect  and  either  usage,  but  it  is  an  advantage  that  there  should 
be  a  usage  and  that  all  should  know  and  observe  it.  One  way 
is  as  good  as  another,  if  it  is  understood  and  established.  The 
folkways  as  to  public  decency  belong  to  the  mores,  because  they 
have  real  connection  with  welfare  which  determines  the  only 
tenor  which  they  can  have.  The  folkways  about  propriety  and 
modesty  are  sometimes  purely  conventional  and  sometimes  inher- 
ently real.  Fashions,  fads,  affectations,  poses,  ideals,  manias, 
popular  delusions,  follies,  and  vices  must  be  included  in  the  mores. 
They  have  characteral  qualities  and  characteral  effect.  However 
frivolous  or  foolish  they  may  appear  to  people  of  another  age, 
they  have  the  form  of  attempts  to  live  well,  to  satisfy  some 
interest,  or  to  win  some  good.  The  ways  of  advertisers  who  exag- 
gerate, use  tricks  to  win  attention,  and  appeal  to  popular  weak- 
ness and  folly  ;  the  ways  of  journalism  ;  electioneering  devices  ; 
oratorical  and  dithyrambic  extravagances  in  politics ;  current 
methods  of  humbug  and  sensationalism,  —  are  not  properly  part 
of  the  mores  but  symptoms  of  them.  They  are  not  products 
of  the  concurrent  and  cooperative  effort  of  all  members  of  the 
society  to  live  well.  They  are  devices  made  with  conscious 
ingenuity  to  exert  suggestion  on  the  minds  of  others.  The  mores 
are  rather  the  underlying  facts  in  regard  to  the  faiths,  notions. 


58  FOLKWAYS 

tastes,  desires,  etc.,  of  that  society  at  that  time,  to  which  all  these 
modes  of  action  appeal  and  of  whose  existence  they  are  evidence. 
65.  What  is  goodness  or  badness  of  the  mores.  It  is  most 
important  to  notice  that,  for  the  people  of  a  time  and  place,  their 
own  mores  are  always  good,  or  rather  that  for  them  there  can 
be  no  question  of  the  goodness  or  badness  of  their  mores.  The 
reason  is  because  the  standards  of  good  and  right  are  in  the 
mores.  If  the  life  conditions  change,  the  traditional  folkways 
may  produce  pain  and  loss,  or  fail  to  produce  the  same  good 
as  formerly.  Then  the  loss  of  comfort  and  ease  brings  doubt 
into  the  judgment  of  welfare  (causing  doubt  of  the  pleasure  of 
the  gods,  or  of  war  power,  or  of  health),  and  thus  disturbs  the 
unconscious  philosophy  of  the  mores.  Then  a  later  time  will 
pass  judgment  on  the  mores.  Another  society  may  also  pass 
judgment  on  the  mores.  In  our  literary  and  historical  study  of 
the  mores  we  want  to  get  from  them  their  educational  value,, 
which  consists  in  the  stimulus  or  warning  as  to  what  is,  in  its 
effects,  societally  good  or  bad.  This  may  lead  us  to  reject  or 
neglect  a  phenomenon  like  infanticide,  slavery,  or  witchcraft, 
as  an  old  "abuse"  and  "evil,"  or  to  pass  by  the  crusades  as  a 
folly  which  cannot  recur.  Such  a  course  would  be  a  great  error. 
Everything  in  the  mores  of  a  time  and  place  must  be  regarded 
as  justified  with  regard  to  that  time  and  place.  "  Good  "  mores 
are  those  which  are  well  adapted  to  the  situation.  "  Bad  "  mores 
are  those  which  are  not  so  adapted.  The  mores  are  not  so 
stereotyped  and  changeless  as  might  appear,  because  they  are 
forever  moving  towards  more  complete  adaptation  to  conditions 
and  interests,  and  also  towards  more  complete  adjustment  to  each 
other.  People  in  mass  have  never  made  or  kept  up  a  custom  in 
order  to  hurt  their  own  interests.  They  have  made  innumerable 
errors  as  to  what  their  interests  were  and  how  to  satisfy  them, 
but  they  have  always  aimed  to  serve  their  interests  as  well  as 
they  could.  This  gives  the  standpoint  for  the  student  of  the 
mores.  All  things  in  them  come  before  him  on  the  same  plane. 
They  all  bring  instruction  and  warning.  They  all  have  the  same 
relation  to  power  and  welfare.  The  mistakes  in  them  are  com- 
ponent parts  of  them.    We  do  not  study  them  in  order  to  approve 


FUNDAMENTAL  NOTIONS 


59 


some  of  them  and  condemn  others.  They  are  all  equally  worthy 
of  attention  from  the  fact  that  they  existed  and  were  used.  The 
chief  object  of  study  in  them  is  their  adjustment  to  interests, 
their  relation  to  welfare,  and  their  coordination  in  a  harmonious 
system  of  life  policy.  For  the  men  of  the  time  there  are  no 
"bad"  mores.  What  is  traditional  and  current  is  the  standard 
of  what  ought  to  be.  The  masses  never  raise  any  question  about 
such  things.  If  a  few  raise  doubts  and  questions,  this  proves  that 
the  folkways  have  already  begun  to  lose  firmness  and  the  regu- 
lative element  in  the  mores  has  begun  to  lose  authority.  This 
indicates  that  the  folkways  are  on  their  way  to  a  new  adjustment. 
The  extreme  of  folly,  wickedness,  and  absurdity  in  the  mores  is 
witch  persecutions,  but  the  best  men  of  the  seventeenth  century 
had  no  doubt  that  witches  existed,  and  that  they  ought  to  be 
burned.  The  religion,  statecraft,  jurisprudence,  philosophy,  and 
social  system  of  that  age  all  contributed  to  maintain  that  belief. 
It  was  rather  a  culmination  than  a  contradiction  of  the  current 
faiths  and  convictions,  just  as  the  dogma  that  all  men  are  equal 
and  that  one  ought  to  have  as  much  political  power  in  the  state 
as  another  was  the  culmination  of  the  political  dogmatism  and 
social  philosophy  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Hence  our  judg- 
ments of  the  good  or  evil  consequences  of  folkways  are  to  be 
kept  separate  from  our  study  of  the  historical  phenomena  of 
them,  and  of  their  strength  and  the  reasons  for  it.  The  judgments 
have  their  place  in  plans  and  doctrines  for  the  future,  not  in  a 
retrospect. 

66.  More  exact  definition  of  the  mores.  We  may  now  formu- 
late a  more  complete  definition  of  the  mores.  They  are  the 
ways  of  doing  things  which  are  current  in  a  society  to  satisfy 
human  needs  and  desires,  together  with  the  faiths,  notions, 
codes,  and  standards  of  well  living  which  inhere  in  those  ways, 
having  a  genetic  connection  with  them.  By  virtue  of  the  latter 
element  the  mores  are  traits  in  the  specific  character  (ethos) 
of  a  society  or  a  period.  They  pervade  and  control  the  ways  of 
thinking  in  all  the  exigencies  of  life,  returning  from  the  world  of 
abstractions  to  the  world  of  action,  to  give  guidance  and  to  win 
revivification.    "The  mores  [Sit/cu]  are,  before  any  beginning 


6o  FOLKWAYS 

of  reflection,  the  regulators  of  the  poHtical,  social,  and  religious 
behavior  of  the  individual.  Conscious  reflection  is  the  worst 
enemy  of  the  mores,  because  mores  begin  unconsciously  and 
pursue  unconscious  purposes,  which  are  recognized  by  reflec- 
tion often  only  after  long  and  circuitous  processes,  and  because 
their  expediency  often  depends  on  the  assumption  that  they  will 
have  general  acceptance  and  currency,  uninterfered  with  by  re- 
flection." ^  "  The  mores  are  usage  in  any  group,  in  so  far  as  it,  on 
the  one  hand,  is  not  the  expression  or  fulfillment  of  an  absolute 
natural  necessity  [e.g.  eating  or  sleeping],  and,  on  the  other  hand, 
is  independent  of  the  arbitrary  will  of  the  individual,  and  is  gen- 
erally accepted  as  good  and  proper,  appropriate  and  worthy."  ^ 
67.  Ritual.  The  process  by  which  mores  are  developed  and 
established  is  ritual.  Ritual  is  so  foreign  to  our  mores  that  we 
do  not  recognize  its  power.  In  primitive  society  it  is  the  pre- 
vailing method  of  activity,  and  primitive  religion  is  entirely  a 
matter  of  ritual.  Ritual  is  the  perfect  form  of  drill  and  of  the 
regulated  habit  which  comes  from  drill.  Acts  which  are  ordained 
by  authority  and  are  repeated  mechanically  without  intelligence 
run  into  ritual.  If  infants  and  children  are  subjected  to  ritual 
they  never  escape  from  its  effects  through  life.  Galton^  says 
that  he  was,  in  early  youth,  in  contact  with  the  Mohammedan 
ritual  idea  that  the  left  hand  is  less  worthy  than  the  right,  and 
that  he  never  overcame  it.  We  see  the  effect  of  ritual  in  breed- 
ing, courtesy,  politeness,  and  all  forms  of  prescribed  behavior. 
Etiquette  is  social  ritual.  Ritual  is  not  easy  compliance  with 
usage  ;  it  is  strict  compliance  with  detailed  and  punctilious  rule. 
It  admits  of  no  exception  or  deviation.  The  stricter  the  disci- 
pline, the  greater  the  power  of  ritual  over  action  and  character. 
In  the  training  of  animals  and  the  education  of  children  it  is 
the  perfection,  inevitableness,  invariableness,  and  relentlessness 
of  routine  which  tells.  They  should  never  experience  any  excep- 
tion or  irregularity.  Ritual  is  connected  with  words,  gestures, 
symbols,  and  signs.    Associations  result,  and,  upon  a  repetition 

^  V.  Hartmann,  Phdtioni.  des  Sittl.  Bewusztseitis,  73. 
2  Lazarus  in  Ztsft.  fiir  Volkerpsy.,  I,  439. 
^  Human  Faculty,  216. 


FUNDAMENTAL  NOTIONS  6 1 

of  the  signal,  the  act  is  repeated,  whether  the  will  assents  or 
not.  Association  and  habit  account  for  the  phenomena.  Ritual 
gains  further  strength  when  it  is  rhythmical,  and  is  connected 
with  music,  verse,  or  other  rhythmical  arts.  Acts  are  ritually 
repeated  at  the  recurrence  of  the  rhythmical  points.  The  alter- 
nation of  night  and  day  produces  rhythms  of  waking  and  sleep- 
ing, of  labor  and  rest,  for  great  numbers  at  the  same  time,  in 
their  struggle  for  existence.  The  seasons  also  produce  rhythms 
in  work.  Ritual  may  embody  an  idea  of  utility,  expediency,  or 
welfare,  but  it  always  tends  to  become  perfunctory,  and  the  idea 
is  only  subconscious.  There  is  ritual  in  primitive  therapeutics, 
and  it  was  not  eliminated  until  very  recent  times.  The  patient 
was  directed,  not  only  to  apply  remedies,  but  also  to  perform 
rites.  The  rites  introduced  mystic  elements.  This  illustrates 
the  connection  of  ritual  with  notions  of  magical  effects  produced 
by  rites.  All  ritual  is  ceremonious  and  solemn.  It  tends  to 
become  sacred,  or  to  make  sacred  the  subject-matter  with  which 
it  is  connected.  Therefore,  in  primitive  society,  it  is  by  ritual 
that  sentiments  of  awe,  deference  to  authority,  submission  to 
tradition,  and  disciplinary  cooperation  are  inculcated.  Ritual 
operates  a  constant  suggestion,  and'  the  suggestion  is  at  once 
put  in  operation  in  acts.  Ritual,  therefore,  suggests  sentiments, 
but  it  never  inculcates  doctrines.  Ritual  is  strongest  when  it  is 
most  perfunctory  and  excites  no  thought.  By  familiarity  with 
ritual  any  doctrinal  reference  which  it  once  had  is  lost  by  famil- 
iarity, but  the  habits  persist.  Primitive  religion  is  ritualistic,  not 
because  religion  makes  ritual,  but  because  ritual  makes  religion. 
Ritual  is  something  to  be  done,  not  something  to  be  thought 
or  felt.  Men  can  always  perform  the  prescribed  act,  although 
they  cannot  always  think  or  feel  prescribed  thoughts  or  emo- 
tions. The  acts  may  bring  up  again,  by  association,  states  of 
the  mind  and  sentiments  which  have  been  connected  with  them, 
especially  in  childhood,  when  the  fantasy  was  easily  affected 
by  rites,  music,  singing,  dramas,  etc.  No  creed,  no  moral  code, 
and  no  scientific  demonstration  can  ever  win  the  same  hold  upon 
men  and  women  as  habits  of  action,  with  associated  sentiments 
and  states  of  mind,  drilled  in  from  childhood.    Mohammedanism 


62  FOLKWAYS 

shows  the  power  of  ritual.  Any  occupation  is  interrupted  for 
the  prayers  and  prescribed  genuflections.  The  Brahmins  also 
observe  an  elaborate  daily  ritual.  They  devote  to  it  two  hours 
in  the  morning,  two  in  the  evening,  and  one  at  midday .^  Monks 
and  nuns  have  won  the  extreme  satisfaction  of  religious  senti- 
ment from  the  unbroken  habit  of  repeated  ritual,  with  undis- 
turbed opportunity  to  develop  the  emotional  effects  of  it. 

68.  The  ritual  of  the  mores.  The  mores  are  social  ritual  in 
which  we  all  participate  unconsciously.  The  current  habits  as 
to  hours  of  labor,  meal  hours,  family  life,  the  social  intercourse 
of  the  sexes,  propriety,  amusements,  travel,  holidays,  education, 
the  use  of  periodicals  and  libraries,  and  innumerable  other  details 
of  life  fall  under  this  ritual.  Each  docs  as  everybody  does.  For 
the  great  mass  of  mankind  as  to  all  things,  and  for  all  of  us  for 
a  great  many  things,  the  rule  to  do  as  all  do  suffices.  We  are 
led  by  suggestion  and  association  to  believe  that  there  must  be 
wisdom  and  utility  in  what  all  do.  The  great  mass  of  the  folk- 
ways give  us  discipline  and  the  support  of  routine  and  habit. 
If  we  had  to  form  judgments  as  to  all  these  cases  before  we 
could  act  in  them,  and  were  forced  always  to  act  rationally,  the 
burden  would  be  unendurable.  Beneficent  use  and  wont  save 
us  this  trouble. 

69.  Group  interests  and  policy.  Groups  select,  consciously  and 
unconsciously,  standards  of  group  well  living.  They  plan  group 
careers,  and  adopt  purposes  through  which  they  hope  to  attain 
to  group  self-realization.  The  historical  classes  adopt  the  deci- 
sions which  constitute  these  group  plans  and  acts,  and  they 
impose  them  on  the  group.  The  Greeks  were  enthused  at  one 
time  by  a  national  purpose  to  destroy  Troy,  at  another  time  by 
a  national  necessity  to  ward  off  Persian  conquest.  The  Romans 
conceived  of  their  rivalry  with  Carthage  as  a  struggle  from  which 
only  one  state  could  survive.  Spain,  through  an  effort  to  over- 
throw the  political  power  of  the  Moors  in  the  peninsula  and  to 
make  it  all  Christian,  was  educated  up  to  a  national  purpose  to 
make  Spain  a  pure  "Christian  "  state,  in  the  dogmatic  and  eccle- 
siastical sense  of  the  word.    Moors  and  Jews  were  expelled  at 

1  Wilkins,  Mod.  Hinduism,  195. 


FUNDAMENTAL  NOTIONS  63 

great  cost  and  loss.  Germany  and  Italy  cherished  for  genera- 
tions a  national  hope  and  desire  to  become  unified  states.  Some 
attempts  to  formulate  or  interpret  the  Monroe  doctrine  would 
make  it  a  national  policy  and  programme  for  the  United  States. 
In  lower  civilization  group  interests  and  purposes  are  less  defi- 
nite. We  must  believe  that  barbarous  tribes  often  form  notions 
of  their  group  interests,  and  adopt  group  policies,  especially  in 
their  relations  with  neighboring  groups.  The  Iroquois,  after 
forming  their  confederation,  made  war  on  neighboring  tribes  in 
order  either  to  subjugate  them  or  to  force  them  to  come  into 
the  peace  pact.  Pontiac  and  Tecumseh  united  the  red  men 
in  a  race  effort  to  drive  the  whites  out  of  North  America. 

70.  Group  interests  and  folkways.  Whenever  a  group  has  a 
group  purpose  that  purpose  produces  group  interests,  and  those 
interests  overrule  individual  interests  in  the  development  of 
folkways.  A  group  might  adopt  a  pacific  and  industrial  purpose, 
but  historical  cases  of  this  kind  are  very  few.  It  used  to  be 
asserted  that  the  United  States  had  as  its  great  social  purpose 
to  create  a  social  environment  which  should  favor  that  develop- 
ment of  the  illiterate  and  unskilled  classes  into  an  independent 
status  for  which  the  economic  conditions  of  a  new  country  give 
opportunity,  and  it  was  asserted  that  nothing  could  cause  a 
variation  from  this  policy,  which  was  said  to  be  secured  in  the 
political  institutions  and  political  ideas  of  the  people.  Within  a 
few  years  the  United  States  has  been  affected  by  an  ambition 
to  be  a  world  power.  (A  world  power  is  a  state  which  expects 
to  have  a  share  in  the  settlement  of  every  clash  of  interests  and 
collision  of  state  policies  which  occurs  anywhere  on  the  globe.) 
There  is  no  reason  to  wonder  at  this  action  of  a  democracy,  for 
a  democracy  is  sure  to  resent  any  suggestion  that  it  is  limited  in 
its  functions,  as  compared  with  other  political  forms.  At  the 
same  time  that  the  United  States  has  moved  towards  the  charac- 
ter of  a  world  power  it  has  become  militant.  Other  states  in  the 
past  which  have  had  group  purposes  have  been  militant.  Even 
when  they  arrived  at  commerce  and  industry  they  have  pursued 
policies  which  involved  them  in  war  (Venice,  Hansa,  Holland). 
Since  the  group  interests  override  the  individual  interests,  the 


64  FOLKWAYS 

selection  and  determination  of  group  purposes  is  a  function  of 
the  greatest  importance  and  an  act  of  the  greatest  effect  on 
individual  welfare.  The  interests  of  the  society  or  nation  furnish 
an  easy  phrase,  but  such  phrases  are  to  be  regarded  with  suspicion. 
Such  interests  are  apt  to  be  the  interests  of  a  ruling  clique  which 
the  rest  are  to  be  compelled  to  serve.  On  the  other  hand,  a  really 
great  and  intelligent  group  purpose,  founded  on  correct  knowledge 
and  really  sound  judgment,  can  infuse  into  the  mores  a  vigor 
and  consistent  character  which  will  reach  every  individual  with 
educative  effect.  The  essential  condition  is  that  the  group  pur- 
pose shall  be  "  founded  on  correct  knowledge  and  really  sound 
judgment."  The  interests  must  be  real,  and  they  must  be  in- 
terests of  the  whole,  and  the  judgment  as  to  means  of  satisfying 
them  must  be  correct. 

71.  Force  in  the  folkways.  Here  we  notice  also  the  inter- 
vention of  force.  There  is  always  a  large  element  of  force  in  the 
folkways.  It  constitutes  another  modification  of  the  theory  of 
the  folkways  as  expedient  devices,  developed  in  experience,  to 
meet  the  exigencies  of  life.  The  organization  of  society  under 
chiefs  and  medicine  men  greatly  increased  the  power  of  the 
society  to  serve  its  own  interests.  The  same  is  true  of  higher 
political  organizations.  If  Gian  Galeazzo  Visconti  or  Cesare 
Borgia  could  have  united  Italy  into  a  despotic  state,  it  is  an 
admissible  opinion  that  the  history  of  the  peninsula  in  the  follow- 
ing four  or  five  hundred  years  would  have  been  happy  and  pros- 
perous, and  that,  at  the  present  time,  it  would  have  had  the 
same  political  system  which  it  has  now.  However,  chiefs,  kings, 
priests,  warriors,  statesmen,  and  other  functionaries  have  put 
their  own  interests  in  the  place  of  group  interests,  and  have 
used  the  authority  they  possessed  to  force  the  societal  organiza- 
tion to  work  and  fight  for  their  interests.  The  force  is  that  of 
the  society  itself.  It  is  directed  by  the  ruling  class  or  persons. 
The  force  enters  into  the  mores  and  becomes  a  component  in 
them.  Despotism  is  in  the  mores  of  negro  tribes,  and  of  all 
Mohammedan  peoples.  There  is  an  element  of  force  in  all  forms 
of  property,  marriage,  and  religion.  Slavery,  however,  is  the 
grandest  case  of  force  in  the  mores,  employed  to  make  some 


FUNDAMENTAL  NOTIONS  65 

serve  the  interests  of  others,  in  the  societal  organization.  The 
historical  classes,  having  selected  the  group  purposes  and  decided 
the  group  policy,  use  the  force  of  the  society  itself  to  coerce  all 
to  acquiesce  and  to  work  and  fight  in  the  determined  way  with- 
out regard  to  their  individual  interests.  This  they  do  by  means 
of  discipline  and  ritual.  In  different  kinds  of  mores  the  force  is 
screened  by  different  devices.  It  is  always  present,  and  brutal, 
cruel  force  has  entered  largely  into  the  development  of  all  our 
mores,  even  those  which  we  think  most  noble  and  excellent. 

72.  Might  and  right.  Modern  civilized  states  of  the  best  form 
are  often  called  jural  states  because  the  concept  of  rights  enters  so 
largely  into  all  their  constitutions  and  regulations.  Our  political 
philosophy  centers  around  that  concept,  and  all  our  social  discus- 
sions fall  into  the  form  of  propositions  and  disputes  about  rights. 
The  history  of  the  dogma  of  rights  has  been  such  that  rights 
have  been  believed  to  be  self-evident  and  self-existent,  and  as 
having  prevailed  especially  in  primitive  society.  Rights  are  also 
regarded  as  the  opposite  of  force.  These  notions  only  prove  the 
antagonism  between  our  mores  and  those  of  earlier  generations. 
In  fact,  it  is  a  characteristic  of  our  mores  that  the  form  of  our 
thinking  about  all  points  of  political  philosophy  is  set  for  us  by 
the  concept  of  rights.  Nothing  but  might  has  ever  made  right, 
and  if  we  include  in  might  (as  we  ought  to)  elections  and  the 
decisions  of  courts,  nothing  but  might  makes  right  now.  We 
must  distinguish  between  the  anterior  and  the  posterior  view  of 
the  matter  in  question.  If  we  are  about  to  take  some  action,  and 
are  debating  the  right  of  it,  the  might  which  can  be  brought  to 
support  one  view  of  it  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  right  of  it. 
If  a  thing  has  been  done  and  is  established  by  force  (that  is,  no 
force  can  reverse  it),  it  is  right  in  the  only  sense  we  know,  and 
rights  will  follow  from  it  which  are  not  vitiated  at  all  by  the 
force  in  it.  There  would  be  no  security  at  all  for  rights  if  this 
were  not  so.  We  find  men  and  parties  protesting,  declaiming, 
complaining  of  what  is  done,  and  which  they  say  is  not  "right," 
but  only  force.  An  election  decides  that  those  shall  have  power 
who  will  execute  an  act  of  policy.  The  defeated  party  denounces 
the  wrong  and  wickedness  of  the  act.    It  is  done.    It  may  be  a 


66  FOLKWAYS 

war,  a  conquest,  a  spoliation  ;  every  one  must  help  to  do  it  by 
paying  taxes  and  doing  military  service  or  other  duty  which  may 
be  demanded  of  him.  The  decision  of  a  lawsuit  leaves  one  party 
protesting  and  complaining.  He  always  speaks  of  "right"  and 
"rights."  He  is  forced  to  acquiesce.  The  result  is  right  in  the 
only  sense  which  is  real  and  true.  It  is  more  to  the  purpose  to 
note  that  an  indefinite  series  of  consequences  follow,  and  that 
they  create  or  condition  rights  which  are  real  and  just.  Many 
persons  now  argue  against  property  that  it  began  in  force  and 
therefore  has  no  existence  in  right  and  justice.  They  might  say 
the  same  of  marriage  or  religion.  Some  do  say  the  same  of  the 
state.  The  war  of  the  United  States  with  Mexico  in  1845  is  now 
generally  regarded  as  unjustified.  That  cannot  affect  the  rights 
of  all  kinds  which  have  been  contracted  in  the  territory  then 
ceded  by  Mexico  or  under  the  status  created  on  the  land  obtained 
by  the  treaty  of  peace  with  that  country.  The  whole  history  of 
mankind  is  a  series  of  acts  which  are  open  to  doubt,  dispute,  and 
criticism,  as  to  their  right  and  justice,  but  all  subsequent  history 
has  been  forced  to  take  vip  the  consequences  of  those  acts  and 
go  on.  The  disputants  about  "rights"  often  lose  sight  of  the 
fact  that  the  world  has  to  go  on  day  by  day  and  dispute  must 
end.  It  always  ends  in  force.  The  end  always  leaves  some  com- 
plaining in  terms  of  right  and  rights.  They  are  overborne  by 
force  of  some  kind.  Therefore  might  has  made  all  the  right  which 
ever  has  existed  or  exists  now.  If  it  is  proposed  to  reverse, 
reform,  or  change  anything  which  ever  was  done  because  we 
now  think  that  it  was  wrong,  that  is  a  new  question  and  a  new 
case,  in  which  the  anterior  view  alone  is  in  place.  It  is  for  the 
new  and  future  cases  that  we  study  historical  cases  and  form 
judgments  on  them  which  will  enable  us  to  act  more  wisely.  If 
we  recognize  the  great  extent  to  which  force  now  enters  into  all 
which  happens  in  society,  we  shall  cease  to  be  shocked  to  learn 
the  extent  to  which  it  has  been  active  in  the  entire  history  of 
civilization.  The  habit  of  using  jural  concepts,  which  is  now  so 
characteristic  of  our  mores,  leads  us  into  vague  and  impossible 
dreams  of  social  affairs,  in  which  metaphysical  concepts  are  sup- 
posed to  realize  themselves,  or  are  assumed  to  be  real. 


FUNDAMENTAL  NOTIONS  67 

73.  Status  in  the  folkways.  If  now  we  form  a  conception  of  the 
folkways  as  a  great  mass  of  usages,  of  all  degrees  of  importance, 
covering  all  the  interests  of  life,  constituting  an  outfit  of  instruc- 
tion for  the  young,  embodying  a  life  policy,  forming  character, 
containing  a  world  philosophy,  albeit  most  vague  and  unformu- 
lated, and  sanctioned  by  ghost  fear  so  that  variation  is  impossible, 
we  see  with  what  coercive  and  inhibitive  force  the  folkways  have 
always  grasped  the  members  of  a  society.  The  folkways  create 
status.  Membership  in  the  group,  kin,  family,  neighborhood, 
rank,  or  class  are  cases  of  status.  The  rights  and  duties  of  every 
man  and  woman  were  defined  by  status.  No  one  could  choose 
whether  he  would  enter  into  the  status  or  not.  For  instance,  at 
puberty  every  one  was  married.  What  marriage  meant,  and  what 
a  husband  or  wife  was  (the  rights  and  duties  of  each),  were  fixed 
by  status.  No  one  could  alter  the  customary  relations.  Status, 
as  distinguished  from  institutions  and  contract,  is  a  direct  prod- 
uct of  the  mores.  Each  case  of  status  is  a  nucleus  of  leading 
interest  with  the  folkways  which  cluster  around  it.  Status  is 
determined  by  birth.  Therefore  it  is  a  help  and  a  hindrance, 
but  it  is  not  liberty.  In  modern  times  status  has  become  unpop- 
ular and  our  mores  have  grown  into  the  forms  of  contract  under 
liberty.  The  conception  of  status  has  been  lost  by  the  masses  in 
modern  civilized  states.  Nevertheless  we  live  under  status  which 
has  been  defined  and  guaranteed  by  law  and  institutions,  and  it 
would  be  a  great  gain  to  recognize  and  appreciate  the  element 
of  status  which  historically  underlies  the  positive  institutions  and 
which  is  still  subject  to  the  action  of  the  mores.  Marriage  (mat- 
rimony or  wedlock)  is  a  status.  It  is  really  controlled  by  the 
mores.  The  law  defines  it  and  gives  sanctions  to  it,  but  the  law 
always  expresses  the  mores.  A  man  and  a  woman  make  a  con- 
tract to  enter  into  it  The  mode  of  entering  into  it  (wedding)  is 
fixed  by  custom.  The  law  only  ratifies  it.  No  man  and  woman 
can  by  contract  make  wedlock  different  for  themselves  from  the 
status  defined  by  law,  so  far  as  social  rights  and  duties  are  con- 
cerned. The  same  conception  of  marriage  as  a  status  in  the 
mores  is  injured  by  the  intervention  of  the  ecclesiastical  and 
civil  formalities  connected  with  it.    An  individual  is  born  into  a 


68  FOLKWAYS 

kin  group,  a  tribe,  a  nation,  or  a  state,  and  he  has  a  status 
accordingly  which  determines  rights  and  duties  for  him.  Civil 
liberty  must  be  defined  in  accordance  with  this  fact  ;  not  outside 
of  it,  or  according  to  vague  metaphysical  abstractions  above  it. 
The  body  of  the  folkways  constitutes  a  societal  environment. 
Every  one  born  into  it  must  enter  into  relations  of  give  and  take 
with  it.  He  is  subjected  to  influences  from  it,  and  it  is  one  of 
the  life  conditions  under  which  he  must  work  out  his  career  of 
self-realization.  Whatever  liberty  may  be  taken  to  mean,  it  is 
certain  that  liberty  never  can  mean  emancipation  from  the  influ- 
ence of  the  societal  environment,  or  of  the  mores  into  which  one 
was  born. 

74.  Conventionalization.  If  traditional  folkways  are  subjected 
to  rational  or  ethical  examination  they  are  no  longer  naive  and 
unconscious.  It  may  then  be  found  that  they  are  gross,  absurd, 
or  inexpedient.  They  may  still  be  preserved  by  conventionaliza- 
tion. Conventionalization  creates  a  set  of  conditions  under  which 
a  thing  may  be  tolerated  which  would  otherwise  be  disapproved 
and  tabooed.  The  special  conditions  may  be  created  in  fact,  or 
they  may  be  only  a  fiction  which  all  agree  to  respect  and  to  treat 
as  true.  When  children,  in  play,  "  make  believe  "  that  som.e- 
thing  exists,  or  exists  in  a  certain  way,  they  employ  convention- 
alization. Special  conditions  are  created  in  fact  when  some  fact 
is  regarded  as  making  the  usual  taboo  inoperative.  Such  is  the 
case  with  all  archaic  usages  which  are  perpetuated  on  account  of 
their  antiquity,  although  they  are  not  accordant  with  modern 
standards.  The  language  of  Shakespeare  and  the  Bible  contains 
words  which  are  now  tabooed.  In  this  case,  as  in  very  many 
others,  the  conventionalization  consists  in  ignoring  the  violation 
of  current  standards  of  propriety.  Natural  functions  and  toilet 
operations  are  put  under  conventionalization,  even  in  low  civili- 
zation. The  conventionalization  consists  in  ignoring  breaches  of 
the  ordinary  taboo.  On  account  of  accidents  which  may  occur, 
wellbred  people  are  always  ready  to  apply  conventionalization  to 
mishaps  of  speech,  dress,  manner,  etc.  In  fairy  stories,  fables, 
romances,  and  dramas  all  are  expected  to  comply  with  certain 
conventional  understandings  without  which  the  entertainment  is 


FUNDAMENTAL  NOTIONS  69 

impossible  ;  for  instance,  when  beasts  are  supposed  to  speak.  In 
the  mythologies  this  kind  of  conventionalization  was  essential. 
One  of  us,  in  studying  mythologies,  has  to  acquire  a  knowledge  of 
the  conventional  assumptions  with  which  the  people  who  believed 
in  them  approached  them.  Modern  Hindoos  conventionalize  the 
stories  of  their  mythology.^  What  the  go'i'"  are  said  to  have  done 
is  put  under  other  standards  than  thjse  now  applied  to  .1^  't. 
Everything  in  the  mythology  is  on  a  plane  by  itself.  It  follows  that 
none  of  the  rational  or  ethical  judgments  are  formed  about  the 
acts  of  the  gods  which  would  be  formed  about  similar  acts  of  men, 
and  the  corruption  of  morals  which  would  be  expected  as  a  con- 
sequence of  the  stories  and  dramas  is  prevented  by  the  conven- 
tionalization. There  is  no  deduction  from  what  gods  do  to  what 
men  may  do.  The  Greeks  of  the  fifth  century  B.C.  rationalized  on 
their  mythology  and  thereby  destroyed  it.  The  mediaeval  church 
claimed  to  be  under  a  conventionalization  which  would  prevent 
judgment  on  the  church  and  ecclesiastics  according  to  current 
standards.  Very  many  people  heeded  this  conventionalization, 
so  that  they  were  not  scandalized  by  vice  and  crime  in  the  church. 
This  intervention  of  conventionalization  to  remove  cases  from 
the  usual  domain  of  the  mores  into  a  special  field,  where  they 
can  be  protected  and  tolerated  by  codes  and  standards  modified 
in  their  favor,  is  of  very  great  importance.  It  accounts  for  many 
inconsistencies  in  the  mores.  In  this  way  there  may  be  nakedness 
without  indecency,  and  tales  of  adultery  without  lewdness.  We 
observe  a  conventionalization  in  regard  to  the  Bible,  especially 
in  regard  to  some  of  the  Old  Testament  stories.  The  theater 
presents  numerous  cases  of  conventionalization.  The  asides, 
entrances  and  exits,  and  stage  artifices,  require  that  the  specta- 
tors shall  concede  their  assent  to  conventionalities.  The  dresses 
of  the  stage  would  not  be  tolerated  elsewhere.  It  is  by  conven- 
,tionalization  that  the  literature  and  pictorial  representations  of 
science  avoid  collision  with  the  mores  of  propriety,  decency,  etc. 
In  all  artistic  work  there  is  more  or  less  conventionalization. 
Uncivilized  people,  and  to  some  extent  uneducated  people 
amongst    ourselves,  cannot   tell  what  a  picture   represents   or 

1  Wilkins,  Mod.  Hinduism,  317. 


^o 


FOLKWAYS 


means  because  they  are  not  used  to  the  conventionahties  of 
pictorial  art.  The  ancient  Saturnaha  and  the  carnival  have  been 
special  times  of  license  at  which  the  ordinary  social  restrictions 
have  been  relaxed  for  a  time  by  conventionalization.  Our  own 
Fourth  of  July  is  a  day  of  noise,  risk,  and  annoyance,  on  which 
things  are  allowed  w^^-th  would  not  be  allowed  at  any  other  time. 
We  consent  to  it  because  "  it  is  Fourth  of  July."  The  history  of 
wedding  ceremonies  presents  very  many  instances  of  convention- 
alization. Jests  and  buffoonery  have  been  tolerated  for  the 
occasion.  They  became  such  an  annoyance  that  people  revolted 
against  them,  and  invented  means  to  escape  them.  Dress  used 
in  bathing,  sport,  the  drama,  or  work  is  protected  by  conven- 
tionalization. The  occasion  calls  for  a  variation  from  current 
usage,  and  the  conventionalization,  while  granting  toleration, 
defines  it  also,  and  makes  a  new  law  for  the  exceptional  case.  It 
is  like  taboo,  and  is,  in  fact,  the  form  of  taboo  in  high  civilization. 
Like  taboo,  it  has  two  aspects,  —  it  is  either  destructive  or  pro- 
tective. The  conventionalization  bars  out  what  might  be  offen- 
sive (i.e.  when  a  thing  may  be  done  only  under  the  conditions 
set  by  conventionalization),  or  it  secures  toleration  for  what  would 
otherwise  be  forbidden.  Respect,  reverence,  sacredness,  and 
holiness,  which  are  taboos  in  low  civilization,  become  conven- 
tionalities in  high  civilization. 

75.  Conventions  indispensable.  Conventionality  is  often  de- 
nounced as  untrue  and  hypocritical.  It  is  said  that  we  ought  to 
be  natural.  Respectability  is  often  sneered  at  because  it  is  a  sum 
of  conventionalities.  The  conventionalizations  which  persist  are 
the  resultant  of  experiments  and  experience  as  to  the  devices  by 
which  to  soften  and  smoothen  the  details  of  life.  They  are  in- 
dispensable. We  might  as  well  renounce  clothes  as  to  try  to 
abolish  them. 

76.  The  ethos  or  group  character.  All  that  has  been  said  in 
this  chapter  about  the  folkways  and  the  mores  leads  up  to  the 
idea  of  the  group  character  which  the  Greeks  called  the  ethos, 
that  is,  the  totality  of  characteristic  traits  by  which  a  group  is 
individualized  and  differentiated  from  others.  The  great  nations 
of  southeastern  Asia  were  long  removed  from  familiar  contact 


FUNDAMENTAL  NOTIONS  7 1 

with  the  rest  of  mankind  and  isolated  from  each  other,  while  they 
were  each  subjected  to  the  discipline  and  invariable  rule  of  tradi- 
tional folkways  which  covered  all  social  interests  except  the  inter- 
ferences of  a  central  political  authority,  which  perpetrated  tyranny 
in  its  own  interest.  The  consequence  has  been  that  Japan,  China, 
and  India  have  each  been  molded  into  a  firm,  stable,  and  well- 
defined  unit  group,  having  a  character  strongly  marked  both 
actively  and  passively.  The  governing  classes  of  Japan  have, 
within  fifty  years,  voluntarily  abandoned  their  traditional  mores, 
and  have  adopted  those  of  the  Occident,  while  it  does  not  appear 
that  they  have  lost  their  inherited  ethos.  The  case  stands  alone 
in  history  and  is  a  cause  of  amazement.  In  the  war  with  Russia, 
in  1904,  this  people  showed  what  a  group  is  capable  of  when  it 
has  a  strong  ethos.  They  understand  each  other  ;  they  act  as 
one  man ;  they  are  capable  of  discipline  to  the  death.  Our 
western  tacticians  have  had  rules  for  the  percentage  of  loss  which 
troops  would  endure,  standing  under  fire,  before  breaking  and 
running.  The  rule  failed  for  the  Japanese.  They  stood  to  the 
last  man.  Their  prowess  at  Port  Arthur  against  the  strongest 
fortifications,  and  on  the  battlefields  of  Manchuria,  surpassed  all 
record.  They  showed  what  can  be  done  in  the  way  of  concealing 
military  and  naval  movements  when  every  soul  in  the  population 
is  in  a  voluntary  conspiracy  not  to  reveal  anything.  These  traits 
belong  to  a  people  which  has  been  trained  by  generations  of 
invariable  mores.  It  is  apparently  what  the  mediaeval  church 
wanted  to  introduce  in  Europe,  but  the  Japanese  have  got  it 
without  selfish  tyranny  of  the  ruling  persons  and  classes.  Of 
course,  it  admits  of  no  personal  liberty,  and  the  consequences  of 
introducing  occidental  notions  of  liberty  into  it  have  yet  to  be 
seen.  "The  blacksmith  squats  at  his  anvil  wielding  a  hammer 
such  as  no  western  smith  could  use  without  long  practice.  The 
carpenter  pulls  instead  of  pushing  his  extraordinary  plane  and 
saw.  Always  the  left  is  the  right  side,  and  the  right  side  the 
wrong.  Keys  must  be  turned,  to  open  or  close  a  lock,  in  what 
we  are  accustomed  to  think  the  wrong  direction."  "The  swords- 
man, delivering  his  blow  with  both  hands,  does  not  pull  the  blade 
towards  him  in  the  moment  of  striking,  but  pushes  it  from  him. 


72  FOLKWAYS 

He  uses  it  indeed,  as  other  Asiatics  do,  not  on  the  principle  of 
the  wedge,  but  of  the  saw."  ^  In  family  manners  the  Japanese 
are  gentle.  Cruelty  even  to  animals  appears  to  be  unknown. 
"  One  sees  farmers  coming  to  town,  trudging  patiently  beside  their 
horses  or  oxen,  aiding  their  dumb  companions  to  bear  the  bur- 
den, and  using  no  whips  or  goads.  Drivers  or  pullers  of  carts 
will  turn  out  of  their  way,  under  the  most  provoking  circum- 
stances, rather  than  overrun  a  lazy  dog  or  a  stupid  chicken."  ^ 
Etiquette  is  refined,  elaborate,  and  vigorous.  Politeness  has  been 
diffused  through  all  ranks  from  ancient  times. ^  "  The  discipline 
of  the  race  was  self-imposed.  The  people  have  gradually  created 
their  own  social  conditions."  *  "  Demeanor  was  [in  ancient  times] 
most  elaborately  and  mercilessly  regulated,  not  merely  as  to 
obeisances,  of  which  there  were  countless  grades,  varying  accord- 
ing to  sex  as  well  as  class,  but  even  in  regard  to  facial  expression, 
the  manner  of  smiling,  the  conduct  of  the  breath,  the  way  of  sit- 
ting, standing,  walking,  rising."^  "With  the  same  merciless 
exactitude  which  prescribed  rules  for  dress,  diet,  and  manner  of 
life,  all  utterance  was  regulated  both  positively  and  negatively, 
but  positively  much  more  than  negatively.  .  .  .  Education  culti- 
vated a  system  of  verbal  etiquette  so  multiform  that  only  the 
training  of  years  could  enable  any  one  to  master  it.  The  astonish- 
ment evoked  by  Japanese  sumptuary  laws,  particularly  as  inflicted 
upon  the  peasantry,  is  justified,  less  by  their  general  character  than 
by  their  implacable  minuteness,  —  their  ferocity  of  detail."  "  That 
a  man's  house  is  his  castle  cannot  be  asserted  in  Japan,  except  in 
the  case  of  some  high  potentate.  No  ordinary  person  can  shut 
his  door  to  lock  out  the  rest  of  the  world.  Everybody's  house 
must  be  open  to  visitors  ;  to  close  its  gates  by  day  would  be 
regarded  as  an  insult  to  the  community,  sickness  affording  no 
excuse.  Only  persons  in  very  great  authority  have  the  right  of 
making  themselves  inaccessible.  ...  By  a  single  serious  mistake 
a  man  may  find  himself  suddenly  placed  in  solitary  opposition  to 
the  common  will, — isolated,  and  most  effectively  ostracized." 
"  The  events  of  the  [modern]  reconstruction  strangely  illustrate 

1  Hea.m,  Japan,  ii.  ^  /iiij_^  -jgi.  5  /^/^/.^  igj. 

2  md.,     1 6.  4    /^;,/.^     igg. 


FUNDAMENTAL  NOTIONS  73 

the  action  of  such  mstinct  [of  adaptation]  in  the  face  of  peril,  — 
the  readjustment  of  internal  relations  to  sudden  changes  of  envi- 
ronment. The  nation  had  found  its  old  political  system  powerless 
before  the  new  conditions,  and  it  transformed  that  system.  It  had 
found  its  military  organization  incapable  of  defending  it,  and  it 
reconstructed  that  organization.  It  had  found  its  educational 
system  useless  in  the  presence  of  unforeseen  necessities,  and 
it  had  replaced  that  system,  simultaneously  crippling  the  power 
of  Buddhism,  which  might  otherwise  have  offered  serious  oppo- 
sition to  the  new  developments  required."  ^  To  this  it  must  be 
added  that  people  who  have  had  commercial  and  financial  dealings 
with  Japanese  report  that  they  are  untruthful  and  tricky  in  trans- 
actions of  that  kind.  If  they  cannot  "reform  "  these  traits  there 
will  be  important  consequences  of  them  in  the  developments  of 
the  near  future. 

77.  Chinese  ethos.  It  is  evident  that  we  have  in  the  Japanese 
a  case  of  an  ethos,  from  the  habits  of  artisans  to  the  manners 
of  nobles  and  the  military  system,  which  is  complete,  consistent, 
authoritative,  and  very  different  from  our  own.  A  similar  picture 
of  the  Chinese  might  be  drawn,  from  which  it  would  appear  that 
they  also  have  a  complete  and  firm  ethos,  which  resembles  in  gen- 
eral the  Japanese,  but  has  its  individual  traits  and  characteristic 
differences.^  The  ethos  of  the  Japanese,  from  the  most  ancient 
times,  has  been  fundamentally  militant.  That  of  the  Chinese  is 
industrial  and  materialistic. 

78.  Hindoo  ethos.  The  Hindoos,  again,  have  a  strongly  marked 
ethos.  They  have  a  name  for  it  — kharma,  which  Nivedita  says 
might  be  translated  "national  righteousness."  It  "applies  to  that 
whole  system  of  complex  action  and  interaction  on  planes  moral, 
intellectual,  economic,  industrial,  political,  and  domestic,  which  we 
know  as  India,  or  the  national  habit.  ...  By  their  attitude  to  it, 
Pathan,  Mogul,  and  Englishman  are  judged,  each  in  his  turn,  by 
the  Indian  peasantry."  ^  The  ethos  of  one  group  always  furnishes 
the  standpoint  from  which  it  criticises  the  ways  of  any  other  group. 

1  Heam,  yi2/(7«,  107,  187,  411. 

^  Williams,  RTiddle  Kingdom  ;   Smith,  Chinese  Characteristics. 

3  Nivedita,  IVcb  0/  Indian  Life,  150. 


74  FOLKWAYS 

79.  European  ethos.  We  are  familiar  with  the  notion  of 
*'  national  character  "  as  applied  to  the  nations  of  Europe,  but 
these  nations  do  not  have  each  an  ethos.  There  is  a  European 
ethos,  for  the  nations  have  so  influenced  each  other  for  the  last 
two  thousand  years  that  there  is  a  mixed  ethos  which  includes 
local  variations.  The  European  kharma  is  currently  called  Chris- 
tian. In  the  ancient  world  Egypt  and  Sparta  were  the  two  cases 
of  groups  with  the  firmest  and  best-defined  ethos.  In  modern 
European  history  the  most  marked  case  is  that  of  Venice.  In 
no  one  of  these  cases  did  the  elements  of  moral  strength  and 
societal  health  preponderate,  but  the  history  of  each  showed  the 
great  stability  produced  by  a  strong  ethos.  Russia  has  a  more 
complete  and  defined  ethos  than  any  other  state  in  Europe, 
although  the  efforts  which  have  been  made  since  Peter  the  Great 
to  break  down  the  traditions  and  limitations  of  the  national  ethos, 
and  to  adopt  the  ethos  of  western  Europe,  have  produced  weak- 
ness and  confusion.  It  is  clear  what  is  the  great  power  of  a 
strong  ethos.  The  ethos  of  any  group  deserves  close  study  and 
criticism.  It  is  an  overruling  power  for  good  or  ill.  Modern 
scholars  have  made  the  mistake  of  attributing  to  7'ace  much 
which  belongs  to  the  ethos,  with  a  resulting  controversy  as  to 
the  relative  importance  of  nature  and  nurture.  Others  have 
sought  a  "soul  of  the  people"  and  have  tried  to  construct  a 
"collective  psychology,"  repeating  for  groups  processes  which 
are  now  abandoned  for  individuals.  Historians,  groping  for  the 
ethos,  have  tried  to  write  the  history  of  "  the  people  "  of  such  and 
such  a  state.  The  ethos  individualizes  groups  and  keeps  them 
apart.  Its  opposite  is  cosmopolitanism.  It  degenerates  into  patri- 
otic vanity  and  chauvinism.  Industrialism  weakens  it,  by  extend- 
ing relations  of  commerce  with  outside  groups.  It  coincides  better 
with  militancy.  It  has  held  the  Japanese  people  like  a  single 
mailed  fist  for  war.  What  religion  they  have  has  lost  all  char- 
acter except  that  of  a  cohesive  agent  to  hold  the  whole  close 
organization  tight  together. 


CHAPTER  II 

CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  MORES 

Introduction. — The  mores  have  the  authority  of  facts.- — Whites  and  blacks 
in  southern  society.  —  The  mores  are  unrecorded.  —  Inertia  and  rigidity  of 
the  mores.  —  Persistency  of  the  mores.  —  Persistency  against  new  religion.  — 
Roman  law.  —  Effects  of  Roman  law  on  later  mores.  —  Variability  of  the 
mores.  —  The  mores  of  New  England. —  Revolution.  —  The  possibility  of 
modifying  the  mores. —  Russia. —  Emancipation  in  Russia  and  in  the  United 
States.  —  Arbitrary  change  in  the  mores.  —  The  case  of  Japan.  —  The  case 
of  India.  —  The  reforms  of  Joseph  II.  —  Adoption  of  the  mores  of  another 
age.  —  What  changes  are  possible.  —  Dissent  from  the  mores.  Group 
orthodoxy.  —  Retreat  and  isolation  to  start  new  mores.  —  Social  policy.  — 
Degenerate  and  evil  mores.  —  The  correction  of  aberrations  in  the  mores. — 
The  mores  of  advance  and  decline ;  cases.  —  The  Greek  temper  in  prosperity. 
—  Greek  pessimism.  —  Greek  degeneracy.  —  Sparta.  —  The  optimism  of 
advance  and  prosperity.  —  Antagonism  between  an  individual  and  the  mores 
of  the  group.  —  Antagonism  of  earlier  and  later  mores.  —  Antagonism 
between  groups  in  respect  to  mores.  —  Missions  and  mores. —  Missions  and 
antagonistic  mores.  —  Modification  of  the  mores  by  agitation.  —  Capricious 
interest  of  the  masses. —  How  the  group  becomes  homogeneous. —  Syn- 
cretism. —  The  art  of  administering  society. 

In  this  chapter  we  have  to  study  the  persistency  of  the  mores 
with  their  inertia  and  rigidity,  even  against  a  new  rehgion  or  a 
new  "law,"  i.e.  a  new  social  system  (sees.  80—87);  then  their 
variability  under  changed  life  conditions  or  under  revolution 
(sees.  88-90) ;  then  the  possibility  of  making  them  change  by 
intelligent  effort,  considering  the  cases  of  Japan,  India,  and  the 
reforms  of  Joseph  II  (sees.  91-97) ;  or  the  possibility  of  chang- 
ing one's  self  to  adopt  the  mores  of  another  group  or  another 
age  (sees.  98-99).  We  shall  then  consider  the  dissent  of  an 
individual  or  a  sect  from  the  current  mores,  with  judgment  of 
disapproval  on  them  (sees.  100— 104),  and  the  chance  of  correct- 
ing them  (sec.  105).  Next  we  shall  consider  the  great  move- 
ments of  the  mores,  optimism  and  pessimism,  which  correspond 
to  a  rising  or  falling  economic  conjuncture  (sees.  106— 11 1). 
Then  come  the  antagonisms  between  an  individual  and  the  mores, 

75 


76  FOLKWAYS 

between  the  mores  of  an  earlier  and  a  later  time,  and  between 
the  groups  in  respect  to  mores,  with  a  notice  of  the  problem  of 
missions  (sees.  1 12-1 18).  Finally,  we  come  to  consider  agitation 
to  produce  changes  in  the  mores,  and  we  endeavor  to  study  the 
ways  in  which  the  changes  in  the  mores  do  come  about,  espe- 
cially syncretism  (sees.  119-121). 

80.  The  mores  have  the  authority  of  facts.  The  mores  come 
down  to  us  from  the  past.  Each  individual  is  born  into  them 
as  he  is  born  into  the  atmosphere,  and  he  does  not  reflect  on 
them,  or  criticise  them  any  more  than  a  baby  analyzes  the  atmos- 
phere before  he  begins  to  breathe  it.  Each  one  is  subjected  to 
the  influence  of  the  mores,  and  formed  by  them,  before  he  is 
capable  of  reasoning  about  them.  It  may  be  objected  that  now- 
adays, at  least,  we  criticise  all  traditions,  and  accept  none  just 
because  they  are  handed  down  to  us.  If  we  take  up  cases  of 
things  which  are  still  entirely  or  almost  entirely  in  the  mores, 
we  shall  see  that  this  is  not  so.  There  are  sects  of  free-lovers 
amongst  us  who  want  to  discuss  pair  marriage  (sec.  374).  They 
are  not  simply  people  of  evil  life.  They  invite  us  to  discuss 
rationally  our  inherited  customs  and  ideas  as  to  marriage,  which, 
they  say,  are  by  no  means  so  excellent  and  elevated  as  we 
believe.  They  have  never  won  any  serious  attention.  Some 
others  want  to  argue  in  favor  of  polygamy  on  grounds  of  expedi- 
ency. They  fail  to  obtain  a  hearing.  Others  want  to  discuss 
property.  In  spite  of  some  literary  activity  on  their  part,  no  dis- 
cussion of  property,  bequest,  and  inheritance  has  ever  been 
opened.  Property  and  marriage  are  in  the  mores.  Nothing  can 
ever  change  them  but  the  unconscious  and  imperceptible  move- 
ment of  the  mores.  Religion  was  originally  a  matter  of  the  mores. 
It  became  a  societal  institution  and  a  function  of  the  state.  It 
has  now  to  a  great  extent  been  put  back  into  the  mores.  Since 
laws  with  penalties  to  enforce  religious  creeds  or  practices  have 
gone  out  of  use  any  one  may  think  and  act  as  he  pleases  about 
religion.  Therefore  it  is  not  now  "  good  form  "  to  attack  religion. 
Infidel  publications  are  now  tabooed  by  the  mores,  and  are 
more  effectually  repressed  than  ever  before.  They  produce  no 
controversv.    Democracy  is  in  our  American   mores.    It   is  a 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  MORES  77 

product  of  our  physical  and  economic  conditions.  It  is  impossi- 
ble to  discuss  or  criticise  it.  It  is  glorified  for  popularity,  and  is 
a  subject  of  dithyrambic  rhetoric.  No  one  treats  it  with  com- 
plete candor  and  sincerity.  No  one  dares  to  analyze  it  as  he 
would  aristocracy  or  autocracy.  He  would  get  no  hearing  and 
would  only  incur  abuse.  The  thing  to  be  noticed  in  all  these 
cases  is  that  the  masses  oppose  a  deaf  ear  to  every  argument 
against  the  mores.  It  is  only  in  so  far  as  things  have  been  trans- 
ferred from  the  mores  into  laws  and  positive  institutions  that 
there  is  discussion  about  them  or  rationalizing  upon  them. 
The  mores  contain  the  norm  by  which,  if  we  should  discuss  the 
mores,  we  should  have  to  judge  the  mores.  We  learn  the  mores 
as  unconsciously  as  we  learn  to  walk  and  eat  and  breathe.  The 
masses  never  learn  how  we  walk,  and  eat,  and  breathe,  and  they 
never  know  any  reason  why  the  mores  are  what  they  are.  The 
justification  of  them  is  that  when  we  wake  to  consciousness  of 
life  we  find  them  facts  which  already  hold  us  in  the  bonds  of 
tradition,  custom,  and  habit.  The  mores  contain  embodied  in 
them  notions,  doctrines,  and  maxims,  but  they  are  facts.  They 
are  in  the  present  tense.  They  have  nothing  to  do  with  what 
ought  to  be,  will  be,  may  be,  or  once  was,  if  it  is  not  now. 

81.  Blacks  and  whites  in  southern  society.  In  our  southern 
states,  before  the  civil  war,  whites  and  blacks  had  formed  habits 
of  action  and  feeling  towards  each  other.  They  lived  in  peace 
and  concord,  and  each  one  grew  up  in  the  ways  which  were 
traditional  and  customary.  The  civil  war  abolished  legal  rights 
and  left  the  two  races  to  learn  how  to  live  together  under  other 
relations  than  before.  The  whites  have  never  been  converted 
from  the  old  mores.  Those  who  still  survive  look  back  with 
regret  and  affection  to  the  old  social  usages  and  customary  senti- 
ments and  feelings.  The  two  races  have  not  yet  made  new 
mores.  Vain  attempts  have  been  made  to  control  the  new  order 
by  legislation.  The  only  result  is  the  proof  that  legislation  can- 
not make  mores.  We  see  also  that  mores  do  not  form  under 
social  convulsion  and  discord.  It  is  only  just  now  that  the  new 
society  seems  to  be  taking  shape.  There  is  a  trend  in  the  mores 
now  as  they  begin  to  form  under  the  new  state  of  things.    It  is 


78  FOLKWAYS 

not  at  all  what  the  humanitarians  hoped  and  expected.  The  two 
races  are  separating  more  than  ever  before.  The  strongest 
point  in  the  new  code  seems  to  be  that  any  white  man  is  boy- 
cotted and  despised  if  he  "associates  with  negroes"  (sec.  114, 
at  the  end).  Some  are  anxious  to  interfere  and  try  to  control. 
They  take  their  stand  on  ethical  views  of  what  is  going  on.  It 
is  evidently  impossible  for  any  one  to  interfere.  We  are  like 
spectators  at  a  great  natural  convulsion.  The  results  will  be 
such  as  the  facts  and  forces  call  for.  We  cannot  foresee  them. 
They  do  not  depend  on  ethical  views  any  more  than  the  volcanic 
eruption  on  Martinique  contained  an  ethical  element.  All  the 
faiths,  hopes,  energies,  and  sacrifices  of  both  whites  and  blacks 
are  components  in  the  new  construction  of  folkways  by  which 
the  two  races  will  learn  how  to  live  together.  As  we  go  along 
with  the  constructive  process  it  is  very  plain  that  what  once  was, 
or  what  any  one  thinks  ought  to  be,  but  slightly  affects  what,  at 
any  moment,  is.  The  mores  which  once  were  are  a  memory. 
Those  which  any  one  thinks  ought  to  be  are  a  dream.  The  only 
thing  with  which  we  can  deal  are  those  which  are. 

82.  The  mores  are  unrecorded.  A  society  is  never  conscious 
of  its  mores  until  it  comes  in  contact  with  some  other  society 
which  has  different  mores,  or  until,  in  higher  civilization,  it  gets 
information  by  literature.  The  latter  operation,  however,  affects 
only  the  literary  classes,  not  the  masses,  and  society  never  con- 
sciously sets  about  the  task  of  making  mores.  In  the  early 
stages  mores  are  elastic  and  plastic  ;  later  they  become  rigid  and 
fixed.  They  seem  to  grow  up,  gain  strength,  become  corrupt, 
decline,  and  die,  as  if  they  were  organisms.  The  phases  seem  to 
follow  each  other  by  an  inherent  necessity,  and  as  if  independent 
of  the  reason  and  will  of  the  men  affected,  but  the  changes  are 
always  produced  by  a  strain  towards  better  adjustment  of  the 
mores  to  conditions  and  interests  of  the  society,  or  of  the  con- 
trolling elements  in  it.  A  society  does  not  record  its  mores  in 
its  annals,  because  they  are  to  it  unnoticed  and  unconscious. 
When  we  try  to  learn  the  mores  of  any  age  or  people  we  have 
to  seek  our  information  in  incidental  references,  allusions,  obser- 
vations of  travelers,  etc.    Generally  works  of  fiction,  drama,  etc., 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  MORES  79 

give  us  more  information  about  the  mores  than  historical  records. 
It  is  very  difficult  to  construct  from  the  Old  Testament  a 
description  of  the  mores  of  the  Jews  before  the  captivity.  It  is 
also  very  difficult  to  make  a  complete  and  accurate  picture  of  the 
mores  of  the  English  colonies  in  North  America  in  the  seven- 
teenth century.  The  mores  are  not  recorded  for  the  same  reason 
that  meals,  going  to  bed,  sunrise,  etc.,  are  not  recorded,  unless 
the  regular  course  of  things  is  broken. 

83.  Inertia  and  rigidity  of  the  mores.  We  see  that  we  must 
conceive  of  the  mores  as  a  vast  system  of  usages,  covering  the 
whole  of  life,  and  serving  all  its  interests  ;  also  containing  in  them- 
selves their  own  justification  by  tradition  and  use  and  wont,  and 
approved  by  mystic  sanctions  until,  by  rational  reflection,  they 
develop  their  own  philosophical  and  ethical  generalizations,  which 
are  elevated  into  "  principles  "  of  truth  and  right.  They  coerce 
and  restrict  the  newborn  generation.  They  do  not  stimulate  to 
thought,  but  the  contrary.  The  thinking  is  already  done  and  is 
embodied  in  the  mores.  They  never  contain  any  provision  for 
their  own  amendment.  They  are  not  questions,  but  answers,  to 
the  problem  of  life.  They  present  themselves  as  final  and  un- 
changeable, because  they  present  answers  which  are  offered  as 
"the  truth."  No  world  philosophy,  until  the  modern  scientific 
world  philosophy,  and  that  only  within  a  generation  or  two,  has 
ever  presented  itself  as  perhaps  transitory,  certainly  incomplete, 
and  liable  to  be  set  aside  to-morrow  by  more  knowledge.  No 
popular  world  philosophy  or  life  policy  ever  can  present  itself  in 
that  light.  It  would  cost  too  great  a  mental  strain.  All  the 
groups  whose  mores  we  consider  far  inferior  to  our  own  are 
quite  as  well  satisfied  with  theirs  as  we  are  with  ours.  The 
goodness  or  badness  of  mores  consists  entirely  in  their  adjust- 
ment to  the  life  conditions  and  the  interests  of  the  time  and 
place  (sec.  65).  Therefore  it  is  a  sign  of  ease  and  welfare  when 
no  thought  is  given  to  the  mores,  but  all  cooperate  in  them 
instinctively.  The  nations  of  southeastern  Asia  show  us  the  per- 
sistency of  the  mores,  when  the  element  of  stability  and  rigidity 
in  them  becomes  predominant.  Ghost  fear  and  ancestor  worship 
tend   to   establish   the   persistency   of    the   mores   by   dogmatic 


8o  FOLKWAYS 

authority,  strict  taboo,  and  weighty  sanctions.  The  mores  then 
lose  their  naturalness  and  vitality.  They  are  stereotyped.  They 
lose  all  relation  to  expediency.  They  become  an  end  in  them- 
selves. They  are  imposed  by  imperative  authority  without 
regard  to  interests  or  conditions  (caste,  child  marriage,  widows). 
When  any  society  falls  under  the  dominion  of  this  disease  in 
the  mores  it  must  disintegrate  before  it  can  live  again.  In  that 
diseased  state  of  the  mores  all  learning  consists  in  committing 
to  memory  the  words  of  the  sages  of  the  past  who  established 
the  formulae  of  the  mores.  Such  words  are  "sacred  writings,"  a 
sentence  of  which  is  a  rule  of  conduct  to  be  obeyed  quite  inde- 
pendently of  present  interests,  or  of  any  rational  considerations. 

84.  Persistency.  Asiatic  fixity  of  the  mores  is  extreme,  but 
the  element  of  persistency  in  the  mores  is  always  characteristic 
of  them.  They  are  elastic  and  tough,  but  when  once  established 
in  familiar  and  continued  use  they  resist  change.  They  give 
stability  to  the  social  order  when  they  are  well  understood,  regu- 
lar, and  undisputed.  In  a  new  colony,  with  a  sparse  population, 
the  mores  are  never  fixed  and  stringent.  There  is  great 
"liberty."  As  the  colony  always  has  traditions  of  the  mores  of 
the  mother  country,  which  are  cherished  with  respect  but  are 
never  applicable  to  the  conditions  of  a  colony,  the  mores  of  a 
colony  are  heterogeneous  and  are  always  in  flux.  That  is  because 
the  colonists  are  all  the  time  learning  to  live  in  a  new  country 
and  have  no  traditions  to  guide  them,  the  traditions  of  the  old 
country  being  a  hindrance.  Any  one  bred  in  a  new  country,  if 
he  goes  to  an  old  country,  feels  the  "conservatism  "  in  its  mores. 
He  thinks  the  people  stiff,  set  in  their  ways,  stupid,  and  unwill- 
ing to  learn.  They  think  him  raw,  brusque,  and  uncultivated. 
He  does  not  know  the  ritual,  which  can  be  written  in  no  books, 
but  knowledge  of  which,  acquired  by  long  experience,  is  the 
mark  of  fit  membership  in  the  society. 

85.  Persistency  in  spite  of  change  of  religion.  Matthews  saw 
votive  effigies  in  Mandan  villages  just  like  those  which  Catlin 
had  seen  and  put  into  his  pictures  seventy  years  before.^  In  the 
meantime  the  Mandans  had  been  nearly  exterminated  by  war 

1  N.  S.  Amer.  A7ithrop.,  IV,  3. 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  MORES  8 1 

and  disease,  and  the  remnant  of  them  had  been  civilized  and 
Christianized.  The  mores  of  the  Central  American  Indians  incul- 
cate moderation  and  restraint.  Their  ancient  religion  contained 
prescriptions  of  that  character,  and  those  prescriptions  are  still 
followed  after  centuries  of  life  under  Christianity,^  In  the  Bible 
we  may  see  the  strife  between  old  mores  and  a  new  religious 
system  two  or  three  times  repeated.  The  so-called  Mosaic 
system  superseded  an  older  system  of  mores  common,  as  it 
appears,  to  all  the  Semites  of  western  Asia.  The  prophets 
preached  a  reform  of  the  Jahveh  religion  and  we  find  them  at 
war  with  the  inherited  mores. ^  The  most  striking  feature  of  the 
story  of  the  prophets  is  their  antagonism  to  the  mores  which  the 
people  would  not  give  up.  Monotheism  was  not  established  until 
after  the  captivity.^  The  recurrence,  vitality,  popularity,  and 
pervasiveness  of  traditional  mores  are  well  shown  in  the  Bible 
story.  The  result  was  a  combination  of  ritual  monotheism  with 
survivals  of  ancient  mores  and  a  popular  religion  in  which  demon- 
ism  was  one  of  the  predominant  elements.  The  New  Testament 
represents  a  new  revival  and  reform  of  the  religion.  The  Jews 
to  this  day  show  the  persistency  of  ancient  mores.  Christianity 
was  a  new  adjustment  of  both  heathen  and  Jewish  mores  to  a 
new  religious  system.  The  popular  religion  once  more  turned 
out  to  be  a  grand  revival  of  demonism.  The  masses  retained 
their  mores  with  little  change.  The  mores  overruled  the  religion. 
Therefore  Jewish  Christians  and  heathen  Christians  remained 
distinguishable  for  centuries.  The  Romans  never  could  stamp 
out  the  child  sacrifices  of  the  Carthaginians.^  The  Roman  law 
was  an  embodiment  of  all  the  art  of  living  and  the  mores  of  the 
Roman  people.  It  differed  from  the  mores  of  the  German 
peoples,  and  when  by  the  religion  the  Roman  system  was 
brought  to  German  people  conflict  was  produced.  In  fact,  it 
may  be  said  that  the  process  of  remolding  German  mores  by  the 
Roman  law  never  was  completed,^  and   that  now  the  German 

1  Globus,  LXXXVII,  130. 

2  "  Religion  of  Israel,"  Hastings,  Diet.,  Supp.  vol. 

3  Tiele,  Relig.  in  Alterthwji,  I,  295. 
*  Ibid.,  242. 

^  Stammler,  Stelhtiig  der  Fi-aiien,  3 


82  FOLKWAYS 

mores  have  risen  against  the  Roman  law  and  have  accepted  out 
of  it  only  what  has  been  freely  and  rationally  selected.  Marriage 
amongst  the  German  nations  was  a  domestic  and  family  function. 
Even  after  the  hierocratic  system  was  firmly  established,  it  was 
centuries  before  the  ecclesiastics  could  make  marriage  a  clerical 
function.^  In  the  usages  of  German  peasants  to-day  may  be 
found  numerous  survivals  of  heathen  notions  and  customs.^  In 
England  the  German  mores  accepted  only  a  limited  influence 
from  the  Roman  law.  The  English  have  adopted  the  policy  of 
the  Romans  in  dealing  with  subject  peoples.  They  do  not 
meddle  with  local  customs  if  they  can  avoid  it.  This  is  wise, 
since  nothing  nurses  discontent  like  interference  with  folkways. 
The  persistency  of  the  mores  is  often  shown  in  survivals,  —  sense- 
less ceremonies  whose  meaning  is  forgotten,  jests,  play,  parody, 
and  caricature,  or  stereotyped  words  and  phrases,  or  even  in 
cakes  of  a  prescribed  form  or  prescribed  foods  at  certain  festivals. 
86.  Roman  law.  In  the  Roman  law  everything  proceeds 
from  the  emperor.  He  is  the  possessor  of  all  authority,  the 
fountain  of  honor,  the  author  of  all  legislation,  and  the  referee 
in  all  disputes.  Lawyers  trained  by  the  study  of  this  code 
learned  to  conceive  of  all  the  functions  of  the  state  as  acts, 
powers,  and  rights  of  a  monarchical  sovereign.  They  stood 
beside  the  kings  and  princes  of  the  later  Middle  Ages  ready 
to  construe  the  institutions  of  suzerainty  into  this  monarchical 
form.  They  broke  down  feudalism  and  helped  to  build  the  abso- 
lutist dynastic  state,  wherever  the  Roman  law  was  in  force,  and 
wherever  it  had  greatly  influenced  the  legal  system.  The  church 
also  had  great  interest  to  employ  the  Roman  law,  because  it 
included  the  ecclesiastical  legislation  of  the  Christian  emperors 
of  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries,  and  because  the  canon  law  was 
imitated  from  it  in  spirit  and  form.  In  all  matters  of  private 
rights  the  provisions  of  the  Justinian  code  were  good  and  bene- 
ficial, so  that  those  provisions  won  their  own  way  by  their  own 
merit.^    In  the  SacJisenspiegel \\\qxq  was  no  distinction  of  property 

1  Friedberg,  Recht  der  Eheschliessung. 

-  Ztsft.f.   Volkskunde,  XI,  272. 

^  Scherr,  Deutsche  Kultur-  tind  Sittengesch.,  171. 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  MORES  St, 

between  man  and  wife,  but  this  meant  that  all  which  both  had 
was  a  joint  capital  for  use  in  their  domestic  economy.  When 
the  marriage  was  dissolved  the  property  returned  to  the  side 
from  which  it  came.  Later,  in  many  districts,  this  arrangement 
developed  into  a  real  community  of  goods  under  various  forms. 
"  It  was  in  regard  to  these  adjustments  of  property  rights  that 
the  jurists  of  the  Middle  Ages  did  most  harm  by  introducing 
the  Roman  law,  for  it  was  especially  in  regard  to  this  matter 
that  the  Roman  law  stood  in  strongest  contrast  to  the  German 
notions,  and  the  resistance  of  the  German  people  is  to  be 
seen  in  the  numerous  local  systems  of  law,  which  remained  in 
use  in  most  of  Germany ;  unfortunately  not  everywhere,  nor 
uniformly."  ^ 

87.  The  Roman  law  :  its  effect  on  later  mores.  Throughout  the  north  of 
Europe,  upon  conversion  to  Christianity,  tithes  were  the  stumbHng-block 
between  the  old  mores  and  the  new  system  .^  The  authority  for  the  tithe 
system  came  from  the  Roman  system.  It  was  included  in  the  Roman  juris- 
prudence which  the  church  adopted  and  carried  wherever  it  extended.  After 
the  civil  code  was  revived  it  helped  powerfully  to  make  states.  This  was 
a  work,  however,  which  was  hostile  to  the  church.  The  royal  lawyers  found 
in  the  civil  code  a  system  which  referred  everything  in  society  to  the 
emperor  as  the  origin  of  power,  rights,  and  honor.  They  adopted  this  stand- 
point for  the  kings  of  the  new  dynastic  states  and,  in  the  might  of  the 
Roman  law,  they  established  royal  absolutism,  which  was  unfavorable  to 
the  church  and  the  feudal  nobles.  They  found  their  allies  in  the  cities 
which  loved  written  law,  institutions,  and  defined  powers.  Stubbs'^  regards 
the  form  of  the  Statute  of  Westminster  (1275)  as  a  proof  that  the  lawyers, 
who  "  were  at  this  time  getting  a  firm  grasp  on  the  law  of  England,"  were 
introducing  the  principle  that  the  king  could  enact  by  his  own  authority. 
The  spirit  of  the  Roman  law  was  pitiless  to  peasants  and  artisans,  that  is, 
to  all  who  were,  or  were  to  be  made,  unfree.  The  Norman  laws  depressed 
the  Saxon  ceorl  to  a  slave.''  In  similar  manner  they  came  into  war  with 
all  Teutonic  mores  which  contained  popular  rights  and  primary  freedom. 
Stammler  ^  denies  that  the  Roman  law,  in  spite  of  lawyers  and  ecclesiastics, 
ever  entered  into  the  flesh  and  blood  of  the  German  people.  That  is  to 
say,  it  never  displaced  completely  their  national  mores.    The  case  of  the 

1  Stammler,  Stelhuig  de?-  Fratcett,  8. 

2  Wachsmuth,  Baueriikriege,  in  Raumer,   Taschenbuch,  V. 

3  Charters,  449. 

*  Stubbs,   History,  II,  453- 
5  Stellwtg  der  Franeti,  3. 


84  FOLKWAYS 

property  of  married  persons  is  offered  as  a  case  in  which  the  German  mores 
were  never  overcome.^  A  compromise  was  struck  between  the  ancient 
mores  and  the  new  ways,  which  the  Roman  Catholic  religion  approved. 

88.  Variability.  No  less  remarkable  than  the  persistency  of 
the  mores  is  their  changeableness  and  variation.  There  is  here 
an  interesting  parallel  to  heredity  and  variation  in  the  organic 
world,  even  though  the  parallel  has  no  significance.  Variation 
in  the  mores  is  due  to  the  fact  that  children  do  not  perpetuate 
the  mores  just  as  they  received  them.  The  father  dies,  and  the 
son  whom  he  has  educated,  even  if  he  continues  the  ritual  and 
repeats  the  formulae,  does  not  think  and  feel  the  same  ideas  and 
sentiments  as  his  father.  The  observance  of  Sunday ;  the  mode 
of  treating  parents,  children,  servants,  and  wives  or  husbands ; 
holidays  ;  amusements  ;  arts  of  luxury ;  marriage  and  divorce  ; 
wine  drinking,  —  are  matters  in  regard  to  which  it  is  easy  to  note 
changes  in  the  mores  from  generation  to  generation,  in  our  own 
times.  Even  in  Asia,  when  a  long  period  of  time  is  taken  into 
account,  changes  in  the  mores  are  perceptible.  The  mores 
change  because  conditions  and  interests  change.  It  is  found 
that  dogmas  and  maxims  which  have  been  current  do  not  verify  ; 
that  established  taboos  are  useless  or  mischievous  restraints  ;  that 
usages  which  are  suitable  for  a  village  or  a  colony  are  not  suit- 
able for  a  great  city  or  state ;  that  many  things  are  fitting  when 
the  community  is  rich  which  were  not  so  when  it  was  poor ; 
that  new  inventions  have  made  new  ways  of  living  more  eco- 
nomical and  healthful.  It  is  necessary  to  prosperity  that  the 
mores  should  have  a  due  degree  of  firmness,  but  also  that  they 
should  be  sufficiently  elastic  and  flexible  to  conform  to  changes 
in  interests  and  life  conditions.  A  herding  or  an  agricultural 
people,  if  it  moves  into  a  new  country,  rich  in  game,  may  revert 
to  a  hunting  life.  The  Tunguses  and  Yakuts  did  so  as  they 
moved  northwards. ^  In  the  early  days  of  the  settlement  of 
North  America  many  whites  "  Indianized  "  ;  they  took  to  the 
mode  of  life  of  Indians.  The  Iranians  separated  from  the  Indians 
of  Hindostan  and  became  agriculturists.    They  adopted  a  new 

1  Sec.  86. 

2  Hiekisch,  TinigJtsen,  31  ;    Sieroshevski,  Yakuty,  I,  415. 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  MORES  85 

religion  and  new  mores.  Men  who  were  afraid  of  powerful 
enemies  have  taken  to  living  in  trees,  lake  dwellings,  caves,  and 
joint  houses.  Mediaeval  serfdom  was  due  to  the  need  of  force 
to  keep  the  peasant  on  his  holding,  when  the  holding  was  really 
a  burden  to  him  in  view  of  the  dues  which  he  must  pay.  He 
would  have  run  away  if  he  had  not  been  kept  by  force.  In  the 
later  Middle  Ages  the  villain  had  a  valuable  right  and  property 
in  his  holding.  Then  he  wanted  security  of  tenure  so  that  he 
could  not  be  driven  away  from  it.  In  the  early  period  it  was 
the  duty  of  the  lord  to  kill  the  game  and  protect  the  peasant's 
crops.  In  the  later  period  it  became  the  monopoly  right  of  the 
lord  to  kill  game.  Thus  the  life  conditions  vary.  The  economic 
conjuncture  varies.  The  competition  of  life  varies.  The  inter- 
ests vary  with  them.  The  mores  all  conform,  unless  they  have 
been  fixed  by  dogma  with  mystic  sanctions  so  that  they  are 
ritual  obhgations,  as  is,  in  general,  the  case  now  in  southeastern 
Asia.  The  rights  of  the  parties,  and  the  right  and  wrong  of 
conduct,  after  the  mores  have  conformed  to  new  life  conditions, 
are  new  deductions.  The  philosophers  follow  with  their  systems 
by  which  they  try  to  construe  the  whole  new  order  of  acts  and 
thoughts  with  reference  to  some  thought  fabric  which  they  put 
before  the  mores,  although  it  was  found  out  after  the  mores  had 
established  the  relations.  In  the  case  in  which  the  fixed  mores 
do  not  conform  to  new  interests  and  needs  crises  arise.  Moses, 
Zoroaster,  Manu,  Solon,  Lycurgus,  and  Numa  are  either  myth- 
ical or  historical  culture  heroes,  who  are  said  to  have  solved  such 
crises  by  new  "laws,"  and  set  the  society  in  motion  again.  The 
fiction  of  the  intervention  of  a  god  or  a  hero  is  necessary  to 
account  for  a  reconstruction  of  the  mores  of  the  ancestors  with- 
out crime. 

89.  Mores  of  New  England.  The  Puritan  code  of  early  New 
England  has  been  almost  entirely  abandoned,  so  far  as  its  posi- 
tive details  are  concerned,  while  at  the  same  time  some  new 
restrictions  on  conduct  have  been  introduced,  especially  as  to 
the  use  of  spirituous  liquors,  so  that  not  all  the  changes  have 
been  in  the  way  of  relaxation.  The  mores  of  New  England, 
however,  still  show  deep  traces  of  the  Puritan  temper  and  world 


86  FOLKWAYS 

philosophy.  Perhaps  nowhere  else  in  the  world  can  so  strong  an 
illustration  be  seen  both  of  the  persistency  of  the  spirit  of  the 
mores  and  of  their  variability  and  adaptability.  The  mores  of 
New  England  have  extended  to  a  large  immigrant  population 
and  have  won  large  control  over  them.  They  have  also  been 
carried  to  the  new  states  by  immigrants,  and  their  perpetuation 
there  is  an  often-noticed  phenomenon.  The  extravagances  in 
doctrine  and  behavior  of  the  seventeenth-century  Puritans  have 
been  thrown  off  and  their  code  of  morals  has  been  shorn  of  its 
angularity,  but  their  life  policy  and  standards  have  become  to 
a  very  large  extent  those  of  the  civilized  world. 

90.  Revolution.  In  higher  civilization  crises  produced  by  the 
persistency  of  old  mores  after  conditions  have  changed  are  solved 
by  revolution  or  reform.  In  revolutions  the  mores  are  broken 
up.  Such  was  the  case  in  the  sixteenth  century,  in  the  French 
Revolution  of  1789,  and  in  minor  revolutions.  A  period  follows 
the  outburst  of  a  revolution  in  which  there  are  no  mores.  The 
old  are  broken  up ;  the  new  are  not  formed.  The  social  ritual 
is  interrupted.  The  old  taboos  are  suspended.  New  taboos 
cannot  be  enacted  or  promulgated.  They  require  time  to  become 
established  and  known.  The  masses  in  a  revolution  are  uncer- 
tain what  they  ought  to  do.  In  France,  under  the  old  regime, 
the  social  ritual  was  very  complete  and  thoroughly  established. 
In  the  revolution,  the  destruction  of  this  ritual  produced  social 
anarchy.  In  the  best  case  every  revolution  must  be  attended  by 
this  temporary  chaos  of  the  mores.  It  was  produced  in  the 
American  colonies.  Revolutionary  leaders  expect  to  carry  the 
people  over  to  new  mores  by  the  might  of  two  or  three  dogmas 
of  political  or  social  philosophy.  The  history  of  every  such 
attempt  shows  that  dogmas  do  not  make  mores.  Every  revolu- 
tion suffers  a  collapse  at  the  point  where  reconstruction  should 
begin.  Then  the  old  ruling  classes  resume  control,  and  by  the 
use  of  force  set  the  society  in  its  old  grooves  again.  The 
ecclesiastical  revolution  of  the  sixteenth  century  resulted  in  a 
wreck  whose  discordant  fragments  we  have  inherited.  It  left  us 
a  Christendom,  half  of  which  is  obscurantist  and  half  scientific  ; 
half  is  ruled  by  the  Jesuits  and  half  is  split  up  into  wrangling 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  MORES  ^'j 

sects.  The  English  Revolution  of  the  seventeenth  century  was 
reversed  when  it  undertook  to  reconstruct  the  mores  of  the 
English  people.  The  French  revolutionists  tried  to  abolish  all 
the  old  mores  and  to  replace  them  by  products  of  speculative 
philosophy.  The  revolution  was,  in  fact,  due  to  a  great  change 
in  conditions,  which  called  for  new  mores,  and  so  far  as  the 
innovations  met  this  demand  they  became  permanent  and  helped 
to  create  a  conviction  of  the  benelicence  of  revolution.  Napoleon 
abolished  many  innovations  and  put  many  things  in  the  old  train 
again.  Many  other  things  have  changed  name  and  face,  but 
not  character.  Many  innovations  have  been  half  assimilated. 
Some  interests  have  never  yet  been  provided  for  (see  sec.  165). 
91.  Possibility  of  modifying  mores.  The  combination  in  the 
mores  of  persistency  and  variability  determines  the  extent  to 
which  it  is  possible  to  modify  them  by  arbitrary  action.  It  is 
not  possible  to  change  them,  by  any  artifice  or  device,  to  a  great 
extent,  or  suddenly,  or  in  any  essential  element ;  it  is  possible  to 
modify  them  by  slow  and  long-continued  effort  if  the  ritual  is 
changed  by  minute  variations.  The  German  emperor  Frederick  II 
was  the  most  enlightened  ruler  of  the  Middle  Ages.  He  was  a 
modern  man  in  temper  and  ideas.  He  was  a  statesman  and  he 
wanted  to  make  the  empire  into  a  real  state  of  the  absolutist  type. 
All  the  mores  of  his  time  were  ecclesiastical  and  hierocratic.  He 
dashed  himself  to  pieces  against  them.  Those  whom  he  wanted 
to  serve  took  the  side  of  the  papacy  against  him.  He  became 
the  author  of  the  laws  by  which  the  civil  institutions  of  the 
time  were  made  to  serve  ecclesiastical  domination.  He  carried 
the  purpose  of  the  crusades  to  a  higher  degree  of  fulfillment 
than  they  ever  reached  otherwise,  but  this  brought  him  no  credit 
or  peace.  The  same  drift  in  the  mores  of  the  time  bore  down 
the  Albigenses  when  they  denounced  the  church  corporation, 
the  hierarchy,  and  the  papacy.  The  pope  easily  stirred  up  all 
Europe  against  them.  The  current  opinion  was  that  every  state 
must  be  a  Christian  state  according  to  the  mores  of  the  time. 
The  people  could  not  conceive  of  a  state  which  could  answer 
its  purpose  if  it  was  not  such.  But  a  "  Christian  state  "  meant 
one  which  was  in  harmony  with  the  pope  and  the  ecclesiastical 


88  FOLKWAYS 

organization.  This  demand  was  not  affected  by  the  faults  of 
the  organization,  or  the  corruption  and  venaUty  of  the  hierarchy. 
The  popes  of  the  thirteenth  century  rode  upon  this  tide,  over- 
whelming opposition  and  consolidating  their  power.  In  our  time 
the  state  is  charged  with  the  service  of  a  great  number  of 
interests  which  were  then  intrusted  to  the  church.  It  is  against 
our  mores  that  ecclesiastics  should  interfere  with  those  interests. 
There  is  no  war  on  religion.  Religion  is  recognized  as  an  inter- 
est by  itself,  and  is  treated  with  more  universal  respect  than 
ever  before,  but  it  is  regarded  as  occupying  a  iield  of  its  own, 
and  if  there  should  be  an  attempt  in  its  name  to  encroach  on 
any  other  domain,  it  would  fail,  because  it  would  be  against  the 
mores  of  our  time. 

92.  Russia.  When  Napoleon  said  :  "  If  you  scratch  a  Russian 
you  find  a  Tartar,"  what  he  had  perceived  was  that,  although 
the  Russian  court  and  the  capital  city  have  been  westernized 
by  the  will  of  the  tsars,  nevertheless  the  people  still  cling  to 
the  strongly  marked  national  mores  of  their  ancestors.  The 
tsars,  since  Peter  the  Great,  have,  by  their  pohcing  and  dragoon- 
ing, spoilt  one  thing  without  making  another,  and  socially  Rus- 
sia is  in  the  agonies  of  the  resulting  confusion.  Russia  ought 
to  be  a  democracy  by  virtue  of  its  sparse  population  and  wide 
area  of  unoccupied  land  in  Siberia.  In  fact  all  the  indigenous 
and  most  ancient  usages  of  the  villages  are  democratic.  The 
autocracy  is  exotic  and  military.  It  is,  however,  the  only  in- 
stitution which  holds  Russia  together  as  a  unit.  On  account 
of  this  politicar  interest  the  small  intelligent  class  acquiesce  in 
the  autocracy.  The  autocracy  imposes  force  on  the  people  to 
crush  out  their  inherited  mores,  and  to  force  on  them  western 
institutions.  The  policy  is,  moreover,  vacillating.  At  one  time 
the  party  which  favored  westernizing  has  prevailed  at  court ;  at 
another  time  the  old  Russian  or  pan-Slavic  party.  There  is  in- 
ternal discord  and  repression.  The  ultimate  result  of  such  an 
attempt  to  control  mores  by  force  is  an  interesting  question  of 
the  future.  It  also  is  a  question  which  affects  most  seriously  the 
interests  of  western  civilization.  The  motive  for  the  westernizing 
policy  is  to  get  influence  in  European  politics.  All  the  interference 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  MORES  89 

of  Russia  in  European  politics  is  harmful,  menacing,  and  unjusti- 
fiable. She  is  not,  in  character,  a  European  power,  and  she 
brings  no  contribution  to  European  civilization,  but  the  contrary. 
She  has  neither  the  capital  nor  the  character  to  enable  her  to 
execute  the  share  in  the  world's  affairs  which  she  is  assuming. 
Her  territorial  extensions  for  two  hundred  years  have  been  made 
at  the  cost  of  her  internal  strength.  The  latter  has  never  been 
at  all  proportioned  to  the  former.  Consequently  the  debt  and 
taxes  due  to  her  policy  of  expansion  and  territorial  greatness 
have  crushed  her  peasant  class,  and  by  their  effect  on  agriculture 
have  choked  the  source^  of  national  strength.  The  people  are 
peaceful  and  industrious,  and  their  traditional  mores  are  such  that 
they  would  develop  great  productive  power  and  in  time  rise  to  a 
strong  civilization  of  a  truly  indigenous  type,  if  they  were  free  to 
use  their  powers  in  their  own  way  to  satisfy  their  interests  as  they 
experience  them  from  the  life  conditions  which  they  have  to  meet. 
93.  Emancipation  in  Russia  and  the  United  States.  In  the 
time  of  Peter  the  Great  the  ancient  national  mores  of  Russia 
were  very  strong  and  firmly  established.  They  remain  to  this 
day,  in  the  mass  of  the  population,  unchanged  in  their  essential 
integrity.  There  is,  amongst  the  upper  classes,  an  imitation  of 
French  ways,  but  it  is  unimportant  for  the  nation.  The  autocracy 
is  what  makes  "  Russia,"  as  a  political  unit.  The  autocracy  is 
the  apex  of  a  military  system,  by  which  a  great  territory  has  been 
gathered  under  one  control.  That  operation  has  not  affected  the 
old  mores  of  the  people.  The  tsar  Alexander  II  was  convinced 
by  reading  the  writings  of  the  great  literary  coterie  of  the  middle 
of  the  nineteenth  century  that  serfdom  ought  to  be  abolished, and 
he  determined  that  it  should  be  done.-^  It  is  not  in  the  system  of 
autocracy  that  the  autocrat  shall  have  original  opinions  and  adopt 
an  independent  initiative.  The  men  whom  he  ordered  to  abolish 
serfdom  had  to  devise  a  method,  and  they  devised  one  which 
was  to  appear  satisfactory  to  the  tsar,  but  was  to  protect  the 
interests  which  they  cared  for.  One  is  reminded  of  the  devices 
of  American  politicians  to  satisfy  the  clamor  of  the  moment, 
but  to  change  nothing.    The  reform  had  but  slight  root  in  public 

1  Simkhovitsch,  Feldgemeinschaft  in  Russlaiid,  Chap.  XXIX. 


90  FOLKWAYS 

opinion,  and  no  sanction  in  the  interests  of  the  influential  classes  ; 
quite  the  contrary.  The  consequence  is  that  the  abolition  of 
serfdom  has  thrown  Russian  society  into  chaos,  and  as  yet 
reconstruction  upon  the  new  system  has  made  little  growth. 
In  the  United  States  the  abolition  of  slavery  was  accomplished 
by  the  North,  which  had  no  slaves  and  enforced  emancipation 
by  war  on  the  South,  which  had  them.  The  mores  of  the  South 
were  those  of  slavery  in  full  and  satisfactory  operation,  including 
social,  religious,  and  philosophical  notions  adapted  to  slavery. 
The  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  northern  states  had  been  brought 
about  by  changes  in  conditions  and  interests.  Emancipation  in 
the  South  was  produced  by  outside  force  against  the  mores  of 
the  whites  there.  The  consequence  has  been  forty  years  of 
economic,  social,  and  political  discord.  In  this  case  free  institu- 
tions and  mores  in  which  free  individual  initiative  is  a  leading 
element  allow  efforts  towards  social  readjustment  out  of  which 
a  solution  of  the  difficulties  will  come.  New  mores  will  be  devel- 
oped which  will  cover  the  situation  with  customs,  habits,  mutual 
concessions,  and  cooperation  of  interests,  and  these  will  produce 
a  social  philosophy  consistent  with  the  facts.  The  process  is  long, 
painful,  and  discouraging,  but  it  contains  its  own  guarantees. 

94.  Arbitrary  change.  We  often  meet  with  references  to 
Abraham  Lincoln  and  Alexander  II  as  political  heroes  who  set 
free  millions  of  slaves  or  serfs  "by  a  stroke  of  the  pen."  Such 
references  are  only  flights  of  rhetoric.  They  entirely  miss  the 
apprehension  of  what  it  is  to  set  men  free,  or  to  tear  out  of  a 
society  mores  of  long  growth  and  wide  reach.  Circumstances 
may  be  such  that  a  change  which  is  imperative  can  be  accom- 
plished in  no  other  way,  but  then  the  period  of  disorder  and  con- 
fusion is  unavoidable.  The  stroke  of  the  pen  never  does  anything 
but  order  that  this  period  shall  begin. 

95.  Case  of  Japan.  Japan  offers  a  case  of  the  voluntary  reso- 
lution of  the  ruling  class  of  a  nation  to  abandon  their  mores  and 
adopt  those  of  other  nations.  The  case  is  unique  in  history. 
Humbert  says  that  the  Japanese  were  in  the  first  throes  of  internal 
revolution  when  foreigners  intervened.^    Schallmeyer  infers  that 

"^  Japan  and  t/ic  Japanese,  360. 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  MORES  91 

the  "  adaptability  of  an  intelligent  and  disciplined  people  is  far 
greater  than  we,  judging  from  other  cases,  have  been  wont  to 
believe."  ^  Le  Bon  absolutely  denies  that  culture  can  be  trans- 
mitted from  people  to  people.  He  says  that  the  ruin  of  Japan 
is  yet  to  come,  from  the  attempt  to  adopt  foreign  ways.^  The 
best  information  is  that  the  mores  of  the  Japanese  masses  have 
not  been  touched.  The  changes  are  all  superficial  with  respect 
to  the  life  of  the  people  and  their  character.^  "  lyeyasu  was  care- 
ful to  qualify  the  meaning  of  '  rude.'  He  said  that  the  Japanese 
term  for  a  rude  fellow  signified  'an  other-than-expected  person'  — 
so  that  to  commit  an  offense  worthy  of  death  it  was  only  neces- 
sary to  act  in  an  '  unexpected  manner,'  that  is  to  say,  contrary 
to  prescribed  etiquette."  *  "  Even  now  the  only  safe  rule  of  con- 
duct in  a  Japanese  settlement  is  to  act  in  all  things  according  to 
local  custom  ;  for  the  slightest  divergence  from  rule  will  be 
observed  with  disfavor.  Privacy  does  not  exist ;  nothing  can  be 
hidden  ;  everybody's  vices  or  virtues  are  known  to  everybody  else. 
Unusual  behavior  is  judged  as  a  departure  from  the  traditional 
standard  of  conduct  ;  all  oddities  are  condemned  as  departures 
from  custom,  and  tradition  and  custom  still  have  the  force 
of  religious  obligations.  Indeed,  they  really  are  religious  and 
obligatory,  not  only  by  reason  of  their  origin,  but  by  reason  of 
their  relation  also  to  the  public  cult,  which  signifies  the  worship 
of  the  past.  The  ethics  of  Shinto  were  all  included  in  conformity 
to  custom.  The  traditional  rules  of  the  commune  —  these  were 
the  morals  of  Shinto  :  to  obey  them  was  religion ;  to  disobey 
them  impiety."^  Evidently  this  is  a  description  of  a  society  in 
which  tradition  and  current  usage  exert  complete  control.  It  is 
idle  to  imagine  that  the  masses  of  an  oriental  society  of  that  kind 
could,  in  a  thousand  years,  assimilate  the  mores  of  the  Occident. 
96.  Case  of  the  Hindoos.  Nivedita^  thinks  that  the  Hindoos 
have  adopted  foreign  culture  easily.  "  One  of  the  most  striking 
features  of  Hindoo  society  during  the  past  fifty  years  has  been 
the  readiness  of  the  people  to  adopt  a  foreign  form  of  culture, 

1  Vererbting  ttitd  Atislese,  282.  ^ 'HedLxn, /apaji,  193. 

2  Pol.  Anth.  Revue,  III,  416.  5  7/,/^/.^  1 12.    Cf.  sec.  76. 

3  Brandt  in  Umschan,  VIII,  722.  ^  Web  of  Indian  Life,  125. 


92 


FOLKWAYS 


and  to  compete  with  those  who  are  native  to  that  culture  on 
equal  terms."  Monier-Williams  tells  us,  however,  that  each 
Hindoo  "  finds  himself  cribbed  and  confined  in  all  his  movements, 
bound  and  fettered  in  all  he  does  by  minute  traditional  regula- 
tions. He  sleeps  and  wakes,  dresses  and  undresses,  sits  down  and 
stands  up,  goes  out  and  comes  in,  eats  and  drinks,  speaks  and  is 
silent,  acts  and  refrains  from  acting,  according  to  ancient  rule."  ^ 
As  yet,  therefore,  this  people  assumes  competition  with  the  Eng- 
lish without  giving  up  its  ancient  burdensome  social  ritual.  It 
accepts  the  handicap. 

97.  Reforms  of  Joseph  II.  The  most  remarkable  case  of 
reform  attempted  by  authority,  and  arbitrary  in  its  method,  is 
that  of  the  reforms  attempted  by  Joseph  H,  emperor  of  Ger- 
many. His  kingdoms  were  suffering  from  the  persistence  of  old 
institutions  and  mores.  They  needed  modernizing.  This  he 
knew  and,  as  an  absolute  monarch,  he  ordained  changes,  nearly 
all  of  which  were  either  the  abolition  of  abuses  or  the  introduc- 
tion of  real  improvements.  He  put  an  end  to  survivals  of  mediaeval 
clericalism,  established  freedom  of  worship,  made  marriage  a  civil 
contract,  abolished  class  privilege,  made  taxation  uniform,  and  re- 
placed serfdom  in  Bohemia  by  the  form  of  villanage  which  existed 
in  Austria.  In  Hungary  he  ordered  the  use  of  the  German  lan- 
guage instead  of  Latin,  as  the  civil  language.  Interferences  with 
language  act  as  counter  suggestion.  Common  sense  and  expedi- 
ency were  in  favor  of  the  use  of  the  German  language,  but  the 
order  to  use  it  provoked  a  great  outburst  of  national  enthusiasm 
which  sought  demonstration  in  dress,  ceremonies,  and  old  usages. 
Many  of  the  other  changes  made  by  the  emperor  antagonized 
vested  interests  of  nobles  and  ecclesiastics,  and  he  was  forced  to 
revoke  them.  He  promulgated  orders  which  affected  the  mores, 
and  the  mental  or  moral  discipline  of  his  subjects.  If  a  man 
came  to  enroll  himself  as  a  deist  a  second  time,  he  was  to  receive 
twenty-four  blows  with  the  rod,  not  because  he  was  a  deist,  but 
because  he  called  himself  something  about  which  he  could  not 
know  what  it  is.  No  coffins  were  to  be  used,  corpses  were  to  be 
put  in  sacks  and  buried  in  quicklime.    Probably  this  law  was  wise 

1  Brahmanism  and  Hindttisfn,  352. 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  MORES  93 

from  a  purely  rational  point  of  view,  but  it  touched  upon  a  matter 
in  regard  to  which  popular  sentiment  is  very  tender  even  when 
the  usage  is  most  irrational.  "  Many  a  usage  and  superstition 
was  so  closely  interwoven  with  the  life  of  the  people  that  it  could 
not  be  torn  away  by  regulation,  but  only  by  education."  Non- 
Catholics  were  given  full  civil  rights.  None  were  to  be  excluded 
from  the  cemeteries.  The  unilluminated  Jews  would  have  pre- 
ferred that  there  should  be  no  change  in  the  laws.  Frederick  of 
Prussia  said  that  Joseph  always  took  the  second  step  without 
having  taken  the  first.  In  the  end  the  emperor  revoked  all  his 
changes  and  innovations  except  the  abolition  of  serfdom  and 
religious  toleration. ^  Some  of  his  measures  were  gradually  realized 
through  the  nineteenth  century.  Others  are  now  an  object  of 
political  effort. 

98.  Adoption  of  mores  of  another  age.  The  Renaissance  was 
a  period  in  which  an  attempt  was  made  by  one  age  to  adopt  the 
mores  of  another,  as  the  latter  were  known  through  literature  and 
art.  The  knowledge  was  very  imperfect  and  mistaken,  as  indeed 
it  necessarily  must  be,  and  the  conceptions  which  were  formed 
of  the  model  were  almost  as  fantastic  as  if  they  had  been  pure 
creations  of  the  imagination.  The  learning  of  the  Renaissance 
was  necessarily  restricted  to  the  selected  classes,  and  the  masses 
either  remained  untouched  by  the  faiths  and  fads  of  the  learned, 
or  accepted  the  same  in  grotesquely  distorted  forms.  A  phrase 
of  a  classical  writer,  or  a  fanciful  conception  of  some  hero  of 
Plutarch,  sufficed  to  enthuse  a  criminal,  or  to  upset  the  mental 
equilibrium  of  a  political  speculator.  The  jumble  of  heteroge- 
neous mores,  and  of  ideas  conformable  to  different  mores,  caused 
numbers  to  lose  their  mental  equilibrium  and  to  become  victims 
either  of  enthusiasm  or  of  melancholy .^  The  phenomena  of  sug- 
gestion were  astounding  and  incalculable.^  The  period  was 
marked  by  the  dominion  of  dogmatic  ideas,  accepted  as  regula- 
tive principles  for  the  mores.  The  result  was  the  dominion  of 
the  phrase  and  the  prevalence  of  hollow  affectation.  The  men  who 
were  most  thoroughly  interested  in  the  new  learning,  and  had 

1  Mayer,  Oesterreich,  II,  454-465.  ^  Gauthiez,  Lorenzaccio,  230. 

3  Ibid.,  227. 


94  FOLKWAYS 

lost  faith  in  the  church  and  the  rehgion  of  the  Middle  Ages,  kept 
up  the  ritual  of  the  traditional  system.  The  Renaissance  never 
made  any  new  ritual.  That  is  why  it  had  no  strong  root  and 
passed  away  as  a  temporary  fashion.  Hearn  ^  is  led  from  his 
study  of  Japan  to  say  that  "  We  could  no  more  mingle  with  the 
old  Greek  life,  if  it  were  resurrected  for  us,  no  more  become  a 
part  of  it,  than  we  could  change  our  mental  identities."  The 
modern  classicists  have  tried  to  resuscitate  Greek  standards, 
faiths,  and  ways.  Individuals  have  met  with  a  measure  of  suc- 
cess in  themselves,  and  university  graduates  have  to  some  extent 
reached  common  views  of  life  and  well  living,  but  they  have 
necessarily  selected  what  features  they  would  imitate,  and  so 
they  have  arbitrarily  overruled  their  chosen  authority.  They  have 
never  won  wide  respect  for  it  in  modern  society.  The  New  Eng- 
land Puritans,  in  the  seventeenth  century,  tried  to  build  a  society 
on  the  Bible,  especially  the  books  of  Moses.  The  attempt  was 
in  every  way  a  failure.  It  may  well  be  doubted  if  any  society 
ever  existed  of  which  the  books  referred  to  were  a  description, 
and  the  prescriptions  were  found  ill  adapted  to  seventeenth-cen- 
tury facts.  The  mores  made  by  any  age  for  itself  are  good  and 
right  for  that  age,  but  it  follows  that  they  can  suit  another  age 
only  to  a  very  limited  extent. 

99.  What  changes  are  possible.  All  these  cases  go  to  show 
that  changes  which  run  with  the  mores  are  easily  brought  about, 
but  that  changes  which  are  opposed  to  the  mores  require  long 
and  patient  effort,  if  they  are  possible  at  all.  The  ruling  clique 
can  use  force  to  warp  the  mores  towards  some  result  which  they 
have  selected,  especially  if  they  bring  their  effort  to  bear  on  the 
ritual,  not  on  the  dogmas,  and  if  they  are  contented  to  go  slowly. 
The  church  has  won  great  results  in  this  way,  and  by  so  doing 
has  created  a  belief  that  religion,  or  ideas,  or  institutions,  make 
mores.  The  leading  classes,  no  matter  by  what  standard  they 
are  selected,  can  lead  by  example,  which  always  affects  ritual. 
An  aristocracy  acts  in  this  way.  It  suggests  standards  of  ele- 
gance, refinement,  and  nobility,  and  the  usages  of  good  manners, 
from  generation  to  generation,  are  such  as  have  spread  from  the 

^  Japati,  20. 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  MORES  95 

aristocracy  to  other  classes.  Such  influences  are  unspoken,  un- 
conscious, unintentional.  If  we  admit  that  it  is  possible  and  right 
for  some  to  undertake  to  mold  the  mores  of  others,  of  set  pur- 
pose, we  see  that  the  limits  within  which  any  such  effort  can 
succeed  are  very  narrow,  and  the  methods  by  which  it  can  operate 
are  strictly  defined.  The  favorite  methods  of  our  time  are  legis- 
lation and  preaching.  These  methods  fail  because  they  do  not 
affect  ritual,  and  because  they  always  aim  at  great  results  in  a 
short  time.  Above  all,  w^e  can  judge  of  the  amount  of  serious 
attention  which  is  due  to  plans  for  "reorganizing  society,"  to  get 
rid  of  alleged  errors  and  inconveniences  in  it.  We  might  as  well 
plan  to  reorganize  our  globe  by  redistributing  the  elements  in  it. 
100.  Dissent  from  the  mores ;  group  orthodoxy.  Since  it 
appears  that  the  old  mores  are  mischievous  if  they  last  beyond 
the  duration  of  the  conditions  and  needs  to  which  they  were 
adapted,  and  that  constant,  gradual,  smooth,  and  easy  readjust- 
ment is  the  course  of  things  which  is  conducive  to  healthful  life, 
it  follows  that  free  and  rational  criticism  of  traditional  mores  is 
essential  to  societal  welfare.  We  have  seen  that  the  inherited 
mores  exert  a  coercion  on  every  one  born  in  the  group.  It  follows 
that  only  the  greatest  and  best  can  react  against  the  mores  so  as 
to  modify  them.  It  is  by  no  means  to  be  inferred  that  every  one 
who  sets  himself  at  war  with  the  traditional  mores  is  a  hero  of 
social  correction  and  amelioration.  The  trained  reason  and  con- 
science never  have  heavier  tasks  laid  upon  them  than  where 
questions  of  conformity  to,  or  dissent  from,  the  mores  are  raised. 
It  is  by  the  dissent  and  free  judgment  of  the  best  reason  and 
conscience  that  the  mores  win  flexibility  and  automatic  readjust- 
ment. Dissent  is  always  unpopular  in  the  group.  Groups  form 
standards  of  orthodoxy  as  to  the  "  principles  "  which  each  mem- 
ber must  profess  and  the  ritual  which  each  must  practice.  Dis- 
sent seems  to  imply  a  claim  of  superiority.  It  evokes  hatred  and 
persecution.  Dissenters  are  rebels,  traitors,  and  heretics.  We 
see  this  in  all  kinds  of  subgroups.  Noble  and  patrician  classes, 
merchants,  artisans,  religious  and  philosophical  sects,  political 
parties,  academies  and  learned  societies,  punish  by  social  penal- 
ties dissent  from,  or  disobedience  to,  their  code  of  group  conduct. 


98  FOLKWAYS 

one's  own  society,  there  is  an  operation  like  begging  the  question. 
Moreover,  the  convictions  which  are  in  the  mores  are  "faiths." 
They  are  not  affected  by  scientific  facts  or  demonstration.  We 
"believe  in"  democracy,  as  we  have  been  brought  up  in  it,  or  we 
do  not.  If  we  do,  we  accept  its  mythology.  The  reason  is  be- 
cause we  have  grown  up  in  it,  are  familiar  with  it,  and  like  it. 
Argument  would  not  touch  this  faith.  In  like  manner  the  people 
of  one  state  believe  in  "the  state,"  or  in  militarism,  or  in  com- 
mercialism, or  in  individualism.  Those  of  another  state  are  sen- 
timental, nervous,  fond  of  rhetorical  phrases,  full  of  group  vanity. 
It  is  vain  to  imagine  that  any  man  can  lift  himself  out  of  these 
characteristic  features  in  the  mores  of  the  group  to  which  he 
belongs,  especially  when  he  is  dealing  with  the  nearest  and  most 
familiar  phenomena  of  everyday  life.  It  is  vain  to  imagine  that 
a  "  scientific  man  "  can  divest  himself  of  prejudice  or  previous 
opinion,  and  put  himself  in  an  attitude  of  neutral  independence 
towards  the  mores.  He  might  as  well  try  to  get  out  of  gravity 
or  the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere.  The  most  learned  scholar 
reveals  all  the  philistinism  and  prejudice  of  the  man-on-the- 
curbstone  when  mores  are  in  discussion.  The  most  elaborate 
discussion  only  consists  in  revolving  on  one's  own  axis.  One 
only  finds  again  the  prepossessions  which  he  brought  to  the 
consideration  of  the  subject,  returned  to  him  with  a  little 
more  intense  faith.  The  philosophical  drift  in  the  mores  of  our 
time  is  towards  state  regulation,  militarism,  imperialism,  towards 
petting  and  flattering  the  poor  and  laboring  classes,  and  in  favor 
of  whatever  is  altruistic  and  humanitarian.  What  man  of  us 
ever  gets  out  of  his  adopted  attitude,  for  or  against  these  now 
ruling  tendencies,  so  that  he  forms  judgments,  not  by  his  ruling 
interest  or  conviction,  but  by  the  supposed  impact  of  demographic 
data  on  an  empty  brain.  We  have  no  grounds  for  confidence 
in  these  ruling  tendencies  of  our  time.  They  are  only  the 
present  phases  in  the  endless  shifting  of  our  philosophical  gen- 
eralizations, and  it  is  only  proposed,  by  the  application  of  social 
policy,  to  subject  society  to  another  set  of  arbitrary  interferences, 
dictated  by  a  new  set  of  dogmatic  prepossessions  that  would  only 
be  a  continuation  of  old  methods  and  errors. 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  MORES 


99 


103.  Degenerate  and  evil  mores.    Mores  of  advance  and  decline. 

The  case  is  somewhat  different  when  attempts  are  made  by  posi- 
tive efforts  to  prevent  the  operation  of  bad  mores,  or  to  abolish 
them.  The  historians  have  famiharized  us  with  the  notion  of 
corrupt  or  degenerate  mores.  Such  periods  as  the  later  Roman 
empire,  the  Byzantine  empire,  the  Merovingian  kingdom,  and 
the  Renaissance  offer  us  examples  of  evil  mores.  We  need  to 
give  more  exactitude  to  this  idea.  Bad  mores  are  those  which 
are  not  well  fitted  to  the  conditions  and  needs  of  the  society  at 
the  time.  But,  as  we  have  seen,  the  mores  produce  a  philosophy 
of  welfare,  more  or  less  complete,  and  they  produce  taboos  which 
are  concentrated  inhibitions  directed  against  conduct  which  the 
philosophy  regards  as  harmful,  or  positive  injunctions  to  do  what 
is  judged  expedient  and  beneficial.  The  taboos  constitute  moral- 
ity or  a  moral  system  which,  in  higher  civilization,  restrains  pas- 
sion and  appetite,  and  curbs  the  will.  Various  conjunctures  arise 
in  which  the  taboos  are  weakened  or  the  sanctions  on  them  are 
withdrawn.  Faith  in  the  current  religion  may  be  lost.  Then  its 
mystic  sanctions  cease  to  operate.  The  political  institutions  may 
be  weak  or  unfit,  and  the  civil  sanctions  may  fail.  There  may 
not  be  the  necessary  harmony  between  economic  conditions  and 
political  institutions,  or  the  classes  which  hold  the  social  forces 
in  their  hands  may  misuse  them  for  their  selfish  interest  at  the 
expense  of  others.  The  philosophical  and  ethical  generalizations 
which  are  produced  by  the  mores  rise  into  a  realm  of  intellect 
and  reason  which  is  proud,  noble,  and  grand.  The  power  of  the 
intelligence  is  a  human  prerogative.  If  the  power  is  correctly 
used  the  scope  of  achievement  in  the  satisfaction  of  needs  is 
enormously  extended.  The  penalty  of  error  in  that  domain  is 
correspondingly  great.  When  the  mores  go  wrong  it  is,  above  all, 
on  account  of  error  in  the  attempt  to  employ  the  philosophical 
and  ethical  generalizations  in  order  to  impose  upon  mores  and 
institutions  a  movement  towards  selected  and  "  ideal  "  results 
which  the  ruling  powers  of  the  society  have  determined  to  aim 
at.  Then  the  energy  of  the  society  may  be  diverted  from  its 
interests.  Such  a  drift  of  the  mores  is  exactly  analogous  to  a 
vice  of  an  individual,  i.e.  energy  is  expended  on  acts  which  are 


lOO  FOLKWAYS 

contrary  to  welfare.  The  result  is  a  confusion  of  all  the  func- 
tions of  the  society,  and  a  falseness  in  all  its  mores.  Any  of  the 
aberrations  which  have  been  mentioned  will  produce  evil  mores, 
that  is,  mores  which  are  not  adapted  to  welfare,  so  that  a  group  may 
fall  into  vicious  mores  just  as  an  individual  falls  into  vicious  habits. 
104.  Illustrations.  This  was  well  illustrated  at  Byzantium. 
The  development  of  courtesans  and  prostitutes  into  a  great  and 
flourishing  institution ;  the  political  rule,  by  palace  intrigues,  of 
favorites,  women,  and  eunuchs;  the  decisive  interference  of  royal 
guards  ;  the  vices  of  public  amusements  and  baths  ;  the  mis- 
eries and  calamities  of  talented  men  and  the  consequent  elimi- 
nation of  that  class  from  the  society ;  the  sycophancy  of  clients  ; 
the  servitude  of  peasants  and  artisans,  with  economic  exhaustion 
as  a  consequence ;  demonism,  fanaticism,  and  superstition  in  re- 
ligion, combined  with  extravagant  controversies  over  pedantic 
trifles,  —  such  are  some  of  the  phenomena  of  mores  disordered 
by  divorce  from  sober  interests,  and  complicated  by  arbitrary 
dogmas  of  politics  and  religion,  not  forgetting  the  brutal  and 
ignorant  measures  of  selfish  rulers.  In  the  Merovingian  kingdom 
barbaric  and  corrupt  Roman  mores  were  intermingled  in  a  period 
of  turmoil.  In  the  Renaissance  in  Italy  all  the  taboos  were 
broken  down,  or  had  lost  their  sanctions,  and  vice  and  crime  ran 
riot  through  social  disorder.  As  to  the  degeneracy  of  mores,  we 
meet  with  a  current  opinion  that  in  time  the  mores  tend  to  "  run 
down,"  by  the  side  of  another  current  opinion  that  there  is,  in 
time,  a  tendency  of  the  mores  to  become  more  refined  and  purer. 
If  the  life  conditions  do  not  change,  there  is  no  reason  at  all 
why  the  mores  should  change.  Some  barbarian  peoples  have 
brought  their  mores  into  true  adjustment  to  their  life  conditions, 
and  have  gone  on  for  centuries  without  change.  What  is  true, 
however,  is  that  there  are  periods  of  social  advance  and  periods 
of  social  decline,  that  is,  advance  or  decline  in  economic  power, 
material  prosperity,  and  group  strength  for  war.  In  either  case 
all  the  mores  fall  into  a  character,  temper,  and  spirit  which  con- 
form to  the  situation.  The  early  centuries  of  the  Christian 
era  were   a   period    of   decline.     Tertullian^  has  a  passage  in 

^  De  Anima,  30. 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  MORES  loi 

which  he  describes  in  enthusiastic  terms  the  prosperity  and 
progress  of  his  time  (end  of  the  second  century).  He  did  not 
perceive  that  society  was  in  a  conjuncture  of  decHne.  Many, 
however,  from  the  time  of  Augustus  saw  evil  coming.  The  splen- 
dors of  the  empire  did  not  delude  them.  Tacitus  feared  evil  from 
the  Germans  ;  others  from  the  Parthians.^  The  population  of  the 
Roman  empire  felt  its  inferiority  to  its  ancestors.  One  thing  after 
another  gave  way.  Nothing  could  serve  as  a  fulcrum  for  resisting 
decline,  or  producing  recovery.  In  such  a  period  despair  wins  con- 
trol. The  philosophy  is  pessimistic.  The  world  is  supposed  to  be 
coming  to  an  end.  Life  is  not  valued.  Ascetic  practices  fall  in 
with  the  prevailing  temper.  Martyrdom  has  no  great  terrors  ; 
such  as  it  has  can  be  overcome  by  a  little  enthusiasm.  Inroads 
of  barbarians  only  add  a  little  to  the  other  woes,  or  hasten  an 
end  which  is  inevitable  and  is  expected  with  resignation.  At 
such  a  time  a  religion  of  demonism,  other-worldliness,  resigna- 
tion, retirement  from  the  world,  and  renunciation  appeals  both 
to  those  who  want  a  dream  of  escape  and  to  those  who  despair. 
Our  own  time,  on  the  other  hand,  is  one  of  advance  on  account 
of  great  unoccupied  territories  now  opened  at  little  or  no  cost  to 
those  who  have  nothing.  Such  a  period  is  one  of  hope,  power, 
and  gain  for  the  masses.  Optimism  is  the  philosophy.  All  the 
mores  get  their  spirit  from  it.  "  Progress  "  is  an  object  of  faith. 
A  philosophy  of  resignation  and  renunciation  is  unpopular. 
There  is  nothing  which  we  cannot  do,  and  will  not  do,  if  we 
choose.  No  mistake  will  cost  much.  It  can  be  easily  rectified. 
In  the  Renaissance  in  Italy,  besides  the  rejection  of  religion  and 
the  disorder  of  the  state,  there  was  a  great  movement  of  new 
power  derived  from  the  knowledge  which  was  changing  the  life 
conditions.  Great  social  forces  were  set  loose.  Men  of  heroic  di- 
mensions, both  in  good  and  ill,  appeared  in  great  numbers.  They 
had  astounding  ability  to  accomplish  achievements,  and  appeared 
to  be  possessed  by  devils,  so  superhuman  was  their  energy  in 
vice  and  crime  as  well  as  in  war,  art,  discovery,  and  literature. 
No  doubt  this  phenomenon  of  heroic  men  belongs  to  an  age 
of  advance  with  a  great  upbursting  of  new  power  under  more 

1  Boissier,  Relig.  Jioi?i.,  I,  239. 


102  FOLKWAYS 

favorable  conditions.  It  is  to  be  noticed  also  that  reproduction 
responds  to  conditions  of  advance  or  decline.  In  decline  marriage 
and  family  become  irksome.  Celibacy  arises  in  the  mores.  In 
times  of  advance  sex  vice  and  excess  reach  a  degree,  as  in  the 
Renaissance,  which  seems  to  constitute  a  social  paroxysm.  The 
sex  passion  rises  to  a  frenzy  to  which  everything  else  is  sacri- 
ficed. The  notion  that  mores  grow  either  better  or  worse  by 
virtue  of  some  inherent  tendency  is  to  be  rejected.  Goodness  or 
badness  of  the  mores  is  always  relative  only.  Their  purpose  is 
to  serve  needs,  and  their  quality  is  to  be  defined  by  the  degree 
to  which  they  do  it.  We  have  noticed  that  there  is  in  them  a 
strain  towards  consistency,  due  to  the  fact  that  they  are  more 
efficient  when  consistent.  They  are  consistent  also  in  aberra- 
tion and  error  when  they  fall  under  the  dominion  of  any  one  of 
the  false  tendencies  above  described.  Hence  we  may  have  the 
phenomena  of  degenerate  mores  characterizing  a  period  ;  being 
a  case  of  change  in  the  mores  not  due  to  any  external  and  deter- 
minable cause,  and  analogous  either  to  vice  or  disease. 

105.  The  correction  of  aberrations.  It  is  possible  to  arrest  or 
avert  such  an  aberration  in  the  mores  at  its  beginning  or  in  its 
early  stages.  It  is,  however,  very  difficult  to  do  so,  and  it  would 
be  very  difficult  to  find  a  case  in  which  it  has  been  done.  Neces- 
sarily the  effort  to  do  it  consists  in  a  prophecy  of  consequences. 
Such  prophecy  does  not  appeal  to  any  one  who  does  not  himself 
foresee  error  and  harm.  Prophets  have  always  fared  ill,  because 
their  predictions  were  unwelcome  and  they  were  unpopular.  The 
pension  system  which  has  grown  up  in  the  United  States  since 
the  civil  war  has  often  been  criticised.  It  is  an  abuse  of  extreme 
peril  in  a  democracy.  Demagogues  easily  use  it  to  corrupt  the 
voters  with  their  own  money.  It  is  believed  that  it  will  soon  die 
out  by  its  own  limitations.  There  is,  however,  great  doubt  of 
this.  It  is  more  likely  to  cause  other  evil  measures,  in  order  that 
it  may  not  die  out.  If  we  notice  the  way  in  which,  in  this  case, 
people  let  a  thing  go  on  in  order  to  avoid  trouble,  we  may  see 
how  aberrant  mores  come  in  and  grow  strong. 

106.  Mores  of  advance  or  decline.  Seeck  thinks  that  a  general 
weariness  of  life  in  the  Greco-Roman  world  caused  indifference 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  MORES  103 

to  procreation.  It  accounts  for  the  readiness  to  commit  suicide 
and  for  the  indifference  to  martyrdom.  Life  was  hardly  worth 
having.  He  says  that  during  the  whole  period  of  the  empire 
there  was  no  improvement  in  the  useful  arts,  no  new  invention, 
and  no  new  device  to  facilitate  production.  Neither  was  there 
any  improvement  in  the  art  of  war,  in  literature,  or  the  fine  arts. 
As  to  transportation  and  commerce  there  seems  to  have  been 
gain  in  the  first  centuries  of  the  Christian  era.^  Such  inventions 
as  were  made  required  a  very  long  time  to  work  their  way  into 
general  use.  This  sluggishness  is  most  apparent  in  mental  labor. 
After  the  time  of  Hadrian  science  cannot  be  said  to  have  existed. 
The  learned  only  cited  their  predecessors.  Philosophy  consisted 
in  interpreting  old  texts.  The  only  gains  were  in  religion,  and 
those  all  were  won  by  Semites  or  other  peoples  of  western  Asia.^ 
Both  Greeks  and  Romans  exterminated  the  elite  of  their  societies, 
and  pursued  a  policy  which  really  was  a  selection  of  the  less 
worthy.^  Men  fled  from  the  world.  They  wanted  to  get  out  of 
human  society.  They  especially  wanted  to  escape  the  state. 
The  reason  was  that  they  suffered  pain  in  society,  especially  from 
the  political  institutions.  The  Christian  church  gave  to  this 
renunciation  of  social  rights  and  duties  the  character  of  a  religious 
virtue.  "  Pessimism  took  possession  of  the  old  peoples  at  the 
beginning  of  the  Christian  era.  This  world  is  regarded  as  deliv- 
ered over  to  destruction.  Men  long  for  a  better  life  and  the 
immortality  of  the  gods,  outside  of  this  transitory  existence.  To 
this  sentiment  corresponds  the  division  of  the  universe  into  a 
world  of  light  above,  the  realm  of  the  good,  and  a  world  of  dark- 
ness below,  where  the  evil  powers  dwell.  Men  live  in  a  middle 
space.  Myths  explained  how  our  world  arose  as  a  mixture  of  good 
and  evil,  between  the  two  realms  of  good  and  evil.  Man  belongs 
to  both  ;  to  the  world  of  light  by  his  soul,  to  the  world  of  dark- 
ness by  his  body.  Men  struggle  for  redemption  from  this  world 
and  from  carnality,  and  long  to  soar  through  the  series  of  the 
heavens,  so  as  to  come  before  the  face  of  the  highest  God,  there 

1  Pohlmann,  Die  Uebervblkerting  d.  Antiq.  Grossstddte,  12. 

2  Seeck,  Unteri^ang  der  Antiq.   Welt,  I,  25S  ff.,  278. 

3  Ibid.,  Chap.  III. 


I04  FOLKWAYS 

to  live  forever.  This  one  can  do  after  death,  if  he  has  during 
Ufe  undergone  the  necessary  consecration,  and  has  learned  the 
words  which  can  open  heaven  for  him.  In  order  to  impart  the 
consecration,  and  break  the  powers  of  darkness,  one  of  the  higher 
gods,  the  Redeemer-God,  himself  descended  to  earth.  This  reli- 
gious theory  is  held  by  secret  sects.  The  folk  religions  are  dead. 
They  can  no  longer  satisfy  the  wants  of  men.  Those  of  the  same 
faiths  and  sentiments  meet  in  secret  brotherhood.  The  East  must 
have  been  full  of  such  secret  sects,  which  corresponded  to  the 
petty  states  of  the  earlier  period."  ^  There  was  a  very  widespread 
opinion  that  the  world  was  old  and  used  up  so  that  it  could  pro- 
duce no  more,  just  as  a  woman  beyond  her  prime  could  no  longer 
bear  children.^  "  Whenever  in  any  people,  consciousness  of  its 
decline  becomes  vivid,  a  strange  tendency  to  self-destruction  arises 
in  it.  This  is  not  to  be  explained  scientifically,  although  it  has 
been  often  observed."  The  best  commit  suicide  first,  for  they  do 
not  fear  death.^  Romans  of  wealth  and  rank  committed  suicide 
in  the  first  and  second  century  with  astonishing  levity  ;  Christians, 
of  the  masses,  went  to  martyrdom  in  the  same  way.  Pliny 
expresses  the  feeling  that  life  had  little  or  no  value.* 

107.  The  Greek  temper  in  prosperity.  The  Greeks,  until  the 
fourth  century  before  Christ,  were  characterized  by  the  joy  of  life. 
They  lived  in  close  touch  with  nature,  and  the  human  body  was 
to  them  not  a  clog  or  a  curse,  but  a  model  of  beauty  and  a  means 
of  participating  in  the  activities  of  nature.  Their  mores  were  full 
of  youthful  exuberance.  Their  life  philosophy  was  egoistic  and 
materialistic.  They  wanted  to  enjoy  all  which  their  powers  could 
win,  yet  their  notion  of  olbos  was  so  elevated  that  our  modern 
languages  have  no  word  for  it.  It  meant  opulence,  with  generous 
liberality  of  sentiment  and  public  spirit.  "  I  do  not  call  him  who 
lives  in  prosperity,  and  has  great  possessions,  a  man  of  olbos,  but 
only  a  well-to-do  treasure  keeper."  ^  Such  were  the  mores  of  the 
age  of  advance  in  wealth,  population,  military  art,  knowledge, 
mental    achievement,    and    fine    arts,  —  all   of    which    evidently 

1  Gunkel,  Ziim  Religions-gesch.    Versfdndniss  d.  N.  T.,  19. 

2  Seeck,  I,  353.  *  Hist.  A\it.,  VII,  41,  44,  46,  51,  56. 
8  Ibid.,  364  ff.                                       ^  Euripides,  Antiope.,  frag.  32. 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  MORES  105 

were  correlative  and  coherent  parts  of  an  expanding  prosperity 
and  group  life. 

108.  Greek  pessimism.  It  is  true  that  this  light-hearted,  gay, 
and  artistic  temper  was  boyish.  Behind  it  there  always  was  a 
pessimistic  world  philosophy.  The  gods  envied  men  any  happi- 
ness and  success,  and  would  cast  down  any  one  who  was  success- 
ful. The  joyous  temper  always  was  that  of  the  man  who  has 
made  up  his  mind  to  enjoy  himself  and  forget,  since  to  take 
thought  and  care  would  do  no  good.  This  philosophy  embittered 
all  prosperity.  The  epic  heroes  suffered  painful  ends,  and  when 
the  tragedians  took  up  the  stories  again  they  heaped  up  crime 
and  woe.^  Pessimism  was  in  the  myths.  While  things  went  well 
the  life  policy  of  joyous  carelessness  overbore  the  pessimism,  but 
when  things  began  to  go  ill  the  conviction  arose  that  life  is  not 
worth  living.  The  abuses  of  democracy  in  the  cities  took  away 
all  the  joy  of  success.  It  was  wisdom  just  to  take  things  as  they 
came.  Life  was  not  worth  having,  for  itself.  If  circumstances 
turned  the  balance  of  joy  and  pain  so  that  the  latter  predominated 
a  little,  suicide  was  a  rational  relief.  Religion  did  not  cause  this 
pessimism,  but  also  it  did  not  oppose  it.  Suicide  was  no  offense 
to  the  gods,  because  they  did  not  give  life.^  The  Greeks  held 
their  doctrine  of  pessimism,  the  envy  of  the  gods,  etc.,  to  be  a 
correct  induction  from  observation  of  life.  Herodotus  brought 
back  a  conviction  of  it  from  his  travels.^  Tradition  ascribed  to 
Solon  the  saying  that  "there  is  not  a  single  happy  mortal  to  be 
found  amongst  all  the  sun  shines  on."  * 

109.  Greek  degeneracy.  The  decline  of  the  Greeks  in  the  three 
centuries  before  our  era  is  so  great  and  sudden  that  it  is  very  diffi- 
cult to  understand  it.  The  best  estimate  of  the  population  of  the 
Peloponnesus  in  the  second  century  B.C.  puts  it  at  one  hundred 
and  nine  per  square  mile.^  Yet  the  population  was  emigrating, 
and  population  was  restricted.  A  pair  would  have  but  one  or  two 
children.    The  cities  were  empty  and  the  land  was  uncultivated.^ 

1  Burckhardt,  Griech.  Kiilhtrgesch.,  II,  375  ff.  ^  Ibid.,  395. 

^Ibid.,T,()\.  *  lb  id. ,2,97. 

^  Beloch,  Bevolkeriing  d.  Griech.-Rcim.   Welt,  157. 
6  Polybius,  XXVII,  9,  5  ;  Seeck,  Untergang  d.  Antiq.  Welt,  I,  325,  360. 


Io6  FOLKWAYS 

There  was  neither  war  nor  pestilence  to  account  for  this.  It  may 
be  that  the  land  was  exhausted.  There  must  have  been  a  loss 
of  economic  power  so  that  labor  was  unrewarded.  The  mores  all 
sank  together.  There  can  be  no  achievement  in  the  struggle  for 
existence  without  an  adequate  force.  Our  civilization  is  built  on 
steam.  The  Greek  and  Roman  civilization  was  built  on  slavery, 
that  is,  on  an  aggregation  of  human  power.  The  result  produced 
was,  at  first,  very  great,  but  the  exploitation  of  men  entailed  other 
consequences  besides  quantities  of  useful  products.  It  was  these 
consequences  which  issued  in  the  mores,  for,  in  a  society  built  on 
slavery  as  the  form  of  productive  industry,  all  the  mores,  obey- 
ing the  strain  of  consistency,  must  conform  to  that  as  the  chief 
of  the  folkways.  It  was  at  the  beginning  of  the  empire  that  the 
Romans  began  to  breed  slaves  because  wars  no  longer  brought 
in  new  supplies.^  Sex  vice,  laziness,  decline  of  energy  and  enter- 
prise, cowardice,  and  contempt  for  labor  were  consequences  of 
slavery,  for  the  free.^  The  system  operated,  in  both  the  classical 
states,  as  a  selection  against  the  superior  elements  in  the  popula- 
tion. This  effect  was  intensified  by  the  political  system.  The 
city  became  an  arena  of  political  struggle  for  the  goods  of  life 
which  it  was  a  shame  to  work  for.  Tyrannies  and  democracies 
alternated  with  each  other,  but  both  alike  used  massacre  and 
proscription,  and  both  thought  it  policy  to  get  rid  of  troublesome 
persons,  that  is,  of  those  who  had  convictions  and  had  courage 
to  avow  them.  Every  able  man  became  a  victim  of  terrorism, 
exerted  by  idle  market-place  loafers.  The  abuse  of  democratic 
methods  by  those-who-had-not  to  plunder  those-who-had  must 
also  have  had  much  to  do  with  the  decline  of  economic  power, 
and  with  the  general  decline  of  joy  in  life  and  creative  energy. 
It  would  also  make  marriage  and  children  a  great  and  hopeless 
burden.  Abortion  and  sex  vice  both  directly  and  indirectly  les- 
sened population,  by  undermining  the  power  of  reproduction,  while 
their  effect  to  destroy  all  virile  virtues  could  not  fail  to  be  exerted.^ 
It  was  another  symptom  of  disease  in  the  mores  that  the  number 

1  Seeck,  I,  355. 

2  Seeck,  II,  Chap.  IV;  Beloch,  Griech.  Gesc/i.,  I,  226. 

3  Burckhardt,  Griech.  Ktiltiirgesch.,  I,  222,  237,  259,  273  ;  II,  355,  367,  370. 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  MORES  107 

of  males  in  the  Roman  empire  greatly  exceeded  the  number  of 
females.^    The  Roman  system  used  up  women. 

110.  Sparta.  The  case  of  Sparta  is  especially  interesting 
because  the  Spartan  mores  were  generally  admired  and  envied 
in  the  fourth  century  B.C.  They  were  very  artificial  and  arbitrary. 
They  developed  into  a  catastrophe.  The  population  declined  to 
such  a  point  that  it  was  like  group  suicide.  The  nation  incased 
itself  in  fossilized  mores  and  extremest  conservatism,  by  which 
its -own  energies  were  crushed.  The  institutions  produced  conse- 
quences which  were  grotesque  compared  with  what  had  been 
expected  from  them.^ 

111.  Optimism  of  prosperity.  "  I  apprehend  that  the  key  to 
the  joyful  character  of  the  antique  religions  known  to  us  [in 
western  Asia]  lies  in  the  fact  that  they  took  their  shape  in  com- 
munities that  were  progressive  and,  on  the  whole,  prosperous." 
Weak  groups  were  exterminated.  Those  which  survived  '*  had 
all  the  self-confidence  and  elasticity  that  are  engendered  by  suc- 
cess in  the  struggle  of  life."  "The  religious  gladness  of  the 
Semites  tended  to  assume  an  orgiastic  character  and  become  a 
sort  of  intoxication  of  the  senses,  in  which  anxiety  and  sorrow 
were  drowned  for  the  moment."  ^ 

112.  Antagonism  between  an  individual  and  the  mores.  The 
case  of  dissent  from  the  mores,  which  was  considered  above 
(sec.  100),  is  the  case  in  which  the  individual  voluntarily  sets 
himself  in  antagonism  to  the  mores  of  the  society.  There  are 
cases  in  which  the  individual  finds  himself  in  involuntary  antag- 
onism to  the  mores  of  the  society,  or  of  some  subgroup  to  which 
he  belongs.  If  a  man  passes  from  one  class  to  another,  his  acts 
show  the  contrast  between  the  mores  in  which  he  was  bred  and 
those  in  which  he  finds  himself.  The  satirists  have  made  fun  of 
the  parvenu  for  centuries.  His  mistakes  and  misfortunes  reveal 
the  nature  of  the  mores,  their  power  over  the  individual,  their 
pertinacity  against  later  influences,  the  confusion  in  character 
produced  by  changing  them,  and  the  grip  of  habit  which  appears 

^  Seeck,  I,  337. 

2  Burckhardt,  I,  139  ff.  ;  Beloch,  Griech.  Gesck.,  I,  283,  570  ;  II,  362. 

^  W.  Rob.  Smith,  Relig.  of  the  Setniies,  260. 


Io8  FOLKWAYS 

both  in  the  persistence  of  old  mores  and  the  weakness  of  new 
ones.  Every  emigrant  is  forced  to  change  his  mores.  He  loses 
the  sustaining  help  of  use  and  wont.  He  has  to  acquire  a  new 
outfit  of  it.  The  traveler  also  experiences  the  change  from  life 
in  one  set  of  mores  to  life  in  another.  The  experience  gives 
him  the  best  power  to  criticise  his  native  mores  from  a  stand- 
point outside  of  them.  In  the  North  American  colonies  white 
children  were  often  stolen  by  Indians  and  brought  up  by  them 
in  their  ways.  Whether  they  would  later,  if  opportunity  offered, 
return  to  white  society  and  white  mores,  or  would  prefer  to 
remain  with  the  Indians,  seems  to  have  depended  on  the  age  at 
which  they  were  captured.  Missionaries  have  often  taken  men 
of  low  civilization  out  of  the  society  in  which  they  were  born, 
have  educated  them,  and  taught  them  white  men's  mores.  If  a 
single  clear  and  indisputable  case  could  be  adduced  in  which 
such  a  person  was  restored  to  his  own  people  and  did  not  revert 
to  their  mode  of  life,  it  would  be  a  very  important  contribution 
to  ethnology.  We  are  forced  to  believe  that,  if  a  baby  born  in 
New  England  was  taken  to  China  and  given  to  a  Chinese  family 
to  rear  and  educate,  he  would  become  a  Chinaman  in  all  which 
belongs  to  the  mores,  that  is  to  say,  in  his  character,  conduct, 
and  code  of  life. 

113.  Antagonism  of  earlier  and  later  mores.  When,  in  the 
course  of  time,  changes  occur  in  the  mores,  the  men  of  a  later 
generation  find  themselves  in  antagonism '  to  the  mores  of  their 
ancestors.  In  the  Homeric  poems  cases  are  to  be  found  of  dis- 
approval by  a  later  generation  of  the  mores  of  a  former  one. 
The  same  is  true  of  the  tragedies  of  the  fifth  century  in  respect 
to  the  mythology  and  heroism  in  Homer.  The  punishment  of 
Melantheus,  the  unfaithful  goatherd,  was  savage  in  the  extreme, 
but  when  Eurykleia  exulted  over  the  dead  suitors,  Ulysses  told 
her  that  it  was  a  cruel  sin  to  rejoice  over  slain  enemies.^  In  the 
Iliad  boastful  shouts  over  the  dead  are  frequent.  In  the  Odys- 
sey such  shouts  are  forbidden.^  Homer  thinks  that  it  was 
unseemly  for  Achilles  to  drag  the  corpse  of  Hector  behind  his 
chariot.^    He  says  that  the  gods  disapproved,  which  is  the  mystic 

1  Od.,  XXII,  474  ff.  2  jiij^^  412.  3  jiiad,  XXII,  395. 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  MORES  109 

way  of  describing  a  change  in  the  mores. ^  He  also  disapproves 
of  the  sacrifice  of  Trojan  youths  on  the  pyre  of  Patrockis.^  It 
was  proposed  to  Pausanias  that  he  should  repay  on  the  corpse  of 
Mardonius  the  insults  which  Xerxes  had  practiced  on  the  corpse 
of  Leonidas  at  Thermopylae,  but  he  indignantly  refused.^  In 
the  Eimienides  of  yEschylus  the  story  of  Orestes  is  represented 
as  a  struggle  between  the  mores  of  the  father  family  and  those 
of  the  mother  family.  In  the  HerakleidcB  there  is  a  struggle 
between  old  and  new  mores  as  to  the  killing  of  captives.  Many 
such  contrasts  are  drawn  between  Greek  and  barbarian  mores,  the 
latter  being  old  and  abandoned  customs  which  have  become  , 
abominable  to  the  Greeks  (incest,  murder  of  strangers).  In  the 
fourth  century  the  Greeks  were  so  humbled  by  their  own  base 
treatment  of  each  other  that  this  contrast  ceased  to  be  drawn.* 
Similar  contrasts  between  earlier  and  later  mores  appear  in  the 
Bible.  Our  own  mores  set  us  in  antagonism  to  much  which  we 
find  in  the  Bible  (slavery,  polygamy,  extirpation  of  aborigines). 
The  mores  always  bring  down  in  tradition  a  code  which  is  old. 
Infanticide,  slavery,  murder  of  the  old,  human  sacrifices,  etc.,  are 
in  it.  Later  conditions  force  a  new  judgment,  which  is  in  revolt 
and  antagonism  to  what  always  has  been  done  and  what  every- 
body does.    Slavery  is  an  example  of  this  in  recent  history. 

114.  Antagonism  between  groups  in  respect  to  mores.  When 
different  groups  come  in  contact  with  each  other  their  mores  are 
brought  into  contrast  and  antagonism.  Some  Australian  girls 
consider  that  their  honor  requires  that  they  shall  be  knocked 
senseless  and  carried  off  by  the  men  who  thereby  become  their 
husbands.  If  they  are  the  victims  of  violence,  they  need  not  be 
ashamed.  Eskimo  girls  would  be  ashamed  to  go  away  with 
husbands  without  crying  and  lamenting,  glad  as  they  are  to  go. 
They  are  shocked  to  hear  that  European  women  publicly  con- 
sent in  church  to  be  wives,  and  then  go  with  their  husbands 
without  pretending  to  regret  it.  In  Homer  girls  are  proud  to 
be  bought  and  to  bring  to  their  fathers  a  bride  price  of  many 
cows.    In  \xidi\2.  gandharva  marriage  is  one  of  the  not-honorable 

1  Iliad,  XXIV,  51.  2  ji,id.^  XXIII,  164.  3  Herodotus,  IX,  78. 

*  Burckhaidt,  Griech.  Kiiltiirgesch.,  I,  327. 


no  FOLKWAYS 

forms.  It  is  love  marriage.  It  rests  on  passion  and  is  con- 
sidered sensual ;  moreover,  it  is  due  to  a  transitory  emotion.  If 
property  is  involved  in  marriage  the  institution  rests  on  a  per- 
manent interest  and  is  guaranteed.  Kaffirs  also  ridicule  Christian 
love  marriage.  They  say  that  it  puts  a  woman  on  a  level  with 
a  cat,  the  only  animal  which,  amongst  them,  has  no  value. ^ 
Where  polygamy  prevails  women  are  ashamed  to  be  wives  of 
men  who  can  afford  only  one  each ;  under  monogamy  they  think 
it  a  disgrace  to  be  wives  of  men  who  have  other  wives.  The 
Japanese  think  the  tie  to  one's  father  the  most  sacred.  A  man 
who  should  leave  father  and  mother  and  cleave  to  his  wife  would 
become  an  outcast.  Therefore  the  Japanese  think  the  Bible 
immoral  and  irreligious.^  Such  a  view  in  the  mores  of  the 
masses  will  long  outlast  the  "adoption  of  western  civilization." 
The  Egyptians  thought  the  Greeks  unclean.  Herodotus  says 
that  the  reason  was  because  they  ate  cow's  flesh.^  The  Greeks, 
as  wine  drinkers,  thought  themselves  superior  to  the  Egyptians, 
who  drank  beer.  A  Greek  people  was  considered  inferior  if  it 
had  no  city  life,  no  agora,  no  athletics,  no  share  in  the  games, 
no  group  character,  and  if  it  kept  on  a  robber  life.*  The  real 
reason  for  the  hatred  of  Jews  by  Christians  has  always  been  the 
strange  and  foreign  mores  of  the  former.  When  Jews  conform 
to  the  mores  of  the  people  amongst  whom  they  live  prejudice 
and  hatred  are  greatly  diminished,  and  in  time  will  probably  dis- 
appear. The  dislike  of  the  colored  people  in  the  old  slave  states 
of  the  United  States  and  the  hostility  to  whites  who  "  associate 
with  negroes  "  is  to  be  attributed  to  the  difference  in  the  mores 
of  whites  and  blacks.  Under  slavery  the  blacks  were  forced  to 
conform  to  white  ways,  as  indeed  they  are  now  if  they  are 
servants.  In  the  North,  also,  where  they  are  in  a  small  minority, 
they  conform  to  white  ways.  It  is  when  they  are  free  and  form 
a  large  community  that  they  live  by  their  own  mores.  The  civil 
war  in  the  United  States  was  due  to  a  great  divergence  in  the 

1  Globus,  LXXV,  271. 

2  Hubbard,  Smithson.  Rep.,  1895,  673. 
^  Herodotus,  II,  41. 

*  Burckhardt,  Griech.  Kulturgesch.,  I,  314. 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  MORES  i  1 1 

mores  of  the  North  and  the  South,  produced  by  the  presence  or 
absence  of  slavery.  The  passionate  dislike  and  contempt  of  the 
people  of  one  section  for  those  of  the  other  was  due  to  the  con- 
ception each  had  formed  of  the  other's  character  and  ways. 
Since  the  abolition  of  slavery  the  mores  of  the  two  sections  have 
become  similar  and  the  sectional  dislike  has  disappeared.  The 
contrast  between  the  mores  of  English  America  and  Spanish 
America  is  very  great.  It  would  long  outlast  any  political  com- 
bination of  parts  of  the  two,  if  such  should  be  brought  about. 

115.  Missions  and  mores.  The  contrasts  and  antagonisms  of 
the  mores  of  different  groups  are  the  stumbling-blocks  in  the 
way  of  all  missionary  enterprise,  and  they  explain  many  of  the 
phenomena  which  missions  present.  We  think  that  our  "ways  " 
are  the  best,  and  that  their  superiority  is  so  obvious  that  all 
heathen,  Mohammedans,  Buddhists,  etc.,  will,  as  soon  as  they 
learn  what  our  ways  are,  eagerly  embrace  them.  Nothing  could 
be  further  from  the  truth.  "It  is  difficult  to  an  untraveled  Eng- 
lishman, who  has  not  had  an  opportunity  of  throwing  himself 
into  the  spirit  of  the  East,  to  credit  the  disgust  and  detestation 
that  numerous  everyday  acts,  which  appear  perfectly  harmless 
to  his  countrymen,  excite  in  many  Orientals."  ^  If  our  women 
are  shocked  at  polygamy  and  the  harem,  Mohammedan  women 
are  equally  shocked  at  the  ball  and  dinner  dresses  of  our  ladies, 
at  our  dances,  and  at  the  manners  of  social  intercourse  between 
the  sexes.  Negroes  in  East  Africa  are  as  much  disgusted  to  see 
white  men  eat  fowl  or  eggs  as  we  are  at  any  of  their  messes. 
Missions  always  offer  something  from  above  downwards.  They 
contain  an  assumption  of  superiority  and  beneficence.  Half- 
civilized  people  never  admit  the  assumption.  They  meet  it  just 
as  we  would  meet  a  mission  of  Mohammedans  or  Buddhists  to 
us.  Savages  and  barbarians  dismiss  "white  man's  ways"  with 
indifference.  The  virtues  and  arts  of  civilization  are  almost  as 
disastrous  to  the  uncivilized  as  its  vices.  It  is  really  the  great 
tragedy  of  civilization  that  the  contact  of  lower  and  higher  is 
disastrous  to  the  former,  no  matter  what  may  be  the  point  of 
contact,  or  how  little  the  civilized  may  desire  to  do  harm. 

1  Gallon,  Inquiries  into  Htnnan  Facility,  216. 


1 1 2  FOLKWAYS 

116.  Missions  and  antagonistic  mores.  Missionaries  always 
have  to  try  to  act  on  the  mores.  The  ritual  and  creed  of  a  reli- 
gion, and  reading  and  writing,  would  not  fulfill  the  purpose. 
The  attempt  is  to  teach  the  social  ritual  of  civilized  people. 
Missionaries  almost  always  first  insist  on  the  use  of  clothing 
and  monogamy.  The  first  of  these  has,  in  a  great  number  of 
cases,  produced  disease  and  hastened  the  extinction  of  the  abo- 
rigines. The  second  very  often  causes  a  revolution  in  the  societal 
organization,  either  in  the  family  form,  the  productive  industry, 
or  the  political 'discipline.  The  Hawaiians  were  a  people  of  a 
very  cheerful  and  playful  disposition.  The  missionaries  trained 
the  children  in  the  schools  to  serious  manners  and  decorum. 
Such  was  the  method  in  fashion  in  our  own  schools  at  the  time. 
The  missionary  society  refused  the  petition  of  the  Hawaiians 
for  teachers  who  would  teach  them  the  mechanic  arts.^  This  is 
like  the  refusal  of  the  English  missionary  society  to  support 
Livingstone's  policy  in  South  Africa  because  it  was  not  religious. 
Until  very  recent  times  no  white  men  have  understood  the 
difference  between  the  mother  family  and  the  father  family. 
Missionaries  have  all  grown  up  in  the  latter.  Miss  Kingsley 
describes  the  antagonism  which  arises  in  the  mind  of  a  West 
African  negro,  brought  up  in  the  mother  family,  against  the 
teaching  of  the  missionary.  The  negro  husband  and  wife  have 
separate  property.  Neither  likes  the  white  man's  doctrine  of 
the  community  of  goods.  The  woman  knows  that  that  would 
mean  that  she  would  have  none.  The  man  would  not  take  her 
goods  if  he  must  take  her  children  too.  "  White  culture  expects 
a  man  to  think  more  of  his  wife  and  children  than  he  does 
of  his  mother  and  sisters,  which  to  the  uncultured  African  is 
absurd."^  Evidently  it  is  these  collisions  and  antagonisms  of  the 
mores  which  constitute  the  problems  of  missions.  We  can  quote 
but  a  single  bit  of  evidence  that  an  aboriginal  people  has  gained 
benefit  from  contact  with  the  civilized.  Of  the  Bantu  negroes 
it  is  said  that  such  contact  has  increased  their  vigor  and  vitality.^ 
The  "missionary-made  man"  is  not  a  good  type,  according  to 

1  Avier.  Jo.  Social.,  VIII,  408.  2  Kingsley,  West  African  Studies,  2,11- 

^  B.  &=  J/.  Soc.  d'AntlLj-op.,  1901,  362. 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  MORES  113 

the  military,  travelers,  and  ethnographers.^  Of  the  Basutos  it 
is  said  that  the  converted  ones  are  the  worst.  They  are  dis- 
honest and  dirty .^  In  Central  America  it  is  said  that  the  judg- 
ment is  often  expressed  that  "an  Indian  who  can  read- and  write 
is  a  good-for-nothing."  The  teachers  in  the  schools  teach  the 
Indian  children  to  despise  the  ways  of  their  race.  Then  they 
lose  the  virtues  of  trustworthiness  and  honesty,  for  which 
the  Indians  were  noteworthy.^  There  is  no  such  thing  as 
"benevolent  assimilation."  To  one  who  knows  the  facts  such 
a  phrase  sounds  like  flippant  ignorance  or  a  cruel  jest.  Even  if 
one  group  is  reduced  to  a  small  remnant  in  the  midst  of  a  great 
nation,  assimilation  of  the  residue  does  not  follow.  Black  and 
white,  in  the  United  States,  are  now  tending  to  more  strict 
segregation.  The  remnants  of  our  Indians  partly  retain  Indian 
mores,  partly  adopt  white  mores.  They  languish  in  moral  isola- 
tion and  homelessness.  They  have  no  adjustment  to  any  social 
environment.  Gypsies  have  never  adopted  the  mores  of  civilized 
life.  They  are  morally  and  physically  afloat  in  the  world.  There 
are  in  India  and  in  the  Russian  empire  great  numbers  of  rem- 
nants of  aboriginal  tribes,  and  there  are,  all  over  the  world, 
groups  of  pariahs,  or  races  maitditcs,  which  the  great  groups 
will  not  assimilate.  The  Jews,  although  more  numerous,  and 
economically  far  stronger,  are  in  the  same  attitude  to  the  peoples 
amongst  which  they  live. 

117.  Modification  of  the  mores  by  agitation.  To  this  point  all 
projects  of  missions  and  reform  must  come.  It  must  be  recog- 
nized that  what  is  proposed  is  an  arbitrary  action  on  the  mores. 
Therefore  nothing  sudden  or  big  is  possible.  The  enterprise  is 
possible  only  if  the  mores  are  ready  for  it.  The  conditions  of 
success  lie  in  the  mores.  The  methods  must  conform  to  the 
mores.  That  is  why  the  agitator,  reformer,  prophet,  reorganizer 
of  society,  .who  has  found  out  "the  truth  "  and  wants  to  "get  a 
law  passed  "  to  realize  it  right  away,  is  only  a  mischief-maker. 
He  has  won  considerable  prestige  in  the  last  hundred  years,  but 

1  Portman,  Station  Studies,  78. 

2  Ainer.  Anthrop.,  VI,  353,  citing yi?.  Afr.  Soc,  1903,  208. 

3  Globus,  LXXXVII,  129. 


1 14  FOLKWAYS 

if  the  cases  are  examined  it  will  be  found  that  when  he  had 
success  it  was  because  he  took  up  something  for  which  the 
mores  were  ready.  Wilberforce  did  not  overthrow  slavery. 
Natural  forces  reduced  to  the  service  of  man  and  the  discovery 
of  new  land  set  men  "free"  from  great  labor,  and  new  ways 
suggested  new  sentiments  of  humanity  and  ethics.  The  mores 
changed  and  all  the  wider  deductions  in  them  were  repugnant 
to  slavery.  The  free-trade  agitators  did  not  abolish  the  corn 
laws.  The  interests  of  the  English  population  had  undergone 
a  new  distribution.  It  was  the  redistribution  of  population  and 
political  power  in  the  United  States  which  made  the  civil  war. 
Witchcraft  and  trial  by  torture  were  not  abolished  by  argument. 
Critical  knowledge  and  thirst  for  reality  made  them  absurd.  In 
Queen  Anne's  reign  prisons  in  England  were  frightful  sinks  of 
vice,  misery,  disease,  and  cruel  extortion.  "  So  the  prisons  con- 
tinued until  the  time  of  Howard,"^  seventy-five  years  later.  The 
mores  had  then  become  humanitarian.  Howard  was  able  to  get 
a  response. 

118.  Capricious  interest  of  the  masses.  Whether  the  masses 
will  think  certain  things  wrong,  cruel,  base,  unjust,  and  disgust- 
ing ;  whether  they  will  think  certain  pleas  and  demands  rea- 
sonable ;  whether  they  will  regard  certain  projects  as  sensible, 
ridiculous,  or  fantastic,  and  will  give  attention  to  certain  topics, 
depends  on  the  convictions  and  feelings  which  at  the  time  are 
dominant  in  the  mores.  No  one  can  predict  with  confidence 
what  the  response  will  be  to  any  stimulus  which  may  be  applied. 
The  fact  that  certain  American  products  of  protected  industries 
are  sold  abroad  cheaper  than  at  home,  so  that  the  protective 
tariff  taxes  us  to  make  presents  to  foreigners,  has  been  published 
scores  of  times.  It  might  be  expected  to  produce  a  storm  of 
popular  indignation.  It  does  not  do  so.  The  abuses  of  the  pen- 
sion system  have  been  exposed  again  and  again.  There  is  no 
popular  response  in  condemnation  of  the  abuse,  or  demand  for 
reform.  The  error  and  folly  of  protection  have  been  very  fully 
exposed,  but  the  free-trade  agitation  has  not  won  ground.  In 
truth,  however,  that  agitation  has  never  been  carried  on  sincerely 

1  Ashton,  Social  Life  in  the  Time  of  Qzieen  Anne,  Chap.  XLI. 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  MORES 


115 


and  persistently.  Many  of  those  who  have  taken  part  in  it  have 
not  aimed  to  put  an  end  to  the  steal,  but  to  be  taken  into  it. 
The  notion  of  "  making  something  out  of  the  government  "  in 
one  way  or  another  has  got  into  the  mores.  It  is  the  vice  of 
modern  representative  government.  Civil-service  reform  has 
won  but  little  popular  support  because  the  masses  have  learned 
that  the  successful  party  has  a  right  to  distribute  the  offices 
amongst  its  members.  That  has  become  accepted  doctrine  in 
the  mores.  A  local  boss  said :  "  There  is  but  one  issue  in 
the  Fifth  Maryland  district.  It  is  this,  Can  any  man  get  more 
from  Uncle  Sam  for  the  hard-working  Republicans  of  the  dis- 
trict than  I  can  ?  "  ^  This  sentiment  wins  wide  sympathy.  Pro- 
hibitory legislation  accords  with  the  mores  of  the  rural,  but  not 
of  the  urban,  population.  It  therefore  produces  in  cities  deceit 
and  blackmail,  and  we  meet  with  the  strange  phenomenon,  in 
a  constitutional  state,  that  publicists  argue  that  administrative 
officers  in  cities  ought  to  ignore  the  law.  Antipolygamy  is  in 
the  mores  ;  antidivorce  is  not.  Any  injustice  or  arbitrary  action 
against  polygamy  is  possible.  Reform  of  divorce  legislation  is 
slow  and  difficult.  We  are  told  that  "respect  for  law  "  is  in  our 
mores,  but  the  frequency  of  lynching  disproves  it.  Let  those 
who  believe  in  the  psychology  of  crowds  write  for  us  a  logic  of 
crowds  and  tell  how  the  corporate  mind  operates. 

119.  How  the  group  becomes  homogeneous.  The  only  way  in 
which,  in  the  course  of  time,  remnants  of  foreign  groups  are 
apparently  absorbed  and  the  group  becomes  homogeneous,  is 
that  the  foreign  element  dies  out.  In  like  manner  people  who 
live  by  aberrant  mores  die.  The  aberrant  forms  then  cease  to 
be,  and  the  mores  become  uniform.  In  the  meantime,  there  is 
a  selection  which  determines  which  mores  shall  survive  and 
which  perish.    This  is  accomplished  by  syncretism. 

120.  Syncretism.  Although  folkways  for  the  same  purpose 
have  a  great  similarity  in  all  groups,  yet  they  present  varia- 
tions and  characteristic  differences  from  group  to  group.  These 
variations  are  sometimes  due  to  differences  in  the  life  condi- 
tions, but  generally  causes  for  them  are  unascertainable,  or  the 

1  N.  Y.  Times,  September  19,  1904. 


Il6  FOLKWAYS 

variations  appear  capricious.  Therefore  each  in-group  forms 
its  own  ways,  and  looks  with  contempt  and  abhorrence  upon 
the  ways  of  any  out-group  (sec.  13).  Dialectical  differences  in 
language  or  pronunciation  are  a  sufficient  instance.  They  cannot 
be  accounted  for,  but  they  call  out  contempt  and  ridicule,  and 
are  taken  to  be  signs  of  barbarism  and  inferiority.  When  groups 
are  compounded  by  intermarriage,  intercourse,  conquest,  immi- 
gration, or  slavery,  syncretism  of  the  folkways  takes  place.  One 
of  the  component  groups  takes  precedence  and  sets  the  standards. 
The  inferior  groups  or  classes  imitate  the  ways  of  the  dominant 
group,  and  eradicate  from  their  children  the  traditions  of  their 
own  ancestors.  Amongst  Englishmen  the  correct  or  incorrect 
placing  of  the  Ji  is  a  mark  of  caste.  It  is  a  matter  of  education 
to  put  an  end  to  the  incorrect  use.  Contiguity,  neighborhood, 
or  even  literature  may  suffice  to  bring  about  syncretism  of  the 
mores.  One  group  learns  that  the  people  of  another  group 
regard  some  one  of  its  ways  or  notions  as  base.  This  knowledge 
may  produce  shame  and  an  effort  to  breed  out  the  custom.  Thus 
whenever  two  groups  are  brought  into  contact  and  contagion, 
there  is,  by  syncretism,  a  selection  of  the  folkways  which  is 
destructive  to  some  of  them.  This  is  the  process  by  which  folk- 
ways are  rendered  obsolete.  The  notion  of  a  gradual  refinement 
of  the  mores  in  time,  which  is  assumed  to  go  on  of  itself,  or  by 
virtue  of  some  inherent  tendency  in  that  direction,  is  entirely 
unfounded.  Christian  mores  in  the  western  empire  were  formed 
by  syncretism  of  Jewish  and  pagan  mores.  Christian  mores 
therefore  contain  war,  slavery,  concubinage,  demonism,  and  base 
amusements,  together  with  some  abstract  ascetic  doctrines  with 
which  these  things  are  inconsistent.  The  strain  of  the  mores 
towards  consistency  produced  elimination  of  some  of  these 
customs.  The  church  embraced  in  its  fold  Latin,  Teutonic,  Greek, 
and  Slavonic  nations,  and  it  produced  a  grand  syncretism  of 
their  mores,  while  it  favored  those  which  were  Latin.  The  Teu- 
tonic mores  suffered  elimination.  Those  which  were  Greek  and 
Slavonic  were  saved  by  the  division  of  the  church.  Those  which 
now  pass  for  Christian  in  western  Europe  are  the  result  of  the 
syncretism  of  two  thousand  years.    When  now  western  Christians 


CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  MORES  117 

come  in  contact  with  heathen,  Mohammedans,  Buddhists,  or  alien 
forms  of  Christianity,  they  endeavor  to  put  an  end  to  polygamy, 
slavery,  infanticide,  idolatry,  etc.,  which  have  been  extruded  from 
western  Christian  mores.  In  Egypt  at  the  present  time  the 
political  power  and  economic  prosperity  of  the  English  causes 
the  Mohammedans  to  envy,  emulate,  and  imitate  them  in  all 
those  peculiarities  which  are  supposed  to  be  causes  of  their 
success.  Hence  we  hear  of  movements  to  educate  children, 
change  the  status  of  women,  and  otherwise  modify  traditional 
mores.  It  is  another  case  of  the  operation  by  which  inferior 
mores  are  rendered  obsolete. 

121.  The  art  of  societal  administration.  It  is  not  to  be  in- 
ferred that  reform  and  correction  are  hopeless.  Inasmuch  as 
the  mores  are  a  phenomenon  of  the  society  and  not  of  the  state, 
and  inasmuch  as  the  machinery  of  administration  belongs  to  the 
state  and  not  to  the  society,  the  administration  of  the  mores 
presents  peculiar  difficulties.  Strictly  speaking,  there  is  no 
administration  of  the  mores,  or  it  is  left  to  voluntary  organs 
acting  by  moral  suasion.  The  state  administration  fails  if  it 
tries  to  deal  with  the  mores,  because  it  goes  out  of  its  province. 
The  voluntary  organs  which  try  to  administer  the  mores  (litera- 
ture, moral  teachers,  schools,  churches,  etc.)  have  no  set  method 
and  no  persistent  effort.  They  very  often  make  great  errors  in 
their  methods.  In  regard  to  divorce,  for  instance,  it  is  idle  to 
set  up  stringent  rules  in  an  ecclesiastical  body,  and  to  try  to 
establish  them  by  extravagant  and  false  interpretation  of  the 
Bible,  hoping  in  that  way  to  lead  opinion  ;  but  the  observation 
and  consideration  of  cases  which  occur  affect  opinion  and  form 
convictions.  The  statesman  and  social  philosopher  can  act  with 
such  influences,  sum  up  the  forces  which  make  them,  and  greatly 
help  the  result.  The  inference  is  that  intelligent  art  can  be 
introduced  here  as  elsewhere,  but  that  it  is  necessary  to  under- 
stand the  mores  and  to  be  able  to  discern  the  elements  in  them, 
just  as  it  is  always  necessary  for  good  art  to  understand  the 
facts  of  nature  with  which  it  will  have  to  deal.  It  belongs  to 
the  work  of  publicists  and  statesmen  to  gauge  the  forces  in  the 
mores  and  to  perceive  their  tendencies.    The  great  men  of  a 


Il8  FOLKWAYS 

great  epoch  are  those  who  have  understood  new  currents  in  the 
mores.  The  great  reformers  of  the  sixteenth  century,  the  great 
leaders  of  modern  revokitions,  were,  as  we  can  easily  see,  pro- 
duced out  of  a  protest  or  revulsion  which  had  long  been  forming 
under  and  within  the  existing  system.  The  leaders  are  such 
because  they  voice  the  convictions  which  have  become  estab- 
lished and  because  they  propose  measures  which  will  realize 
interests  of  which  the  society  has  become  conscious.  A  hero 
is  not  needed.  Often  a  mediocre,  commonplace  man  suffices  to 
give  the  critical  turn  to  thought  or  interest.  "  A  Gian  Angelo 
Medici,  agreeable,  diplomatic,  benevolent,  and  pleasure-loving, 
sufficed  to  initiate  a  series  of  events  which  kept  the  occidental 
races  in  perturbation  through  two  centuries."  ^  Great  crises 
come  when  great  new  forces  are  at  work  changing  fundamental 
conditions,  while  powerful  institutions  and  traditions  still  hold 
old  systems  intact.  The  fifteenth  century  was  such  a  period. 
It  is  in  such  crises  that  great  men  find  their  opportunity.  The 
man  and  the  age  react  on  each  other.  The  measures  of  policy 
which  are  adopted  and  upon  which  energy  is  expended  become 
components  in  the  evolution.  The  evolution,  although  it  has  the 
character  of  a  nature  process,  always  must  issue  by  and  through 
men  whose  passions,  follies,  and  wills  are  a  part  of  it  but  are 
also  always  dominated  by  it.  The  interaction  defies  our  analysis, 
but  it  does  not  discourage  our  reason  and  conscience  from  their 
play  on  the  situation,  if  we  are  content  to  know  that  their  func- 
tion must  be  humble.  Stoll  boldly  declares  that  if  one  of  us 
had  been  a  judge  in  the  times  of  the  witch  trials  he  would  have 
reasoned  as  the  witch  judges  did,  and  would  have  tortured  like 
them. 2  If  that  is  so,  then  it  behooves  us  by  education  and  will, 
with  intelligent  purpose,  to  criticise  and  judge  even  the  most 
established  ways  of  our  time,  and  to  put  courage  and  labor  into 
resistance  to  the  current  mores  where  we  judge  them  wrong. 
It  would  be  a  mighty  achievement  of  the  science  of  society  if 
it  could  lead  up  to  an  art  of  societal  administration  which  should 
be  intelligent,  effective,  and  scientific. 

^  Symonds,  Catholic  Reaction^  I,  144. 

^  Stoll,  Suggestion  und  Hypnotisnius^  248. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  EXISTENCE 

Tools,  Arts,  Language,  Money 

Processes  and  artifacts  of  the  food  supply.  —  Fishing.  —  Methods  of  fish- 
ing. —  The  mystic  element.  —  Religion  and  industry.  —  Artifacts  and  freaks 
of  nature.  —  Forms  of  stone  axes.  —  How  stone  implements  are  made.  — 
How  arrowheads  are  made.  —  How  stone  axes  are  used.  —  Acculturation 
or  parallelism.  —  Fire-making  tools.  —  Psychophysical  traits  of  primitive 
man.  —  Language.  —  Language  and  magic.  —  Language  is  a  case  of  folk- 
ways.—  Primitive  dialects.  —  Taking  up  and  dropping  language. —  Pigeon 
dialects.  —  How  languages  grow.  —  Money. —  Intergroup  and  intragroup 
money.  —  Predominant  wares.  —  Intragroup  money  from  property  ;  inter- 
group money  from  trade.  —  Shell  and  bead  money. —  Token  money. — 
Selection  of  a  predominant  ware.  —  Stone  money  in  Melanesia.  —  Pluto- 
cratic effects  of  money.  —  Money  on  the  northwest  coast  of  North  America. 
—  Wampumpeag  and  roanoke. —  Ring  money.  Use  of  metal.  —  The  evolu- 
tion of  money.  —  The  ethical  functions  of  money. 

122.  Processes  and  artifacts  of  the  food  supply.  The  pro- 
cesses and  the  artifacts  which  are  connected  with  food  supply 
offer  us  the  purest  and  simplest  illustrations  of  the  development 
of  folkways.  They  are  not  free  from  the  admixture  of  superstition 
and  vanity,  but  the  element  of  expediency  predominates  in  them. 
It  is  reported  of  the  natives  of  New  South  Wales  that  a  man 
will  lie  on  a  rock  with  a  piece  of  fish  in  his  hand,  feigning  sleep. 
A  hawk  or  crow  darts  at  the  fish,  but  is  caught  by  the  man.  It 
is  also  reported  of  Australians  that  a  man  swims  under  water, 
breathing  through  a  reed,  approaches  ducks,  pulls  one  under 
water  by  the  legs,  wrings  its  neck,  and  so  secures  a  number  of 
them.^  If  these  stories  can  be  accepted  with  confidence,  they 
may  well  furnish  us  a  starting  point  for  a  study  of  the  art  of 
catching  animals.  The  man  really  has  no  tool,  but  must  rely 
entirely  on  his  own  quickness  and  dexterity.    Birdlime  is  a  device 

1  Smyth,  Aborig.  of  Victoria,  I,  194,  197. 
119 


1 20  FOLKWAYS 

for  which  many  plants  furnish  material,^  and  which  is  available 
even  against  large  game,  which  is  fretted  and  worn  out  by  it 
until  it  becomes  the  prey  of  man.  A  Botocudo  hunter  grates  the 
eggs  of  an  alligator  together,  when  he  finds  them  on  the  bank, 
and  so  entices  the  mother.^  The  Yuroks  of  California  sprinkled 
berries  on  the  shallow  bottom  of  a  river  and  stretched  a  net  a 
few  inches  below  the  surface  of  the  water.  Ducks  diving  for  the 
berries  were  caught  by  the  neck  in  the  meshes  and  drowned. 
As  they  hung  quiet  they  did  not  frighten  away  others.^  The 
Tarahumari  catch  birds  by  stringing  corn  kernels  on  a  fiber  which 
is  buried  underground.  The  bird  swallows  the  corn  and  cannot 
eject  it.^  Various  animals  were  trained  to  help  man  in  the  food 
quest  and  were  thus  drawn  into  the  industrial  organization.  The 
animals  furnished  materials  (skin,  bone,  teeth,  hair,  horns)  and 
also  tools,  so  that  the  food  quest  broadened  beyond  the  immediate 
supply  of  food  into  mechanical  industrial  forms.  The  Shingu 
Indians,  although  they  lived  on  the  product  of  the  ground,  were 
obliged  to  continue  the  chase  because  of  the  materials  and  imple- 
ments which  they  got  from  the  animals.  They  used  the  jaw  of 
a  fish,  with  the  teeth  in  it,  as  a  knife  ;  the  arm  and  leg  bones  of 
apes  as  arrow  points  ;  the  tail  spike  of  a  skate  for  the  same  ;  the 
two  front  claws  of  the  armadillo  to  dig  the  ground  (a  process 
which  the  animal  taught  them  by  the  same  use  of  his  claws)  ; 
the  shell  of  a  river  mussel  as  a  scraper  to  finish  wooden  tools. 
"  These  people  were  hunters  without  dogs,  fishers  without  hooks, 
and  tillers  without  plow  or  spade.  They  show  how  much  develop- 
ment life  was  capable  of  in  the  time  before  metals."  ^  The 
palometa  is  a  fish  which  weighs  two  or  three  pounds.  It  has 
fourteen  teeth  in  each  jaw  so  sharp  that  the  Abipones  shear  sheep 
with  the  jaw.^  Such  cases  might  be  pursued  into  great  detail. 
They  show  acute  observation,  great  ingenuity,  clever  adaptation, 
and  teachableness.    The  lasso,  bola,  boomerang,  and  throw  knife, 

^  Mason,  Origin  of  Inventioii,  252. 

2  Tylor,  Anthrop.,  208. 

^  Powers,  Califortiia  Indians,  50. 

*  Lumholtz,  Scribner's,  October,  1894,  448. 

6  Von  den  Steinen,  Berl.  Miis.,  1888,  205. 

^  Southey,  Brazil,  I,  131. 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  EXISTENCE  12  I 

as  well  as  the  throw  stick,  are  products  of  persistent  and  open- 
minded  experience.  The  selection  and  adaptation  of  things  in 
nature  to  a  special  operation  in  the  arts  often  show  ingenuity  as 
great  as  that  manifested  in  any  of  our  devices.^  This  ingenuity 
is  of  the  same  kind  as  that  shown  by  many  animals.  Intelligent 
experiment,  however,  is  not  wanting.  It  is  reported  of  Eskimo 
that  they  invent  imaginary  hard  cases,  such  as  might  occur  to  them, 
and,  by  way  of  sport,  discuss  the  proper  way  to  deal  with  the 
case.^  Operations  similar  to  this  in  play  show  a  mode  in  which 
ingenuity  must  have  been  developed  and  inventions  produced. 
In  the  higher  grades  of  the  hunting  stage,  such  as  are  presented 
by  the  North  Americarj  Indians,  buffalo  hunting,  for  instance, 
calls  for  the  highest  organization  and  skill,  and  establishes 
inflexible  discipline.^ 

123.  Fishing.  Fishing  furnishes  a  parallel  case.  A  Thlinkit 
fisherman  puts  on  a  cap  which  resembles  the  head  of  a  seal,  and 
hiding  his  body  between  the  rocks  makes  a  noise  like  a  seal. 
This  entices  seals  towards  him  and  gives  him  opportunity  to  kill 
them.^  The  Australians  had  a  fish  spear  and  a  net  made  of 
fibers,  which  were  chewed  by  the  women  to  make  them  soft. 
They  had  no  hooks  until  they  got  them  from  the  whites.^  Weirs 
for  fishing  were  built  of  stone.  One  is  described  which  was  a 
labyrinth  of  stone  circles,  of  which  some  were  connected  with 
each  other.  The  walls  are  three  or  four  feet  high.  The  fish  get 
confused  and  are  caught  by  hand.^  Remains  of  weirs,  consisting 
of  wattled  work  of  reeds  or  saplings,  are  found  in  the  rivers  of 
northern  Europe.  The  device  of  putting  into  the  water  some 
poisonous  or  narcotic  substance  in  order  to  stupefy  the  fish  is 
met  with  all  over  the  globe.  It  was  employed  by  the  aborigines 
on  Lanzarote  (Canary  Islands).  There  the  fish  were  freshened  in 
unpoisoned  waters.'^  It  is  quite  impossible  that  this  device  should 
have  spread  only  by  contact.  It  must  have  been  independently 
invented.    It  secured   a  large   amount   of   fish  with   very  little 

1  E.g.  a  rasp  made  from  the  skin  of  the  palate  of  a  kind  of  ray,  by  Tahitians, 
Vienna  Museum. 

2  Mason,  Origin  of  hivention,  23.  ^  Ratzel,   Volkerktinde,  II,  52. 

^  Grinnell,  Folk  Tales,  295.  ®  Smyth,  Aborig.  of  Victoria,  I,  202. 

*  Dall,  Bur.  Eth.,  Ill,  122.  "^  N.  S.  Amer.  AnthroJ).,  II,  466. 


122  FOLKWAYS 

trouble.  The  Ainos  dam  the  stream,  leaving  only  a  few  openings, 
opposite  each  of  which,  below,  they  build  a  platform.  The  fish 
jump  at  the  opening,  but  some  miss  it  and  fall  on  the  platform 
where  they  are  caught.^  The  Polynesians  depend  largely  on  fish 
for  their  food  supply.  They  had  nets  a  thousand  ells  long,  which 
could  be  handled  only  by  a  hundred  men.  They  made  hooks  of 
shell,  bone,  and  hard  wood.^  The  first  fishhooks  of  prehistoric 
men  in  Europe  and  North  America  were  made  of  pieces  of  bone 
pointed  at  both  ends,  the  cord  being  attached  in  the  middle. ^ 
The  Shingu  Indians  fished  with  bow  and  arrow,  nets,  scoop 
baskets,  and  weirs.  Bait  was  used  to  make  the  fish  rise.  Then 
they  were  shot  with  an  arrow.  The  people  had  no  hooks,  but 
eagerly  adopted  them  when  they  became  acquainted  with  them.* 
They  and  other  Brazilians  set  a  long  cylindrical  basket  in  a 
stream  in  such  a  way  that  when  the  fish  enters  it  and  seizes  the 
bait,  it  tilts  up  into  a  perpendicular  position.  The  fish  cannot 
then  get  out.^ 

124.  Methods  of  fishing.  Nilsson  remarks  on  the  astonishing 
resemblance  between  all  the  fishing  apparatus  of  Scandinavians, 
Eskimo,  and  North  Americans.^  The  problem  is  solved  in  the 
same  way,  but  the  materials  within  reach  impose  limiting  con- 
ditions. The  rod  and  hook  yield  to  the  net  when  the  fish  are 
plentiful.  Then,  however,  the  spear  also  is  used.  It  is  sometimes 
made  so  that  the  head  will  come  off  when  the  fish  is  struck. 
By  its  buoyancy  the  spearhead,  sticking  in  the  body  of  the  fish, 
compels  it  to  rise,  when  it  is  caught.''  A  peculiar  device  is  re- 
ported from  Dobu,  New  Guinea.  A  string  long  enough  to  reach 
to  the  ground  is  fastened  to  a  kite.  At  the  end  of  the  string  is 
a  tassel  of  spider's  web.  The  kite  is  held  at  such  a  height  that 
the  tassel  just  skims  the  water.  The  fish  catching  at  it  entan- 
gles its  teeth  in  the  spider's-web  tassel  and  is  caught.^  The 
Chinese  have  trained  cormorants  to  do  their  fishing  for  them. 

1  U.  S.  Nat.  Mus.,  1890,  471.  "  Ratzel,  Volkerkimde,  II,  163. 

3  Smithson,  Contrib.  to  Knowledge,  XXV ;  Rau,  Prehist.  Fishing. 

4  Von  den  Steinen,  Berl.  Mus.,  18S8,  209,  231,  235. 

s  Ehrenreich,   Volkerkunde  Brasiliens ;  Berl.  M?is.,  1891,  57. 

^  Prim.  Inhab.  of  Scandinavia,  35. 

7  JAI,  XXIII,  160.  8  jtid.,  XXVIII,  343. 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  EXISTENCE  123 

125.  The  mystic  element.  Although  the  food  quest  is  the 
most  utihtarian  and  matter-of-fact  branch  of  the  struggle  for 
existence,  the  mystic  element  does  not  fail  to  present  itself.  No 
doubt  it  would  be  found  interwoven  with  many  of  the  cases 
mentioned  above,  if  the  question  was  raised  and  the  investiga- 
tion made.  In  the  Caroline  archipelago  fishing  is  combined  with 
various  rites  and  religious  notions.  The  chief  medicine  man 
owes  the  authority  of  his  position,  not  to  his  knowledge  of  the 
art  of  fishing,  but  to  his  knowledge  of  the  formulae  of  incantation 
and  exorcism  employed  in  fishing.  There  must  be  abstinence 
from  the  sex  relation  before  a  fishing  expedition.  The  men  start 
in  silence.  Especially,  the  hoped-for  success  must  not  be  men- 
tioned. The  boat  must  have  a  formula  of  luck  pronounced  over 
it.  Sacrifices  of  taro  are  offered  to  win  the  favor  of  the  god,  lest 
the  lines  be  broken  by  sharks  or  become  entangled  in  rocks. 
If  the  expedition  fails  to  get  a  good  catch,  the  fault  is  laid  to 
the  men.  Some  one  of  them  is  thought  to  have  done  something 
amiss. ^ 

126.  Religion  and  industry.  Here  we  meet  with  a  familiar 
cycle  of  notions  and  usages.  We  must  assume  them,  in  all  cases, 
whether  they  are  reported  or  not,  for  the  element  of  supernatural 
intervention,  or  magic,  seems  never  to  be  wanting.  At  higher 
stages  it  gives  way  to  religious  ritual  or  to  priestly  blessing.  The 
Japanese  sword  maker  formerly  wore  a  priestly  garb  when  making 
a  sword,  which  was  a  sacred  craft.  He  also  practiced  a  purifica- 
tory ritual.  The  sacred  rope  of  rice  straw,  the  oldest  symbol  of 
Shinto,  was  suspended  before  the  smithy.  The  workman's  food 
was  all  cooked  with  holy  fire,  and  none  of  his  family  might  enter 
the  workshop  or  speak  to  him  while  he  was  at  work.^  There  were 
also  ascetic  practices  in  the  Shinto  religion,  which  an  elected  rep- 
resentative of  the  community  undertook  each  year  for  the  pros- 
perity of  the  whole. ^  There  is  never  a  case  of  authority  in  human 
society  which  does  not  go  back,  for  its  origin  and  explanation,  to 
the  influence  of  the  other  world  (ghosts,  etc.)  over  this  world. 

127.  Artifacts  and  freaks  of  nature.  In  the  Oxford  Uni- 
versity museum  may  be  seen  a  case  full  of  natural  stones,  flints, 

1  Kubary,  Karolinenarchipel.^\2T,-iTp.       -  Hearn, y^r/rt;?,  139.       3  /^/,/.^  16^. 


124 


FOLKWAYS 


etc.,  so  like  the  artifacts  of  the  Chellean  type  that  it  would  require 
a  skilled  observer  to  determine  whether  they  are  artificial  or  not. 
The  collection  includes  apparent  celts,  rings,  perforated  stones, 
borers,  scrapers,  and  flint  flakes,  so  that  the  objects  are  by  no 
means  such  as  would  lie  at  the  beginning  of  the  series  of  arti- 
facts, in  regard  to  which  the  doubt  whether  they  were  artificial 
would  arise  from  their  rudeness  and  consequent  resemblance  to 
stones  broken  by  natural  conjunctures.  In  the  museum  at  Dres- 
den may  be  seen  a  collection  of  stones,  natural  products,  which 
might  serve  as  models  for  artificial  axes,  celts,  etc.  One  object 
shows  the  possibility  of  freaks  of  nature  of  this  class.  It  is  a 
water-worn  stone  which  might  be  taken  for  a  skull.  In  the 
Copenhagen  museum  is  a  great  collection  of  stone  tools  arranged 
in  sequence  of  perfection,  beginning  with  the  coarsest  and  rudest 
and  advancing  to  the  highest  products  of  art  of  this  kind.  That 
collection  is  arranged  solely  with  reference  to  the  development 
of  the  flint  and  stone  implements  as  tools  for  a  certain  use.  The 
sequence  is  very  convincing  as  to  the  interpretation  put  on  the 
objects,  and  also  as  to  the  strain  towards  improvement.  Time 
and  place  are  disregarded  in  the  arrangement.  The  earliest  speci- 
mens in  the  series  are  very  rude,  and  only  expert  opinion  could 
justify  their  place  amongst  artifacts.  It  reminds  us  of  what  we 
are  told  about  specimens  of  Australian  "  tomahawks."  It  is  said 
of  such  a  weapon  from  West  Australia  that  if  it  was  "found 
anywhere  divested  of  the  gum  and  handle,  it  is  doubtful  whether 
it  could  be  recognized  by  any  one  as  a  work  of  art.  It  is  ruder 
in  its  fashioning,  owing  principally  to  the  material  of  which  it  is 
composed,  than  even  the  rude,  unrubbed,  chipped  cutting-stones 
of  the  Tasmanians."  ^  With  regard  to  these  stone  implements  of 
the  Tasmanians  Tylor  said  that  some  of  them  are  "ruder  in 
make  than  those  of  the  mammoth  period,  inasmuch  as  their 
edges  are  formed  by  chipping  only  one  surface  of  the  stone, 
instead  of  both,  as  in  the  European  examples."  The  Tasmanians, 
when  they  needed  a  cutting  implement,  caught  up  a  suitable  flat 
stone,  knocked  off  chips  from  one  side,  partly  or  all  around  the 
edge,  and  used  it  without  more  ado.    This  they  did  under  the 

^  Smyth,  Aborig.  of  Victoria,  I,  340. 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  EXISTENCE  125 

eyes  of  modern  Europeans.  Tylor  showed,  "  from  among  flint 
instruments  and  flakes  from  the  cave  of  le  Moustier  in  Dordogne, 
specimens  corresponding  in  make  with  such  curious  exactness  to 
those  of  the  Tasmanians  that,  were  they  not  chipped  from  different 
stones,  it  would  hardly  be  possible  to  distinguish  those  of  recent 
savages  from  those  of  European  cavemen.  It  is  not  strange  that 
experienced  archaeologists  should  have  been  at  first  inclined  to 
consider  a  large  portion  of  the  Tasmanian  stone  implements 
exhibited  as  wasters  and  flakes,  or  chips,  struck  off  in  shaping 
implements."  These  stones  had  no  handle.  They  were  grasped 
in  the  hand.^  In  the  Oxford  museum  may  be  seen  side  by  side 
flint  shapes  from  St.  Acheul,  Tasmania,  India,  and  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope.  All  the  paleolithic  implements  which  we  possess, 
even  the  oldest  and  rudest,  belong  far  on  in  a  series  of  which 
the  antecedent  members  are  wanting,  for  the  art,  if  recognized, 
is  seen  to  be  advanced  and  artistic.^  The  Seri  of  southern  Cali- 
fornia use  a  natural  cobblestone,  which  is  shaped  only  by  the 
wear  of  use,  and  is  discarded  when  sharp  edges  are  produced  by 
use  or  fracture.  They  use  their  teeth  and  claws  like  beasts. 
They  have  not  a  knife-sense  and  need  training  before  they  can 
use  a  knife.  The  stone  selected  is  of  an  ovoid  form  somewhat 
flattened.  By  use  it  is  battered  on  the  ends  and  ground  on  the 
sides  so  that  it  becomes  personal  property  and  acquires  fetish- 
istic  import.  It  is  buried  with  the  corpse  of  the  woman  who 
owned  and  used  it.^  Holmes,  after  experimenting  with  the 
manufacture  of  stone  implements,  declared  that  "  every  imple- 
ment resembling  the  final  forms  and  every  blade-shaped  pro- 
jectile point  made  from  a  bowlder,  or  similar  bit  of  rock,  not 
already  approximate  in  shape,  must  pass  through  the  same  or 
very  nearly  the  same,  stages  of  development,  leaving  the  same 
wasters,  whether  shaped  to-day,  yesterday,  or  a  million  years 
ago  ;  whether  in  the  hands  of  the  civilized,  the  barbarous,  or 
the  savage   man."^    This   conclusion  is  very  important,  for    it 

1  Tylor,   JAI,  XXII,   137;   JAI,  XXIV,  336;  Early  Hist,  of  Mankind,   195; 
Ling  Roth,  Tas7Haiiia,  158. 

2  JAI,  XXIII,  276. 

3  Bur.  Et/i.,  XVII  (Part  I),  153,*  245.*  4  juj^^  XV,  61. 


126  FOLKWAYS 

recognizes  a  certain  constant  determination  of  the  art  of  stone- 
implement  making  by  the  quahties  of  the  material  and  the  mus- 
cular activities  of  man.  It  has  been  disputed  whether  the  form 
called  "turtle-backs"  were  one  form  in  the  series  of  artifacts,  or 
a  misform  produced  by  errors  in  manufacture.  "  The  American 
archaeologists,  who  have  labored  long  to  repeat  the  processes  of 
the  aborigines  in  stone  work,  find  themselves  unavoidably  making 
'turtle-backs,'  when  they  are  really  trying  to  make  the  leaf- 
shaped  blade."  ^  The  handicraftsmen  of  the  Smithsonian  Insti- 
tute have  not  been  able  to  make  a  leaf-shaped  blade  such  as 
may  be  seen  in  the  museums,  and  no  Indian  has  been  found  who 
could  make  one.  "  This  is  one  of  the  lost  arts."^  Other  pieces  of 
rude  form  have  been  set  aside  as  chips,  or  rejects,  but  such  are 
found  in  use  as  scrapers,  or  in  handles,  and  are  to  be  recognized 
as  products  which  belong  to  the  series.^  Some  rude  implements 
found  in  the  hill  gravels  of  Berkshire,  England,  have  been  offered 
as  anterior  to  the  paleolithic  implements  as  usually  classified.^ 
Lubbock  said  that  he  could  not  find  in  the  large  Scandinavian 
collections  "a  single  specimen  of  a  true  paleolithic  type."  ^ 

128.  Forms  of  stone  axes.  Stone  axes  are  found  all  over  the 
globe.  Chipped,  sharpened,  polished,  grooved,  pierced,  handled, 
are  different  kinds  which  may  be  set  in  a  series  of  advancing 
improvement,  and  under  each  grade  local  varieties  may  be  distin- 
guished, but  the  art  is  essentially  the  same  everywhere.  "  Prob- 
ably no  discovery  is  older  than  the  fact  that  friction  would  wear 
away  wood  or  bone,  or  even  stone."  ^  It  was  also  learned  that 
rawhide  and  sinew  shrank  in  drying,  and  this  fact  was  very  ingen- 
iously used  to  attach  handles,  the  sinew  or  membrane  being  put 
on  while  fresh  and  wet.  American  stone  axes  are  grooved  to 
receive  a  handle  made  by  an  ingenious  adaptation  of  roots  and 
branches  with  pitch  or  bitumen.  "Bored  stone  axes  are  found  in 
the  tropical  regions  of  America.  Although  they  are  very  rare, 
they  are  well  executed." '  The  device  of  boring  stone  axes  appears 

1  Mason,  Origin  of  Invefition,  132.  *  JAI,  XXIV,  44. 

2  Ibid.,  123,  136.  '  5  ji,ij_^  X,  316. 

^  Intern.  Cong.  A7itIirop.,  1893,  67.  ^  Mason,  Origin  of  Invetition,  148. 

■^  Ratzel,   Volkerkunde,  II,  586. 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  EXISTENCE  127 

at  the  end  of  the  stone  age  in  the  lake  dwellings  of  Switzerland. 
Perhaps  they  were  only  decorative. ^  The  Polynesians  used  stone 
axes  which  were  polished  but  not  bored  or  grooved,  and  the  edge 
was  not  curved.^  The  Pacific  islanders  clung  to  the  type  of  the 
adze,  so  that  even  when  they  got  iron  and  steel  implements  from 
the  whites  they  preferred  the  knife  of  a  plane  to  an  ax,  because 
the  former  could  be  used  adze-fashion.^  In  the  stone  graves  of 
Tennessee  have  been  found  implements  superior  to  all  others 
found  in  the  United  States  in  size,  variety,  and  workmanship. 
Amongst  these  are  a  flint  sickle-shaped  tool,  axes  a  foot  long  or 
more,  a  flint  sword  twenty-two  inches  long,  a  flint  needle  eight 
inches  long ;  also  objects  supposed  to  be  for  ceremonial  or  deco- 
rative use.  Stone  axes  with  handles  all  in  one  piece  have  been 
found  in  Tennessee,  Arkansas,  and  South  Carolina.* 

129.  How  stone  implements  are  made.  What  was  the  process 
by  which  these  stone  implements  were  made  .?  The  artifacts 
bear  witness  directly  to  two  or  three  different  operations,  separate 
or  combined,  and  to  a  great  development  of  the  process.  As 
above  stated,  Tasmanians,  after  they  became  known  to  Euro- 
peans, made  stone  implements  as  they  needed  them,  giving  to  a 
stone  a  rude  adaptation  to  the  purpose  by  chipping  off  a  few 
flakes.  Short  sharp  blows  were  struck  by  one  stone  upon  another. 
The  blow  must,  however,  fall  upon  just  the  right  spot  or  it  would 
not  produce  the  desired  result.  Therefore  the  flakes  were  often 
thrown  off  by  pressure.  A  stick  or  horn  was  set  against  the 
spot  where  the  force  should  be  applied,  and  braced  against  the 
breast  of  the  operator,  while  he  held  the  stone  between  his  feet. 
This  latter  operation  is  described  as  used  by  the  Mexicans  to  get 
flakes  of  obsidian.^  By  carrying  further  the  process  of  chipping 
or  pressing  the  stone  could  be  shaped  more  perfectly,  and  by 
rubbing  it  on  another  stone  it  could  be  given  a  cutting  edge. 

1  Ranke,  Der  ATeitsck,  II,  519. 

2  Rat z el,  Volkerkiinde,  II,  149. 

3  Hagen,  Unter  den  Papttas,  214  ;  Pfeil,  Atis  der  Sitdsee,  97. 

4  Thurston,  Aiitiq.  of  Tenn.,  etc.,  218,  230-240,  259;  JAI,  XIII,  XVI;  Bur. 
EthnoL,  XIII;  Smithsott.  Rep.,  1874,  1877,  18S6,  Parts  I,  II,  III;  Peabody  Mus., 
No.  7. 

^  Lubbock,  Prehist.  Times,  90. 


128  FOLKWAYS 

The  rubbing  process  could  also  be  applied  to  the  surface  to  make 
it  smooth  instead  of  leaving  it  as  it  was  after  the  flaking  process. 
The  processes  of  striking  and  pressing  were  also  combined.  The 
pebble  was  broken  by  blows  and  the  pieces  were  further  reduced 
to  shape  by  the  pressing  process.  Different  devices  were  also 
invented  for  holding  the  stone  securely  and  in  the  proper  position. 
Skill  and  judgment  in  perceiving  how  and  for  what  purpose  each 
pebble  could  best  be  treated  was  developed  by  the  workers,  and 
division  of  labor  arose  amongst  them  as  some  acquired  greater 
skill  in  one  operation  and  others  in  another.  The  operations  of 
pressing  and  striking  were  also  made  complex  in  order  to  accom- 
plish what  was  desired.  A  sapling  was  cut  off  so  that  the  stump 
of  a  limb  was  left  at  the  bottom  of  it.  It  was  set  against  the 
spot  where  the  force  was  needed,  and  a  blow  struck  in  the  crotch 
of  the  limb  caused  the  chip  to  fly.  This  apparatus  was  improved 
and  refined  by  putting  a  horn  tip  on  the  end  point  of  contact. 
Another  device  was  to  cut  a  notch  in  a  tree  trunk,  which  could 
be  used  as  a  fulcrum.  A  long  lever  was  used  to  apply  the  pressure 
to  the  stone  laid  at  the  root  of  the  tree,  or  on  the  horizontal  space 
at  the  bottom  of  the  notch. ^  These  variations  show  persistent 
endeavor  to  get  control  of  the  necessary  force  and  to  apply  it  at 
the  proper  point  with  the  least  chance  for  error  and  loss.  Buckley 
reported  about  the  "tomahawks  "  of  the  aborigines  of  Victoria, 
that  the  stone  was  split  into  pieces,  without  regard  to  their  shape, 
but  of  convenient  thickness.  A  piece  was  rubbed  on  rough 
granite  until  "  it  is  brought  to  a  very  fine  thin  edge,  and  so  hard 
and  sharp  as  to  enable  them  to  fell  a  very  large  tree  with  it." 
The  handles  are  "  thick  pieces  of  wood,  split  and  then  doubled 
up,  the  stone  being  in  the  bend  and  fixed  with  gum,  very  care- 
fully prepared  for  the  purpose,  so  as  to  make  it  perfectly  secure 
when  bound  round  with  sinews."  ^  The  natives  of  the  Admiralty 
Islands  use  obsidian  which  is  dug  from  layers  in  the  ground. 
Only  a  few  know  the  art  of  making  axes,  and  they  prosecute  it 
as  a  means  of  livelihood.  Skill  is  required  especially  to  judge  of 
the  way  in  which  the  stone  will  split.    The  only  tool  is  a  stone 

1  Smithsoji.  Rep.,  1885,  Part  I,  874,  882  ;  Ibid.,  1887,  Part  I,  601. 
^  Smyth,  Abo7-ig.  of  Victoria,  I,  359. 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  EXISTENCE  129 

with  which  hght,  sharp  blows  are  struck. ^  The  axes  of  the 
Swiss  lake  dwellings  were  made  from  bowlders  of  any  hard  stone. 
By  means  of  a  saw  of  flint  set  in  wood,  with  sand  and  water,  a 
groove  was  cut  on  one  side  and  then  on  the  other.  With  a  single 
blow  from  another  stone  the  bowlder  was  made  to  fall  in  two. 
By  means  of  a  hard  stone  the  piece  was  rudely  shaped  and  then 
finished  by  friction.  A  modern  student  has  made  such  an  ax  in 
this  way  in  five  hours.  Sometimes  the  stone  was  set  in  a  handle 
of  wood  or  horn.^  It  will  be  noticed  that  this  process  was  not 
possible  until  an  auxiliary  tool,  the  flint  saw,  had  already  been 
made.  The  tools  and  processes  were  all  rude  and  great  skill  and 
dexterity  were  required  in  the  operator.  "  Lafitau  says  the  pol- 
ishing of  a  stone  ax  requires  generations  to  complete.  Mr. 
Joseph  D.  McGuire  fabricates  a  grooved  jade  ax  from  an  entirely 
rough  spall  in  less  than  a  hundred  hours."  ^ 

130.  How  arrowheads  are  made.  As  to  arrowheads,  "there 
are  a  dozen  or  more  authentic  reports  by  eye-witnesses  of  the 
manufacture  of  arrowheads  in  as  many  different  ways."  ^  The 
California  Indians  broke  up  a  piece  of  flint  or  obsidian  to  the 
proper-sized  pieces.  A  piece  was  held  in  the  left  hand,  which 
was  protected  by  a  piece  of  buckskin.  Pressure  was  put  upon 
the  edge  by  a  piece  of  a  deer's  antler,  four  to  six  inches  long, 
held  in  the  right  hand.  In  this  way  little  pieces  were  chipped 
off  until  the  arrowhead  was  formed.  Only  the  most  expert  do 
this  successfully.^  Sometimes  the  stone  to  be  operated  on  is 
heated  in  the  fire,  and  slowly  cooled,  which  causes  it  to  split  in 
flakes.  A  flake  is  then  shaped  with  buck-horn  pincers,  tied 
together  at  the  point  with  a  thong.^  In  another  report  it  is  the 
stone  with  which  the  operation  is  performed  which  is  said  to  be 
heated.'  In  a  pit  several  hundred  flint  implements  were  found 
stored  away  in  regular  layers  with  alternate  layers  of  sand  between. 
Perhaps  the  purpose  was  to  render  them  more  easy  to  work  to 
the  desired  finish.^    Catlin  describes  another  process  of  making 

1  Globus,  LXXXVII,  238.  5  Powers,  Calif.  Indians,  374. 

2  Ranke,  Der  Mensch,  II,  517.         ^  Jbid.,  104  ;  Smithson.  Rep.,  1886,  Part  I,  225. 
^  Mason,  Origin  of  Invention,  26.     "^  Smithson.  Rep.,  1887,  Part  I,  601. 

4  U.  S.  Nat.  Mns.,  1S94,  658.  8  Bur.  Eth.,  XII,  561. 


130  FOLKWAYS 

arrowheads  which  required  two  workmen.  One  held  the  stone  in 
his  left  hand  and  placed  a  chisel-like  instrument  at  the  proper 
point.  The  second  man  struck  the  blow.  Both  sang  during  the 
operation.  The  blows  were  in  the  rhythm  of  the  music,  and  a 
quick  "rebounding"  stroke  was  said  to  be  essential  to  good 
success. 1  A  "lad"  in  Michigan  made  arrowheads  in  imitation 
of  Indian  work,  from  flint,  glass,  and  obsidian,  with  a  piece  of 
oak  stick  five  inches  long  as  a  tool.^  Sophus  Miiller^  says  of 
modern  attempts  to  imitate  stone-implement  making  that  an 
average  workman  can  learn  in  fourteen  days  to  make  five  hun- 
dred to  eight  hundred  arrowheads  per  day,  but  that  no  one  of 
the  best  workmen  has  been  able  to  equal  the  fine  chipping  on  the 
neolithic  stone  weapons,  although  many  have  made  the  small 
implements  on  the  types  of  the  old  stone  age. 

131.  How  stone  axes  were  used.  After  stone  axes  were  made 
it  required  no  little  independent  sense  to  use  them  for  the 
desired  result.  A  modern  archaeologist  used  a  stone  ax  of  gray 
flint,  with  an  edge  six  and  a  half  centimeters  long,  set  in  a 
handle  after  the  prehistoric  fashion,  to  cut  sticks  of  green  fir,  in 
order  to  test  the  ax.  He  held  the  stick  upright  and  chopped 
into  it  notchwise  until  he  could  break  it  in  two.  He  cut  in  two 
a  stick  eighteen  centimeters  in  diameter  in  eighteen  minutes. 
He  struck  fifteen  hundred  and  seventy-eight  cuts.  At  the  four- 
teen hundred  and  eighty-fifth  cut  a  piece  flew  from  his  ax.*  A 
modern  investigator  made  a  polished  ax  in  eleven  hours  and  forty- 
five  minutes.  He  cut  down  an  oak  tree  0.73  meter  in  circumfer- 
ence, with  twenty-two  hundred  blows  of  the  ax,  in  an  hour  and 
thirteen  minutes.^  When  primitive  men  desired  to  cut  down  a 
tree,  fire  was  applied  to  it  and  the  ax  was  used  only  to  chop  off 
the  charred  wood  so  that  the  fire  would  attack  the  wood  again. 
Canoes  were  hollowed  out  of  tree  trunks  by  the  same  process. 
These  processes  are  reported  from  different  parts  of  the  world 
remote  from  each  other.^  Without  these  auxiliary  devices  the  stone 

1  S77tithson.  Rep.,  18S5,  Part  II,  743.  2  Scient.  Aiiicr.,  March  10,  1906. 

3  Vo7-  Oldtid,  169.  ■*  Aarboger  f.  Oldkyndighed,  1891. 

5  n Anthropologie,  XIV,  417. 

**  JAI,  XXVIII,  296  ;  Bur.  Et/inoL,  II,  205  ;  Horn,  Mennesket  i  den  forhistoriske 
Tid,  168. 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  EXISTENCE  131 

ax  can  really  be  used  only  as  a  hammer,  for,  by  means  of  it,  the 
wood  is  beaten  into  a  fibrous  condition  and  is  not  properly  cut.^ 
Nevertheless,  the  Shingu  Indians  cleared  forests,  built  houses  and 
canoes,  and  made  furniture  with  the  stone  ax  alone. ^  The  Indians 
of  Guiana,  with  stone  and  bone  implements,  cut  down  big  trees, 
cut  out  the  core  of  them,  and  made  weapons  and  tools  of  great 
perfection  and  beauty.^  The  same  may  be  said  of  very  many 
other  peoples.  Some  Australians  value  stone  axes  so  much  that 
they  except  them  from  the  custom  to  bury  all  a  man's  property 
with  him.    Axes  are  inherited  by  the  next  of  kin.* 

132.  Acculturation  versus  parallelism.  The  facts  in  regard  to 
making  and  using  stone  implements  bring  up  the  question 
whether  such  arts  have  a  single  origin  and  are  spread  by  con- 
tagion (acculturation),  or  are  invented  independently  by  many 
people  who  have  the  same  tasks  to  perform,  and  the  same  or 
similar  materials  at  hand  (parallelism).  Lippert^  says  that  "the 
different  modes  of  fashioning  flint  arrowheads  show  us  that  we 
must  not  think  of  the  earliest  art  as  all  tied  to  a  single  tradition, 
and  carried  away  from  this.  On  the  contrary,  human  ingenuity 
has  set  about  accomplishing  the  acts  which  are  necessary  for  the 
struggle  for  existence  in  different  places,  with  the  elements 
there  at  hand."  We  have  seen  above  that  the  materials  may, 
from  their  character,  so  limit  and  condition  the  operations  of 
manufacture  as  to  set  lines  for  the  development  of  the  art.  If 
the  processes  of  the  men  are  also  limited  and  conditioned  by  the 
nature  of  human  nerves  and  muscles  so  that  they  must  run  on 
certain  lines,  it  would  follow  that  the  human  mind  also,  in  face 
of  a  certain  problem,  will  fall  into  conditioned  modes  of  activity, 
and  we  should  approach  the  doctrine  that  men  must  think  the 
same  thoughts  by  way  of  mental  reaction  on  the  same  experiences 
and  observations. 

The  facts,  however,  show  that  an  art,  beginning  in  the  rudest 
way,  is  produced  along  lines  of  concurrent  effort,  and  is  the 

1  Globus,  LXXVI,  79. 

2  Von  den  Steinen,  Berl.  ALis.,  1888.  203. 
2  Schomburgk,  Bi-itisch  Guia7ia,  I,  424. 

*  Howitt,  S.  E.  Australians,  455. 
^  Ktilturgesch.,  I,  289. 


132 


FOLKWAYS 


common  property  of  the  group.  All  practice  it  as  it  is,  and  all 
are  unconsciously  cooperating  to  improve  it.  The  processes  are 
folkways.  The  artifacts  are  tools  and  weapons  which,  by  their 
utility,  modify  the  folkways  and  become  components  in  them. 
The  skill,  dexterity,  patience,  ingenuity,  and  power  of  combina- 
tion which  result  are  wider  and  higher  possessions  which  also 
modify  the  folkways  at  later  stages  of  effort.  The  generalizations 
of  truth  and  right  widen  at  every  stage,  and  produce  a  theory  of 
welfare,  which  must  be  recognized  as  such,  no  matter  how  rude 
it  may  be.  It  consists  in  the  application  of  the  notions  of  goblin- 
ism  as  they  are  prevalent  at  the  time  in  the  group.  The  art 
itself  is  built  up  by  folkways  according  to  their  character  as 
everywhere  exhibited,  for  arts  are  modes  of  providing  for  human 
necessities  by  processes  and  devices  which  can  be  universally 
taught,  and  can  be  handed  down  forever.  The  arts  of  an  isolated 
group  run  against  limits,  even  if  the  group  has  great  ingenuity, 
as  we  see  in  the  case  of  China.  It  is  when  arts  are  developed  by 
give  and  take  between  groups  that  they  reach  their  highest 
development.  The  wider  the  area  over  which  the  cooperation 
and  combination  are  active,  the  higher  will  be  the  achievements. 
"  Every  art  is  born  out  of  the  intelligence  of  its  age."  ^  It  has 
been  mentioned  above  that  Polynesians  cannot  use  an  ax.  They 
want  to  set  the  blade  transverse  to  the  handle.  The  negroes 
of  the  Niger  Protectorate  are  very  clumsy  at  going  up  or  down 
stairs.  It  is  a  dexterity,  not  to  say  an  art,  which  they  have  had 
no  chance  to  acquire.  They  also  find  it  very  difficult  to  under- 
stand or  interpret  a  picture,  even  of  the  least  conventional  kind.^ 
The  Seri  of  Quiberon  Island  have  not  the  knife  habit.  They 
draw  a  knife  towards  the  body  instead  of  pushing  it  away.^ 
Hence  we  see  that  the  lack  of  a  habit,  or  lack  of  opportunity  to 
see  a  dexterity  practiced,  constitutes  a  narrowing  of  the  mental 
horizon. 

133.  Fire-making  tools.  Another  art  which  would  offer  us 
parallel  phenomena  to  that  of  stone  working  is  that  of  fire  mak- 
ing.   It  must  have  had  several  independent  centers  of  origin.    It 

1  Umschau,  VII,  184.  2  jaI,  XXVIII,  108. 

3  Bur.  Ethnol.,  XVII,  Part  I,  152. 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  EXISTENCE  133 

existed  all  over  the  globe.  Its  ultimate  origin  is  unknown  to  us. 
It  may  have  originated  in  different  ways  at  different  centers. 
The  simplest  instruments  for  making  fire  can  be  classified  accord- 
ing to  the  mode  of  movement  employed  in  them  as  drilling,  plow- 
ing, and  sawing  instruments.  The  fire  drills  have  also  undergone 
very  important  development  and  improvement,  so  that  they  have 
become  very  complicated  machines.  The  ingenuity  and  inventive 
skill  which  were  required  to  make  a  fire  drill  which  was  driven 
by  a  bow  were  as  great  as  the  same  powers  when  manifested  by 
an  Edison  or  a  Bessemer. 

134.  Psychophysical  traits  of  primitive  men.  All  the  artifacts 
were  made  and  all  the  arts  were  produced  by  the  concurrent 
efforts  of  men  to  serve  their  interests.  We  find  that  primitive 
men  put  patient  effort  and  astonishing  ingenuity  into  their  tools. 
They  also  attained  to  great  skill  in  the  use  of  clumsy  tools.  It 
is  true,  in  general,  of  primitive  men  that  they  shirk  all  prolonged 
effort  or  patient  application,  but  they  do  use  great  patience  and 
perseverance  when  they  expect  to  accomplish  something  of  great 
importance  to  their  interests.  The  same  is  true  if  they  expect 
to  gratify  their  vanity.  In  hair  dressing  or  tattooing  they  sub- 
mit to  very  irksome  restraint  prolonged  through  a  long  time.  Also 
in  feather  work,  partly  useful  and  partly  ornamental,  they  assorted 
feathers  piece  by  piece,  and  enlaced  the  feathers  in  the  meshes 
of  their  hats  and  caps,  or  fastened  them  into  scepters  with  pitch. 
They  could  make  houses,  etc.,  with  their  axes  only  by  long- 
continued  industry.^  South  American  Indians  made  tools  for 
printing  tattoo  patterns  on  the  body.  They  were  blocks,  on  each 
face  of  which  a  pattern  was  raised,  perhaps  a  different  one  on 
each  side.2  It  should  be  noticed  what  prodigious  power  a  large 
body  of  men  can  put  forth  when  they  all  work  at  the  same  task 
and  are  greatly  interested  in  it.  They  begin  by  the  same  process, 
but  the  process  differentiates  and  improves  in  their  hands.  Each 
gains  skill  and  dexterity.  They  learn  from  each  other,  and  the 
product  is  multiplied. 

135.  Language.  Language  is  a  product  of  the  folkways  which 
illustrates  their  operation  in  a  number  of  most  important  details. 

1  Martius,  Ethnog.  Brasil.,  405.  2  Boggiani,  I  Caduvei,  I,  168. 


134 


FOLKWAYS 


Language  is  a  product  of  the  need  of  cooperative  understanding 
in  all  the  work,  and  in  connection  with  all  the  interests,  of  life. 
It  is  a  societal  phenomenon.  It  was  necessary  in  war,  the  chase, 
and  industry  so  soon  as  these  interests  were  pursued  coopera- 
tively. Each  group  produced  its  own  language  which  held  that 
group  together  and  sundered  it  from  others.^  All  are  now  agreed 
that,  whatever  may  have  been  the  origin  of  language,  it  owes 
its  form  and  development  to  usage.  "  Men's  usage  makes  lan- 
guage." "The  maxim  that  'usage  is  the  rule  of  speech'  is 
of  supreme  and  uncontrolled  validity  in  every  part  and  parcel  of 
every  human  tongue."  ^  "  Language  is  only  the  imperfect  means 
of  men  to  find  their  bearings  in  the  world  of  their  memories  ;  to 
make  use  of  their  memory,  that  is,  their  own  experience  and  that 
of  their  ancestors,  with  all  probability  that  this  world  of  memory 
will  be  like  the  world  of  reality."  ^  The  origin  of  language  is  one 
of  those  origins  which  must  ever  remain  enveloped  in  mystery. 
"  How  can  a  child  understand  the  combinations  of  sound  and 
sense  when  it  must  know  language  in  order  to  learn  them  .?  It 
must  learn  to  speak  without  previously  knowing  how  to  speak, 
without  any  previous  suspicion  that  the  words  of  its  mother 
mean  more  than  the  buzzing  of  a  fly.  The  child  learns  to  speak 
from  an  absolute  beginning,  just  as,  not  the  original  man,  but 
the  original  beast,  learned  to  speak  before  any  creature  could 
speak."  *  The  beasts  evidently  did  not  learn  to  speak.  They 
only  learned  to  use  the  beast  cries,  by  which  they  transmitted 
warnings,  sex  invitations,  calls  to  united  struggles,  etc.  The 
cries  answered  the  purpose  and  went  no  further.  Men,  by  virtue 
of  the  expanding  power  in  them  which  enthused  their  zeal  and 
their  play,  broke  through  the  limitations  of  beast  language,  and 
went  on  to  use  the  sounds  of  the  human  speech  instrument  for 
ever  richer  communications.  Poetic  power  in  blossom  guides  the 
development  of  a  child's  language  as  it  guided  that  of  the  men 
who  made  the  first  languages.^    "  The  original  languages  must 

1  Gumplowicz,  Social,  und  Politik,  93. 

2  Whitney,  Laiigicage  and  the  Study  of  Language,  37,  40. 

3  Mauthner,  Kritik  der  Sprache,  III,  2. 

4  Ibid.,  II,  403.  s  Ibid.,  II,  426,  427. 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  EXISTENCE  1 35 

be,  in  comparison  with  our  languages,  like  the  wildest  love-passion 
compared  with  marital  custom."  ^  Every  word  has  a  history  of 
accidents  which  have  befallen  it,  the  beginnings  of  which  are 
lost  in  the  abyss  of  time.^  In  the  Middle  Ages  the  word  "  Word  " 
came  to  mean  the  Word  of  God  with  such  distinctness  that  the 
romance  languages  adopted  parabola,  or  derivatives  from  it,  for 
"  word."  2  The  students  of  linguistics  recognize  metaphor  as 
another  great  mode  of  modifying  the  signification  of  words.  By 
metaphor  they  mean  the  assembling  of  like  things,  and  the 
selection  and  extirpation  of  unlike  things. 

136.  Language  and  magic.  Preuss  offers  an  explanation  of  the 
origin  of  language  which  is  interesting  on  account  of  its  connec- 
tion with  the  vast  operation  of  magic  :  "  Language  owes  its 
origin  to  the  magic  of  tones  and  words.  The  difficulty  of  winning 
any  notion  about  the  beginnings  of  human  speech  lies  in  the  fact 
that  we  cannot  think  of  any  cause  which  should  give  occasion 
for  speech  utterances.  Such  occasions  are  products  of  education, 
after  language  already  existed.  They  are  effects  of  language,  not 
causes  of  it.  .  .  .  Language  belongs,  like  play,  dances,  and  fine 
arts,  to  the  things  which  do  not  come  on  a  direct  line  of  develop- 
ment out  of  the  instinctive  satisfaction  of  life-needs  and  the 
other  activities  which  create  things  of  positive  value,  but  it  is 
the  result  of  belief  in  magic,  which  prompted  men  to  imitate 
noises  made  in  labor,  and  other  natural  sounds,  through  a  wide 
range,  in  order  thereby  to  produce  operations."  ^ 

137.  Language  is  a  case  of  mores.  Whitney  said  that  lan- 
guage is  an  institution.  He  meant  that  it  is  in  the  folkways, 
or  in  the  mores,  since  w'elfare  is  connected  with  the  folkways 
of  language,  albeit  by  some  superstition.  He  adds  :  "  In  what- 
ever aspect  the  general  facts  of  language  are  viewed,  they 
exhibit  the  same  absence  of  reflection  and  intention."  ^  "  No 
one  ever  set  himself  deliberately  at  work  to  invent  or  improve 
language, — or  did  so,  at  least,  with  any  valuable  and  abiding 
result.  The  work  is  all  accomplished  by  a  continual  satisfaction 
of  the  needs  of  the  moment,  by  ever  yielding  to  an  impulse  and 

1  Mauthner,  2 78.  2  /^/^/.^  186.  3  ji,ij_^  184. 

*  Globics,  LXXXVII,  397.  4  Language,  48,  51. 


136  FOLKWAYS 

grasping  a  possibility,  which  the  already  acquired  treasure  of 
words  and  forms,  and  the  habit  of  their  use,  suggest  and  put 
within  reach."  ^  "  Every  single  item  of  alteration,  of  whatever 
kind,  and  of  whatever  degree  of  importance,  goes  back  to  some 
individual  or  individuals  who  set  it  in  circulation,  from  whose 
example  it  gained  a  wider  and  wider  currency,  until  it  finally  won 
that  general  assent,  which  is  alone  required  in  order  to  make 
anything  in  language  proper  and  authoritative."  ^  These  state- 
ments might  be  applied  to  any  of  the  folkways.  The  statements 
on  page  46  of  Whitney's  book  would  serve  to  describe  and 
define  the  mores.  This  shows  to  what  an  extent  language  is  a 
case  of  the  operation  by  which  mores  are  produced.  They  are 
always  devices  to  meet  a  need,  which  are  imperceptibly  modified 
and  unconsciously  handed  down  through  the  generations.  The 
ways,  like  the  language,  are  incorporeal  things.  They  are  borne 
by  everybody  and  nobody,  and  are  developed  by  everybody  and 
nobody.  Everybody  has  his  little  peculiarities  of  language.  Each 
one  has  his  peculiarities  of  accent  or  pronunciation  and  his  pet 
words  or  phrases.  Each  one  is  suggesting  all  the  time  the  use  of 
the  tricks  of  language  which  he  has  adopted.  "  Nothing  less  than 
the  combined  effort  of  a  whole  community,  with  all  its  classes 
and  orders,  in  all  its  variety  of  characters,  circumstances,  and 
necessities,  is  capable  of  keeping  in  life  a  whole  language."  ^ 
"  Every  vocable  was  to  us  [children]  an  arbitrary  and  conven- 
tional sign ;  arbitrary,  because  any  one  of  a  thousand  other 
vocables  could  have  been  just  as  easily  learned  by  us  and  asso- 
ciated with  the  same  idea ;  conventional,  because  the  one  we 
acquired  had  its  sole  ground  and  sanction  in  the  consenting  use 
of  the  community  of  which  we  formed  a  part."  ^  "  We  do  not, 
as  children,  make  our  language  for  ourselves.  We  get  it  by 
tradition,  all  complete.  We  think  in  sentences.  As  our  lan- 
guage forms  sentences,  that  is,  as  our  mother-tongue  thinks,  so 
we  learn  to  think.  Our  brain,  our  entire  thought-status,  forms 
itself  by  the  mother-tongue,  and  we  transmit  the  same  to  our 
children."  ^    Nature  men  have  only  petty  coins  of  speech.    They 

1  Whitney,  Language^  46.  ^  Ibid.,  44.  ^  /^^^.^  23.  *  Ibid.,  14. 

^  Schultze,  Psychologie  der  Natiirvolker,  96. 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  EXISTENCE  1 37 

can  express  nothing  great.  They  cannot  compare,  analyze,  and 
combine.  They  are  overwhelmed  by  a  flood  of  details,  in  which 
they  cannot  discern  the  ruling  idea.  The  material  and  sensual 
constitute  their  limits.  If  they  move  they  have  to  get  a  new 
language.  The  American  languages  are  a  soft  mass  which 
changes  easily  if  tribes  separate,  or  as  time  goes  on,  or  if  they 
move  their  habitat.-^  Sometimes  measures  are  adopted  in  order 
to  make  the  language  unintelligible,  as  the  Bushmen  insert  a  syl- 
lable in  a  word  to  that  end.^  "The  language  of  nature  peoples 
offers  a  faithful  picture  of  their  mental  status.  All  is  in  flux. 
Nothing  is  fixed  or  crystallized.  No  fundamental  thoughts,  ideas, 
or  ideals  are  present.  There  is  no  regularity,  logic,  principles, 
ethics,  or  moral  character.  Lack  of  logic  in  thinking,  lack  of 
purpose  in  willing  or  acting,  put  the  mind  of  a  nature  man  on  a 
plane  with  that  of  our  children.  Lack  of  memory,  antilogic, 
paradox,  fantasy  in  mental  action,  correspond  to  capriciousness, 
levity,  irresponsibility,  and  the  rule  of  emotions  and  passions  in 
practical  action."^  "Man's  language  developed  because  he 
could  make,  not  merely  passive  and  mechanical  associative  and 
reproductive  combinations  of  notions,  like  a  beast,  but  because 
he  had  active,  free,  and  productive  apperceptions,  which  appear  in 
creative  fantasy  and  logical  reflection."  *  "  Man  does  not  speak 
because  he  thinks.  He  speaks  because  the  mouth  and  larynx 
communicate  with  the  third  frontal  convolution  of  the  brain. 
This  material  connection  is  the  immediate  cause  of  articulate 
speech."  ^  This  is  true  in  the  sense  that  speech  is  ijot  possible 
until  the  vocal  organs  are  present,  and  are  duly  connected  with 
the  brain.  "The  specific  cry,  somewhat  modified  by  the  vocal 
resources  of  man,  may  have  been  sufficient  for  the  humble 
vocabulary  of  the  earliest  ages,  and  there  exists  no  gulf,  no 
impassable  barrier,  between  the  language  of  birds,  dogs,  anthro- 
poid apes,  and  human  speech."^  "The  warning  or  summoning 
cry,  the  germ  of  the  demonstrative  roots,  is  the  parent  of  the 
names  of  number,  sex,  and  distance  ;  the  emotional  cry  of  which 

1  Schultze,  86.  *  Ibid.,  99. 

2  Ibid.,  89;  Am  Urquell,  II,  22,  48.  ^  Lefevre,  Race  and  Language,  3. 

3  Schultze,  91.  ^  Ibid.,  27. 


138  FOLKWAYS 

our  interjections  are  but  the  relics,  in  combination  with  the 
demonstratives,  prepares  the  outlines  of  the  sentence,  and  already 
represents  the  verb  and  the  names  of  states  or  actions.  Imita- 
tion, direct  or  symbolical,  and  necessarily  only  approximative  to 
the  sounds  of  external  nature,  i.e.  onomatopoeia,  furnished  the 
elements  of  the  attributive  roots,  from  which  arose  the  names 
of  objects,  special  verbs,  and  their  derivatives.  Analogy  and 
metaphor  complete  the  vocabulary,  applying  to  the  objects,  dis- 
cerned by  touch,  sight,  smell,  and  taste,  qualifying  adjectives 
derived  from  onomatopoeia.  Reason,  then  coming  into  play, 
rejects  the  greater  part  of  this  unmanageable  wealth,  and  adopts 
a  certain  number  of  sounds  which  have  already  been  reduced 
to  a  vague  and  generic  sense,  and  by  derivation,  combination, 
and  affixes,  which  are  the  root  sounds,  produces  those  end- 
less families  of  words,  related  to  each  other  in  every  degree 
of  kindred,  from  the  closest  to  the  most  doubtful,  which  gram- 
mar finally  ranges  in  the  categories  known  as  the  parts  of 
speech."^  "That  metaphor  makes  language  grow  is  evident. 
It  brings  about  connection  between  place,  time,  and  sound 
ideas."  ^ 

138.  Primitive  dialects.  The  cebns  azarae,  a  monkey  of  Para- 
guay, makes  six  distinct  sounds  when  excited,  which  causes  its 
comrades  to  emit  similar  sounds.^  The  island  Caribs  have  two 
distinct  vocabularies,  one  of  which  is  used  by  men  and  by  women 
when  speaking  to  each  other,  and  by  men  when  repeating,  in 
oratio  obliqiia,  some  saying  of  the  women.  Their  councils  of  war 
are  held  in  a  secret  jargon  into  which  women  are  never  initiated.* 
The  men  and  women  have  separate  languages,  a  custom  which 
is  noted  also  amongst  the  Guycurus  and  other  peoples  of  Brazil.^ 
Amongst  the  Arawaks  the  difference  between  the  languages  of 
the  sexes  is  not  in  regard  to  the  use  of  words  only,  but  also 
in  regard  to  their  inflection.^  The  two  languages  are  some- 
times differentiated  by  a  constant  change,  e.g.  where  in  the 
man's   language  two  vowels   come   together  the   woman's  lan- 

1  Lefevre,  42.  4  jai,  XXIV,  234. 

2  Mauthner,  II,  468.  ^  Martius,  Ethtiog.  Bras.,  106. 

3  Darwin,  Descent  of  Man,  53.  ^  Ibid.,  704. 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  EXISTENCE  139 

guage  intercalates  a  k}  The  Arawaks  have  words  which  only 
men  may  speak,  and  others  which  only  women  may  speak. ^ 
Dialectical  variations  are  illustrated  for  us  by  facts  which  come 
under  observation  and  report.  Christian  ^  mentions  an  American 
negro  castaway,  who  settled  on  Raven's  Island  with  a  native 
wife  and  children  and  a  few  relatives  and  servants.  In  forty 
years  they  had  produced  "  a  new  and  peculiar  dialect  of  their  own, 
broadening  the  softer  vowels  and  substituting  tJi  or/" for  the  origi- 
nal t  sound  in  the  parent  ponapeian."  Martius  mentions  that 
native  boatmen  in  Brazil,  who  had  grown  up  together,  had  each 
some  little  peculiarity  of  pronunciation.  Such  a  difference 
would  produce  a  dialect  in  case  of  isolation.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  ecclesiastics  adopted  the  Tupi  language  and  made  it  a  gen- 
eral language  for  the  province  of  Gram  Para,  so  that  it  was  used 
in  the  pulpit  until  1757  and  is  now  necessary  for  intercourse  in 
the  interior.^  The  Gauchos  of  central  Uruguay  speak  Spanish 
with  harsh  rough  accents.  They  change  y  and  //  into  the  French 
j^  Whitney  and  Waitz  thought  that  all  American  languages 
proceeded  from  a  single  original  one.  Powell  thought  that  they 
were  "  many  languages,  belonging  to  distinct  families,  which 
have  no  apparent  unity  of  origin."  ^  Evidence  is  adduced,  how- 
ever, that  "  the  same  aboriginal  peoples  who  named  the  waters 
of  North  America  coined  also  the  prehistoric  geographical  titles 
in  South  America."  ~*  The  Finns  and  Samoyeds  are,  from  the 
standpoint  of  language,  practically  the  same  race.  The  two 
tongues  present  the  highest  development  of  the  agglutinative 
process  of  the  Ural-Altaic  languages.^ 

139.  Taking  up  and  dropping  languages.  The  way  in  which 
languages  are  taken  up  or  dropped  is  also  perplexing.  Keane  ^ 
gives  a  list  of  peoples  who  have  dropped  one  language  and  taken 
up  another ;  he  also  gives  a  list  of  those  who  have  changed 
physical  type  but  have  retained  the  same  language.  Holub  ^^ 
mentions  the  Makololo,  who  have  almost  entirely  disappeared,  but 

1  Ehrenreich,  Berl.  A/us.  (1891),  II,  9.  6  ^«;..  EthnoL,  VII,  44. 

2  Schomburgk,  Brit.  Gitiana,  I,  227.  ''  PSM,  XLIV,  81. 
2  Caroline  IsL,  175.  8  jaI,  XXIV,  393. 
*  Spix  and  Martius,  Brasilien,  927.  ^  Ethnology,  202. 

5  JAI,  XI,  41.  10  Siebenjahre  in  Siid-Afrika,  II,  173. 


140 


FOLKWAYS 


their  language  has  passed  to  their  conquerors.  It  became  neces- 
sary to  the  latter  from  the  spread  of  their  dominion  and  from 
their  closer  intercourse  with  the  peoples  south  of  the  Zambesi, 
on  account  of  which,  "without  any  intentional  interference  by 
the  rulers,  a  common  and  easily  understood  language  showed 
itself  indispensable."  Almost  every  village  in  New  Guinea  has 
its  own  language,  and  it  is  said  that  in  New  Britain  people  who 
live  thirty  miles  apart  cannot  understand  each  other. ^ 

140.  Pigeon  dialects.  The  Germans  find  themselves  at  a  dis- 
advantage in  dealing  with  aborigines  because  they  have  no 
dialect  like  pigeon  English  or  the  Coast  Malay  used  by  the 
Dutch. 2  Many  examples  are  given,  from  the  Baltic  region,  of 
peasant  dialects  made  in  sport  by  subjecting  all  words  to  the 
same  modification.^  Our  own  children  often  do  this  to  English 
in  order  to  make  a  secret  language. 

141.  How  languages  grow.  What  we  see  in  these  cases  is  that, 
if  we  suppose  men  to  have  joined  in  cooperative  effort  with  only 
the  sounds  used  by  apes  and  monkeys,  the  requirement  of  their 
interests  would  push  them  on  to  develop  languages  such  as  we 
now  know.  The  isolating,  agglutinative,  incorporative,  and  inflec- 
tional languages  can  be  put  in  a  series  according  to  the  conven- 
ience and  correctness  of  the  logical  processes  which  they  embody 
and  teach.  The  Semitic  languages  evidently  teach  a  logic  differ- 
ent from  that  of  the  Indo-European.  It  is  a  different  way  of 
thinking  which  is  inculcated  in  each  great  family  of  languages. 
They  represent  stages  in  the  evolution  of  thought  or  ways  of  think- 
ing. The  instance  is  one  of  those  which  best  show  us  how  folk- 
ways are  built  up  and  how  they  are  pulled  down.  The  agglutination 
of  words  and  forms  sometimes  seems  like  a  steady  building  process ; 
again,  the  process  will  not  go  forward  at  all.  "  In  the  agglutina- 
tive languages  speech  is  berry  jam.  In  the  inflectional  languages 
each  word  is  like  a  soldier  in  his  place  with  his  outfit."*  The 
"  gooing  "  of  a  baby  is  a  case  of  the  poetic  power  in  its  blossom- 
ing exuberance.  The  accidental  errors  of  pronunciation  which 
are  due  to  very  slight  individual  variations  in  the  form  of  the 

1  Ratzel,   Vblkerkimde,  II,  230.  ^  ^^^^  Urquell,  II,  22,  48. 

2  Krieger,  Ne-w  Guinea,  208.  *  Schultze,  Psychol,  d.  N'atiirvolker,  93. 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  EXISTENCE 


141 


vocal  organs  are  cases  of  individual  contribution  to  the  develop- 
ment of  language.  The  baby  words  and  individual  mispronunci- 
ations which  are  taken  up  by  a  family  and  its  friends,  but  never 
get  further,  show  us  how  dialects  grow.  There  are  changes  in 
language  which  are,  "in  their  inception,  inaccuracies  of  speech. 
They  attest  the  influence  of  that  immense  numerical  majority 
among  the  speakers  of  English  who  do  not  take  sufficient  pains 
to  speak  correctly,  but  whose  blunders  become  finally  the  norm 
of  the  language."  ^  In  analogy  things  which  are  alike  are 
embraced  in  a  single  term  ;  in  metaphor  two  or  more  things 
which  seem  alike,  but  may  not  be  so,  are  grouped  together  and 
are  embraced  in  a  single  term.  All  these  modes  of  change  in 
language  attest  the  work  of  individuals  on  language.  Sometimes 
there  is  extension  of  influence  to  a  group.  Sometimes  the 
influence  is  only  temporary  and  is  rejected  again.  Some- 
times it  falls  in  with  a  drift  of  taste  or  habit,  when  it  is  taken 
up  and  colors  the  pronunciation  or  usage  of  the  population  of  a 
great  district,  and  becomes  fixed  in  the  language.  All  this  is 
true  also  on  the  negative  side,  since  usage  of  words,  accent, 
timbre  of  the  voice,  and  pronunciation  (drawling,  nasal  tones) 
expel  older  usages.  Language  therefore  illustrates  well  all  the 
great  changes  of  folkways  under  the  heads  of  cooperation  and 
antagonism.  We  have  an  excellent  chance  to  study  the  opera- 
tion in  the  case  of  slang.  A  people  who  are  prosperous  and 
happy,  optimistic  and  progressive,  will  produce  much  slang. 
It  is  a  case  of  play.  They  amuse  themselves  with  the  language. 
We  may  think  the  new  words  and  phrases  vulgar  and  in  bad 
taste,  or  senseless  and  ridiculous.  We  may  reject  them,  but  the 
masses  will  decide  whether  they  shall  be  permanently  rejected  or 
not.  The  vote  is  informal.  The  most  confirmed  purist  will 
by  and  by  utter  a  new  slang  word  when  he  needs  it.  One's 
objections  are  broken  down.  One's  taste  is  spoiled  by  what  he 
hears.  We  are  right  in  the  midst  of  the  operation  of  making 
folkways  and  can  perceive  it  close  at  hand. 

142.  Money.    Money   is   another    primitive   device    which   is 
produced  in  the  folkways.    Money  was  not  called  into  existence 

1  Whitney,  Language,  28. 


142 


FOLKWAYS 


by  any  need  universally  experienced  and  which  all  tried  to  satisfy 
as  well  as  they  could.  It  was  produced  by  developing  other 
devices,  due  to  other  motives,  until  money  was  reached  as  a 
result.  Property  can  be  traced  to  portable  objects  which  were 
amulets,  trophies,  and  ornaments  all  at  once.  These  could  be 
accumulated,  and  if  they  were  thought  to  be  the  abodes  of 
powerful  spirits,  they  were  gifts  which  were  eagerly  sought,  or 
valuable  objects  for  exchange.  They  led  to  hoarding  (since  the 
owner  did  not  like  to  part  with  them),  and  they  served  as  marks 
of  personal  distinction.^  The  interplay  of  vanity  and  religion 
with  the  love  of  property  demands  attention.  Religion  also 
caused  the  aborigines  of  the  northwest  provinces  of  South  America 
to  go  to  the  rivers  for  gold  only  in  sufficient  amount  to  buy  what 
they  needed.  Any  surplus  they  returned  to  the  stream.  "  They 
say  that  if  they  borrow  more  than  they  really  need  the  river- 
god  will  not  lend  them  any  more."  ^  In  later  times  and  higher 
civilization  coins  have  been  used  as  amulets  to  ward  off  or  to 
cure  disease.^  The  Greenland  Eskimo  laughed  when  they  were 
offered  gold  and  silver  coins.  They  wanted  objects  of  steel, 
for  which  they  would  give  anything  which  they  had  and  which 
was  desired.*  The  Tarahumari  of  Sonora  do  not  care  for  silver 
money.  Their  Croesus  raises  three  hundred  or  four  hundred  bushels 
of  corn  per  annum.  The  largest  herd  of  cattle  contains  thirty 
or  forty  head.  They  generally  prefer  cotton  cloth  to  dollars.^ 
"  A  Dyak  has  no  conception  of  the  use  of  a  circulating  medium. 
He  may  be  seen  wandering  in  the  Bazaar  with  a  ball  of  bee's 
wax  in  his  hand  for  days  together,  because  he  cannot  find  any- 
body willing  to  take  it  for  the  exact  article  which  he  requires."  ^ 
We  meet  with  a  case  in  which  people  have  gold  but  hve  on  a 
system  of  barter.  It  is  a  people  in  Laos,  north  of  Siam.  They 
weigh  gold  alone  in  scales  against  seeds  of  grain. '^     In  the  British 

1  Schurz,  Entsteluingsgesch.  des  Geldes,  Deiitsch.  Geogr.  Blatter,  XX,  22. 

2  JAI,  XIII,  245. 
.   3  JASB,  I,  390. 

*  Ainer.  Anthrop.,  IX,  192. 

^  Scrtb7ier''s,  September,  1894,  298. 

^  Ling  Roth,  Sarawak,  II,  231. 

^  Ridgeway,  Origin  of  Ciirreiicy  and  Weight  Standards,  166. 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  EXISTENCE 


143 


Museum  (Case  F,  Ireland)  may  be  seen  bronze  rings,  to  be 
sewn  on  garments  as  armor  or  to  be  used  as  money,  or  both. 
The  people  along  the  west  coast  of  Hindostan,  from  the  Persian 
Gulf  to  Ceylon,  used  as  money  the  fishhook  which  was  their 
most  important  tool.  It  became  degraded  into  a  piece  of  doubled 
wire  of  silver  or  bronze.  If  the  degradation  had  gone  on,  doubt- 
less it  would  have  resulted  in  a  lump  of  metal,  just  as  the  Siamese 
silver  coins  are  the  result  of  doubling  up  silver  rings. ^  The  play 
of  custom  and  convention  is  well  shown  by  the  use  of  the  Mace- 
donian coins  in  England.  The  coins  of  Philip  bore  on  the 
obverse  a  head  with  a  wreath,  and  on  the  reverse  a  chariot 
driver  drawn  by  two  horses.  In  Britain  this  coin  became  a  sign 
of  value  and  lost  its  reference  to  the  sovereign.  It  is  possible 
to  show  the  order  of  the  reigns  of  the  kings  by  the  successive 
omissions  of  parts  of  the  figures,  until  only  the  wreath  was  left 
and  four  perpendicular  strokes  and  two  circles  for  the  legs  of 
one  horse  and  two  chariot  wheels.  Each  change  was  a  mark  of 
value  and  then  it  was  further  changed  to  save  trouble.^  On  the 
Palau  Islands  there  were  seven  grades  of  money,  determined  by  the 
size.  Only  three  or  four  pieces  exist  of  the  first  grade.  The  second 
grade  is  of  jasper.  The  third  consists  of  agate  cylinders.  These 
three  grades  are  used  only  by  nobles.  They  have  the  same  rank 
as  gems  amongst  us.  The  people  think  of  the  money  as  coming 
from  an  island  where  it  lives  a  divine  life,  the  lower  ranks  serv- 
ing the  upper.  They  have  myths  of  the  coming  of  the  money  to 
Palau. ^  These  examples  show  to  what  a  great  extent  other 
ideas  than  those  of  value  come  into  play  in  money. 

143.  Intergroup  and  intragroup  money.  When  money  is 
used  to  overcome  the  difficulties  of  barter  two  cases  are  to  be 
distinguished,  —  the  intergroup  and  the  intragroup  uses,  which 
are  primarily  distinguished  by  a  space  relation.  The  intragroup 
use  is  here,  in  the  we-group,  close  at  hand.  The  intergroup  use 
is  between  our  group  and  some  out-group.  It  will  be  found  that 
all  money  problems  include  these  two  cases.    "  At  least  we  shall 

1  Ridgeway,  27. 

2  Evans,  A7icient  British  Coins. 
^  Semper,  Palau  Ins.,  61. 


144 


FOLKWAYS 


find  that  the  current  commonplace  of  the  economists  about  the 
succession  of  natural  economy,  money  economy,  and  credit  econ- 
omy, is  not  even  remotely  apt  to  the  real  problems."  ^  What  is 
true  is  that,  on  a  money  economy,  it  is  found  that  there  is,  or 
may  be,  a  constant  exchange  of  money  for  goods  and  goods  for 
money,  from  which  gain  or  loss  may  result ;  and  furthermore  that 
the  risk  {aleatory  element)  in  this  exchange  is  intensified,  if 
time  is  allowed  to  intervene.  Inside  the  we-group  the  first  need 
for  money  is  for  fees,  fines,  amercements,  and  bride  price.  In 
Melanesia  pigs  are  not  called  money  and  there  is  shell,  feather, 
and  mat  money,  but  pigs  are  paid  for  fines,  penalties,  contribu- 
tions to  feasts,  fees  in  the  secret  society,  pay  for  wives,  and  in 
other  societal  relations.  What  is  needed  is  a  mobile  form  of 
wealth,  with  which  social  dues  can  be  paid.  This  is  the  function 
of  money  which  the  paper-money  projectors  have  in  mind  when 
they  propose  to  issue  paper  which  the  state  shall  take  for  taxes. 
It  is  evident  that  it  is  to  be  distinguished  from  the  economic 
function  of  money  as  a  circulating  medium.  The  intragroup 
money  needs  to  be  especially  a  measure  and  store  of  value,  while 
the  intergroup  money  needs  to  be  a  medium  of  exchange.  In 
the  former  case  barter  is  easy ;  in  the  latter  case  it  is  regu- 
lar. In  the  former  case  a  multiple  standard  is  available ;  in  the 
latter  case  what  is  needed  to  discharge  balances  is  a  commodity 
of  universal  demand.  When  credit  is  introduced  its  sphere  is 
intragroup.  The  debtors  would  like  the  money  to  be  what 
every  one  can  get.  The  creditors  would  like  it  to  be  what  every 
one  wants. 

144.  Various  predominant  wares.  In  the  northeastern  horn  of 
Africa  the  units  of  value  which  are  used  as  money  are  salt, 
metal,  skins,  cotton,  glass,  tobacco,  wax,  coffee  beans,  and  kora- 
rima.  Cattle  and  slaves  are  also  used  as  units  of  value  from 
time  to  time  amongst  the  Oromo.  Salt  is  used  as  money  in 
prismatic  pieces,  twenty-two  centimeters  long  and  three  centi- 
meters to  five  millimeters  broad  at  the  bottom,  which  weigh 
from  seven  hundred  and  fifty  grams  to  one  and  one  half  kilograms 
each.    It  is  carried  in  bundles  of  twenty  to  thirty  pieces,  wound 

1  Schurz,  3. 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  EXISTENCE 


145 


in  leaves.^  The  Galla  use  rods  of  iron  six  to  twelve  centimeters 
long,  somewhat  thicker  in  the  middle,  well  available  for  lance 
ends,  one  hundred  and  thirty  of  which  are  worth  one  thaler 
in  Schoa  ;  also  pieces  of  copper,  tin,  and  zinc  ;  calf-skins  ;  black, 
printed,  and  unprinted  cotton  cloth ;  pieces  of  cloth ;  coarse 
red  cotton  yarn  (for  knitting) ;  and  strings  of  beads.  The  uni- 
versal and  intergroup  money  is  the  Maria  Theresa  thaler 
weighing  571.5  to  576  English  grains.^  Cameron  mentions  the 
exchange  of  intergroup  money  for  intragroup  money  at  a  fair 
at  Kawile,  on  the  eastern  shore  of  Lake  Tanganyika.  At  the 
opening  of  the  fair  the  money  changers  gave  out  the  local  money 
of  bugle  beads,  which  they  took  in  again  when  the  fair  closed. ^ 
On  the  French  Congo  the  boatmen  were  paid  with  paper  bons, 
which  were  superseded  by  metal  ones  in  1887.  When  the 
recipient  takes  his  bon  to  the  station  he  obtains  at  first  a  number 
of  nails,  beads,  or  other  articles  for  it,  which  he  can  then 
exchange  for  what  he  wants.  Tokens  of  copper  are  issued  at 
Franceville,  stamped  "  F,"  of  different  shapes  and  sizes,  but 
always  of  the  same  shape  and  size  for  the  same  value  in  French 
money.*  At  Grand  Bassam  in  West  Africa  the  manilla  (bracelet) 
serves  as  money.  For  six  months  the  natives  give  oil  for  these 
bracelets  of  metal  mixed  of  copper,  lead,  zinc,  antimony,  and 
iron,  which  can  be  closed  around  the  arm  or  leg  of  a  slave  by 
a  blow  of  the  hammer.  Then  for  six  months  they  exchange  the 
bracelets  for  the  European  goods  which  they  want.^  These 
bracelets  were  a  store  of  wealth  for  the  black  men.^  The  Kru 
have  few  cattle,  which  pass  from  one  to  another  in  bride  pur- 
chases, since  these  can  be  made  with  nothing  else.  It  is  impos- 
sible to  have  wives  and  cattle  too  until  one's  daughters  grow 
up.''  Since  the  seventeenth  century  cylindrical  (bugle)  green-blue 
beads  have  been  money  on  the  ivory  and   gold  coasts.    They 

1  Paulitschke,  Ethnog.  N.O.  Afrikas,  I,  317 ;  Vannutelli  e  Citerni,  VOmo,  463. 

2  Paulitschke,  I,  318,  320. 
2  Across  Africa,  176. 

*  Zay,  Hist.  I\Ionetaire  des  Colon.  Fratig.,  249. 

s  2bid.,  246. 

^  Kingsley,  IVest  African  Studies,  82. 

■^  Schurz,  EntsteJmngsgesch.  des  Geldes,  Dentsch.  Geogr.  Blatter,  XX,  14. 


146  FOLKWAYS 

come  from  an  ancient  cemetery  on  the  Bokabo  Mountains  and 
are  of  Egyptian  origin.  They  were  buried  with  the  dead.^  A 
local  money  of  stone  is  reported  also  from  Avetime  in  Ehve- 
land.  It  is  said  to  have  been  used  as  ornament.  Pieces  of  quartz 
and  sandstone,  rudely  square  but  with  broken  corners,  from 
four  to  five  centimeters  in  diameter  and  one  and  a  half  to  two 
centimeters  thick,  rubbed  down  by  friction,  have  been  found. ^ 

145.  Intragroup  money  from  property;  intergroup  money 
from  trade.  These  cases  already  show  us  the  distinction  between 
intragroup  money  and  intergroup  money.  The  effect  of  trade  is 
to  develop  one  or  more  predominant  wares.  In  the  intragroup 
exchanges  this  is  an  object  of  high  desire  to  individuals  for  use. 
It  may  be  an  amulet  ornament,  or  a  thing  of  great  use  in  the 
struggle  for  existence,  e.g.  cattle,  or  a  thing  of  universal  accept- 
ance by  which  anything  can  be  obtained.  In  intergroup  trade 
it  is  the  chief  object  of  export,  the  thing  for  which  the  trade  is 
carried  on,  e.g.  salt,  metal,  fur.  If  this  commodity  is  not  easily 
divisible,  the  money  is  something  which  can  be  given  "  to  boot," 
e.g.  tobacco,  sugar,  opium,  tea,  betel. ^  That  is  money  which  will 
"pass."  This  does  not  mean  that  which  can  be  forced  to  pass 
("  legal  tender  "),  but  that  which  will  go  without  force.  Amulet 
ornaments  may  be  either  a  whim  which  does  not  take,  or  fashion 
may  seize  upon  something  of  this  kind  and  make  it  a  tribe  mark. 
Then  it  becomes  group  money,  because  it  is  universally  desired. 
The  articles  admit  of  accumulation,  and  ostentation  is  a  new  joy  ; 
they  also  admit  of  change  and  variety.  They  are  available  for 
gifts  to  the  medicine  man  (to  satisfy  ghosts,  get  rain,  or  thwart 
disease).  They  may  be  used  to  buy  a  wife,  or  to  buy  a  step  in 
the  secret  society  of  the  men,  or  to  pay  a  fine  or  penalty  to  the 
chief.  The  differentiation  of  goods  starts  emotion  on  the  line  of 
least  resistance,  and  the  predominant  goods  are  the  ones  of 
widest  demand.  Often  the  predominant  ware  has  a  gain  from 
taboo,  probably  on  account  of  relation  to  the  dead.*    A  thing 

1  AntkroJ>ologie  (1900),  XI,  677,680. 

2  Globus,  LXXXI,  12. 

^  Schurz,  Entstehuiigsgesch.  des  Geldes,  38. 
*  Ibid.,  25. 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  EXISTENCE 


147 


which  is  rare  and  hard  to  get  may  become  intragroup  money. 
In  Fiji  the  teeth  of  the  spermaceti  whale  are  taken  as  a  measure 
of  value  and  sign  of  peace.  In  German  New  Guinea  the  bent 
tusks  of  a  boar  are  used  as  money.  In  California  red  birds' 
heads  are  used  in  the  same  way.  Trophy  skulls  of  birds  and 
beasts  become  a  store  of  wealth,  and  money  with  which  trade 
can  be  carried  on  with  neighbors.^  The  first  step  seems  to  be 
to  use  the  predominant  article  as  the  third  term  of  reference  in 
barter.  Intergroup  money  is  really  a  ware  and  so  remains,  as 
gold  is  now ;  but  groups  widen  as  communication  improves,  and 
group  money  gets  a  very  wide  range.  In  intergroup  affairs, 
therefore,  the  relations  sooner  become  impersonal  and  mechan- 
ical. The  things  which  are  best  for  this  purpose  become  mobile. 
Some  are  better  as  stores  of  value,  others  as  means  of  power, 
others  as  measures  of  value.  The  last  are  on  the  way  to  become 
money.  The  others  are  more  like  gems.  Thus  group  money 
arose  from  property ;  intergroup  money  from  trade. 

146.  Shell  and  beads.  Shells  had  very  great  convenience  for  money  and 
their  value  was  increased  by  the  fact  that  ghosts  dwelt  in  them.  Cowries 
were  early  used  as  money,  2200  of  them  equaling  in  value  one  franc. ^  They 
are  now  losing  currency.  On  Fernando  Po  bits  of  achatectonia  shells  are  made 
into  belts  and  used  as  currency.^  A  far  less  widespread  shell  of  a  sea  snail 
was  used  in  northern  Transvaal.^  Other  cases  of  the  use  of  shells  will  be 
given  below.  A  dress  pattern  of  cotton  cloth,  seven  ells,  called  a  "  tobe,"  is 
a  unit  of  monetary  reference  through  the  Sudan. ^  Another  money  in  the 
same  region  is  the  iron  spade,  with  which  tribute  is  paid  to  the  petty  rulers 
of  eastern  Equatoria.  The  spades  are  made  of  native  iron  and  are  used  upon 
occasion  to  cut  down  the  grass.^  Expeditions  into  the  Niam  Niam  territories 
always  have  a  smith  with  them  whose  duty  it  is  to  make  rings  of  copper  and 
iron  wire,  with  a  square  section,  for  minor  purchases.'^  The  currency  of 
beads  has  greatly  lessened  wherever  more  useful  objects  of  European  manu- 
facture have  become  known.^    Forms  of  the  lance  head  are  used  to  buy  a 

1  Schurz,  22. 

2  Foureau,  D'' Alger  au  Congo,  539. 

^  Kingsley,  Travels  in  West  Africa,  59. 

*  Globus,  LXXVIII,  203 ;  Ibid.,  LXXXII,  243. 

^  Peel,  Somaliland,  102. 

6  Junker,  Afrika,  III,  52  ;  Ibid.,  I,  341. 

''  Schweinfurth,  Heart  of  Africa,  I,  502. 

8  Junker,  II,  245  ;  Ibid.,  I,  295. 


148  FOLKWAYS 

wife,  who  costs  twenty  or  thirty  of  them.^  Further  south  von  Gotzen  found 
brass  wire,  in  pieces  fifteen  to  thirty-five  centimeters  long,  in  use  as  money, 
not  being  an  article  of  use,  but  a  real  money  used  to  store  value,  to  buy  what 
is  wanted,  and  to  pay  taxes  for  protection  against  one's  forest  neighbors. ^ 
Formerly,  when  beads  were  still  used  as  money,  each  district  had  its  own 
preferred  size,  shape,  and  color.  Travelers  found  that  the  fashion  in  a  district 
had  changed  since  the  information  was  obtained,  relying  on  which  they  had 
provided  themselves.  This  is,  however,  evidently  a  part  of  the  operation  of 
differentiating  the  predominant  ware.^ 

147.  Token  money.  Token  money  demands  treatment  by  itself, 
as  a  special  development  of  the  money-producing  movement.  If 
different  groups  adopt  different  kinds  of  amulet  ornaments  as 
money,  such  intragroup  money  may  be  token  money.  If  one  such 
group  conquers  another,  the  conquerors  may  throw  the  money  of 
the  conquered  out  of  use  (whites  and  Indians  as  to  wampum).  In 
Burma  Chinese  gambling  counters  are  used  as  money.*  Gutta- 
percha tokens  issued  by  street-car  companies  in  South  America 
are  said  to  be  used  in  the  same  way.  Postage  stamps,  milk 
tickets,  etc.,  have  been  so  used  by  us.  In  Massachusetts,  in  the 
eighteenth  century,  pieces  of  paper  were  circulated  which  had  no 
redemption  whatever.  They  bore  the  names  of  coins  of  silver 
which  did  not  exist,  but  which  had  a  definition  in  a  certain 
amount  of  silver  of  a  certain  fineness.  At  Carthage  pieces  of 
leather  which  inclosed  an  unknown  object,  probably  one  of  the 
holy  moneys,  were  circulated.^  The  same  is  reported  of  bits  of 
leather  cut,  like  samples,  from  a  skin  and  circulated  in  place  of 
it.  The  device  succeeded  for  the  in-group  money,  but  it  led  to 
the  attempt  to  put  copper  tokens  in  the  place  of  silver  coins,  which 
resulted  in  disaster.^  The  cacao  beans  of  Mexico  were  wares,  if 
of  good  quality.  Larger  ones  of  poorer  quality  were  money.  A 
part  of  the  value  was  imaginary.  Cloth  was  formerly  money  in 
Bohemia.  A  loosely  woven  variety  of  cloth  was  used  for  this 
purpose,  the  cloth  utilities  as  a  textile  fabric  and  as  money  being 
separated.  On  the  west  coast  of  Africa  little  mats  were  used  as 
money.  They  were  stamped  by  the  Portuguese  government.   Mat 

1  Junker,  I,  415.  *  Schurz,  17. 

2  von  Gotzen,  Dtirch  Afr.,  339.  5  Meltzer,  Carthage,  II,  106. 
2  Schurz,  28;  Volkens,  Kilimanjaro,  221.  ^  Schurz,  19. 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  EXISTENCE  149 

money  was  also  used  on  the  New  Hebrides,  especially  to  buy 
grades  in  the  great  secret  society.  The  mats  are  long  and  nar- 
row and  are  more  esteemed  when  they  are  old  and  black  from 
the  smoke  of  the  huts.  They  are  kept  in  little  houses  where 
they  are  smoked.  "  When  they  hang  with  soot  they  are  particu- 
larly valued."  ^  Useless  broken  rice  is  used  as  money  in  Burma 
and  elsewhere  in  the  East.^  The  use  of  token  money,  in  which 
a  part  of  the  value  is  imaginary,  always  implies  the  inclosure  of 
a  group  and  the  exclusion  of  foreign  trade.  Then,  within  the 
group,  the  value  may  be  said  to  be  real  and  not  imaginary.  It 
depends  on  the  monopoly  law  of  value  and  varies  with  the  quan- 
tity but  not  proportionately  to  the  quantity.  Kublai-Khan,  using 
a  Chinese  device,  got  possession  of  all  the  gold  and  silver  and 
issued  paper.  His  empire  was  so  great  that  all  trade  was  intra- 
group  trade,  and  his  power  made  his  paper  money  pass.^  The 
Andamanese  made  inferior  pots  to  be  used  as  a  medium  in  bar- 
ter.'* They  have  very  little  trade  ;  are  on  a  stage  of  mutual  gift 
making.^  Token  money  is  an  aberration  of  the  folkways,  due  to 
misapprehension  of  the  peculiarity  of  group  money.  At  the  same 
time  it  has  been  used  with  advantage  for  subsidiary  silver  coinage. 

148.  Selection  of  a  predominant  ware.  Crawfurd,  in  his  history  of  the 
Indian  Archipelago,  mentions  a  number  of  different  articles  used  there  as 
money,  —  cakes  of  beeswax,  salt,  gold  dust,  cattle,  and  tin.^  The  tin  coins 
are  small  irregular  laminae  with  a  hole  in  the  center,  5600  of  them  being  worth 
a  dollar.  Brass  coins  which  come  down  from  the  Buddhist  sovereigns  of  Java 
are  still  met  with  ;  also  other  brass  coins  introduced  by  the  Mohammedan 
sovereigns.  In  the  museum  at  Vienna  copper  rings,  bound  into  a  circle, 
inclosed  in  a  fibrous  envelope,  are  another  form  of  money.  The  selection  of 
a  predominant  ware  is  shown  in  such  cases  as  the  one  described  in  Ling 
Roth.''  When  Low  was  at  Kiau,  in  1851,  beads  and  brass  wire  were  wanted. 
When  others  were  there  some  years  later  the  people  all  had  their  hearts  set 
on  brass  wire.  The  Englishmen  "  distributed  a  good  deal  of  cloth,  at 
reasonable  rates,  in  exchange  for  food  and  services  rendered."  In  1858  they 
found  that  even  brass  wire,  unless  of  very  great  size,  was  despised,  and  cloth 
was  eagerly  desired. 

1  Codrington,  Melanesians,  323.  ^  Ibid.,  339. 

2  Anier.  Anthrop.,  XI,  285.  ^  Itidiatt  Archipelago,  280. 

3  Marco  Polo,  II,  18.  '  Sarawak,  II,  234. 

4  JAI,  XII,  373. 


I50 


FOLKWAYS 


One  thing  which  helped  the  selection  of  a  predominant  ware  was  that  only 
a  specified  article  would  make  peace,  atbne  for  a  wrong,  compose  a  quarrel, 
or  ransom  a  captive.  Also  various  articles  obtained  such  prestige,  on  account 
of  age  and  the  glory  of  ancestors,  that  the  possession  of  them  conferred 
authority  and  social  importance  on  their  owners.  Such  are  porcelain  jars  in 
Borneo,  bronze  drums  in  Burma,  bronze  cannon  in  the  East- Indian  Archi- 
pelago. Many  African  chiefs  stored  up  ivory  tusks  for  social  prestige  long 
before  the  white  men  came  and  gave  them  value  in  world  commerce.^ 

149,  Stone  money  in  Melanesia.  We  must,  however,  turn  our  attention 
to  Melanesia  where  the  shell  and  stone  money  have  been  pushed  to  a  most 
remarkable  development,  quite  out  of  line  with  the  rest  of  the  Melanesian 
civilization.  On  the  Solomon  Islands  there  are  some  petty  reef  communities 
which  occupy  themselves  solely  with  fishing  and  making  shell-bead  money.^ 
On  New  Britain  divarra  is  made  by  boring  and  stringing  fathoms  of  shell 
money.  A  fathom  is  worth  two  shillings  sterling,  and  two  hundred  and  fifty 
fathoms  coiled  up  together  looks  like  a  life  buoy.^  In  the  northwestern 
Solomon  Islands  the  currency  consists  of  beasts'  teeth  of  two  kinds,  —  those 
of  a  kind  of  flying  dog  and  of  a  kind  of  dolphin.  Each  tooth  is  bored  at  the 
root  and  they  are  strung  on  thin  cords.  These  people  also  use  the  small  disks 
of  shell,  five  millimeters  in  diameter  and  from  one  to  one  and  a  half  miillimeters 
thick.*  The  shell  money  of  New  Britain  has  very  great  influence  on  the 
lives  of  the  people.  It  minimizes  the  evil  and  fatality  of  war,  in  which  every 
life  and  every  wound  must  be  paid  for.  It  establishes  the  right  of  property. 
It  makes  the  people  frugal  and  industrious,  and  makes  them  a  commercial 
people.  To  it  may  also  be  attributed  their  selfishness  and  ingratitude.  "  Its 
influence  is  supposed  to  extend  even  to  the  next  life.  There  is  not  a  custom 
connected  with  life  or  death  in  which  this  money  does  not  play  a  great  and 
leading  part.  .  .  .  Take  away  their  money  and  their  secret  societies  sink 
at  once  into  nothing,  and  most  of  their  customs  become  nothing."  =  Evidently 
the  missionary  testifies  that  the  money  stimulates  commercialism  with  all 
its  good  and  ill.  Coils  of  feathers  which  are  spoken  of  as  money  are  also 
reported  from  the  New  Hebrides  and  Santa  Cruz.  Feathers  are  attached 
with  resin  to  the  outside  of  coils,  inside  of  which  are  charms,  each  possess- 
ing a  protective  property.  This  money  is  very  rare  and,  if  shown,  may  be 
handled  only  by  the  owner.^  Our  information  as  to  the  commercial  uses  and 
effects  of  these  island  shell  moneys  is  very  imperfect.  The  money  seems  to  be 
still  on  the  stage  of  gems.  It  is  used  to  buy  steps  of  rank  in  the  secret  society, 
which   cost  pigs  and  money  and   mark  social   importance,  which   is,  like 

^  Schurz,  13. 

2  Woodford,  A'atiiralist  ainongst  Head-Hiniters,  16. 

^  Cayley-Webster,  N'ezu  Guinea  and  Can7iibal  Coictiiries,  93. 

*  Parkinson,  Ethnbg.  d.  Nordwestl.  Salonio  Ins.,  22. 

5  JAI,  XVII,  314,  316. 

6  JAI,  XXVIII,  164. 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  EXISTENCE  151 

other  forms  of  force,  regarded  as  supernatural.    Rank  can  be  gained  only  by 
the  consent  of  those  who  already  have  it.^ 

150.  Plutocratic  effects  of  money.  It  must  not  be  understood 
that  the  money,  on  the  barbaric  stage,  enters  into  the  struggle 
for  existence,  at  least  for  food.  There  is  only  slight  organization 
of  labor.  Each  one  produces  what  he  needs.  There  is  little 
luxury.  "  Nevertheless,  money  plays  the  chief  role  in  the  life 
of  the  people.  The  man,  regarded  as  an  animal,  has  enough  to 
do  to  support  life.  If  he  wants  a  wife,  wants  to  found  a  family, 
wants  to  be  a  member  of  the  state,  he  must  have  money."  ^  It  is 
evident  that  the  circulation  of  this  money  must  produce  phe- 
nomena which  are  unfamiliar  to  us. 

The  estimate  placed  by  the  Solomon  Islanders  on  great  stones  of  arag- 
onite,  obtained  in  the  southern  Palau  islands,  is  such  that  they  incur  great 
risks  in  going  to  get  them  in  their  frail  boats. ^  The  pieces  have  the  appear- 
ance of  our  own  grindstones.  They  are  set  in  rows  by  the  men's  clubhouses, 
and  are  in  care  of  the  chiefs.  Christian  mentions  two  of  the  Big  Houses 
on  Yap  with  stone  money  piled  against  the  foundations.  One  piece  was 
twelve  feet  in  diameter  and  one  and  a  half  feet  thick,  and  had  a  hole  in 
the  center  two  and  a  half  feet  in  diameter.*  A  certain  Captain  O'Keefe,  in 
1882,  fitted  out  a  Chinese  vessel  and  brought  thousands  of  pieces  of  money 
from  Palau  to  Yap.  He  brought  the  whole  island  in  debt  to  himself.  Now- 
adays they  want  big  stones.  Such  six  feet  in  diameter  are  not  rare.  This 
kind  of  money  is  the  money  of  the  men  ;  that  of  the  women  is  of  mussel 
shells  strung  on  strings.  The  exchange  of  a  big  piece  for  smaller  kinds  of 
money  involves  considerations  of  rank.  Two  of  equal  rank,  and  well  dis- 
posed, exchange  by  dignity  ;  if  one  is  inferior,  the  good  will  of  the  other  is 
requisite.  The  glass  and  porcelain  money  on  Yap  must  have  come  from 
China  or  Japan.  It  has  controlled  the  social  development  of  the  islands. 
It  is  also  noticeable  that  other  things  of  high  utility,  e.g.  the  wooden 
vessels  in  which  yellow  powder  is  prepared,  or  in  which  food  is  set  forth 
at  feasts,  are  made  the  objects  of  exchange,  and,  at  the  making  of  peace 
after  a  fight,  or  at  other  negotiations,  affect  the  relations  of  tribes.^  At  the 
present  time  bags  of  dried  cocoanut  are  employed  as  a  medium  of  exchange, 
probably  in  intergroup  trade. ^  What  Kubary^says  about  the  use  of  the 
money  shows   that  it  has  no  proper  circulation.     It  accumulates  in    the 

^  JAI,  X,  287.  5  Kubary,  Karolitiena^xhipel. 

2  Kubary,  Karolinenarchipel.,  2.  ^  Christian,  Carolme  Isl.,  237. 

^  Semper,  Palau  Inseln,  167.  "^  Die  Soc.  Einrichtiingen  d.  Pelaiier. 

*  Ca7-oline  Isl.,  259. 


152  FOLKWAYS 

hands  of  the  great  men,  since  it  is  used  to  pay  fees,  fines,  gifts,  tribute,  etc. 
The  armengol  women,  marriages,  and  public  festivals  start  it  out  again, 
and  on  its  way  back  it  performs  many  social  services.  It  is  also  reasonable 
to  suppose  that,  having  got  a  footing  on  these  islands,  it  spread  to  others 
by  social  contagion.  This  explains  the  presence  of  a  general  medium  of 
exchange  amongst  people  who  are  otherwise  barely  out  of  the  stone  age.^ 
The  tales  about  the  crimes  which  have  been  connected  with  the  history  of 
great  pieces  of  the  aragonite  stone  '^  remind  us  of  the  stories  about  the 
greatest  diamonds  yet  found. 

151.  Money  in  northwestern  North  America.  In  South  America  noth- 
ing served  the  purposes  of  money.  There  was  none  in  Peru.  Metal,  if  they 
had  any,  was  used  by  all  for  ornament.^  Martius,  however,  says  of  the 
Mauhes  that  they  used  seeds  of  paullinia  sorbilis  as  money.  They  obtained 
from  the  seeds  a  remedy  for  skin  disease  and  diarrhoea.'*  The  Nishinam 
of  California  bad  two  kinds  of  shell  money,  ullo  and  hawok.  The  former 
consists  of  pieces,  one  or  two  inches  long  and  one  third  of  that  in  width, 
strung  on  a  fiber.  The  pieces  of  shell  take  a  high  polish  and  make  a  fine 
necklace.  The  hawok  is  small  money  by  comparison.  A  string  of  the  large 
kind  was  worth  ten  dollars.  It  consisted  of  ten  pieces.  A  string  of  one 
hundred  and  seventy-seven  pieces  of  the  small  kind  sold  for  seven  dollars. 
In  early  days  every  Indian  in  California  had,  on  an  average,  one  hundred 
dollars'  worth  of  the  shell  money,  the  value  of  two  women  (although  they 
did  not  buy  wives)  or  three  average  ponies.^  The  Hupa  of  California 
will  not  sell  to  an  American  the  flakes  of  jasper  or  obsidian  which  they 
parade  at  their  dances.  They  are  not  knives,  but  jewelry  and  money  amongst 
themselves.  Nearly  every  man  has  ten  lines  tattooed  across  the  inside  of  his 
left  arm.  A  string  of  five  shells  is  the  standard  unit.  It  is  drawn  over  the 
left  thumb  nail.  If  it  reaches  the  uppermost  tattooed  line  it  is  worth  five 
dollars  per  shell.^  They  also  grind  down  pieces  of  stone  which  looks  like 
meershaum  into  cylinders  one  to  three  inches  long,  which  they  wear  as  jew- 
elry and  use  as  money.''  The  Eskimo  of  Alaska  used  skins  as  money.  Here 
the  effect  of  intergroup  trade  has  been  to  change  the  skin  which  was  taken 
as  the  unit.  It  is  now  the  beaver.  Other  skins  are  rated  as  multiples  or 
submultiples  of  this.^  In  Washington  Territory  dentalium  and  abelone  shells 
were  the  money,  also  slaves,  skins,  and  blankets,  until  the  closer  contact  with 
whites  produced  changes.^  The  Karok  use  as  money  the  red  scalps  of  wood- 
peckers which  are  rated  at  from  $2.50  to  $^.00  each,  and  also  dentalium 
shells  of  which  they  grind  off  the  tip.  The  shortest  pieces  are  worth  twenty- 
five  cents,  the  longest  about  two  dollars.  The  strings  are  generally  about  the 

1  Pfeil,  Aus  der  Siidsee,  112.  ^  Ibid.,  76,  79. 

2  Semper,  Palaii  Itis.,  118.  "^  Smithson.  Rep.,  18S6,  Part  I,  232. 

3  Martius,  Ethnog.  Brasil.,  91.  «  Bur.  Eth.,  XVIII,  Part  I,  232. 

*  Ibid.,  402.  9  S7nithso7i.  Rep.,  1887,  Part  I,  647. 

^  Powers,  Calif.  I>tdians,  335. 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  EXISTENCE  1 53 

length  of  a  man's  arm.  They  were  worth  forty  or  fifty  dollars  a  string,  but 
have  fallen  in  value,  especially  amongst  the  young.^  The  copper  plates 
which  are  so  highly  valued  on  the  northwestern  coast  may  be  esteemed  holy 
on  account  of  the  ring  in  them.  Slaves  are  killed  and  their  flesh  is  used 
as  bait  in  catching  the  dentalium  snails,  perhaps  in  order  to  get  a  mystic 
idea  into  the  shells  of  the  snails. ^ 

152.  Wampumpeag  and  roanoke.  On  the  Atlantic  coast  shell  money 
was  made  on  Long  Island  Sound  and  at  Narragansett  from  the  shell  of  the 
round  clam,  in  two  colors,  white  and  purple,  the  latter  from  the  dark  spot 
in  the  shell.  These  were  bugles,  the  hole  running  in  the  thickness  of  the 
shell.  They  were  called  wampumpeag,  were  sewed  on  deer  or  other  fine 
skins,  and  the  belts  thus  made  were  used  to  emphasize  points  in  nego- 
tiation or  in  treaties,  or  in  speeches.  Farther  down  the  coast  beads  were 
made  like  flat  button  molds,  with  holes  bored  through  them  perpendicularly 
to  the  plane  of  the  shell,  and  called  roanoke.  These  beads,  of  both  kinds, - 
but  especially  of  the  former  kind,  spread  by  exchange  into  the  Mississippi 
Valley,  and  in  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century  they  had  reached  the 
upper  waters  of  the  Missouri  River. 

153,  Ring  money;  use  of  metal.  The  standpoint  of  the  Vedic  hymns  is 
that  the  cow  is  the  real  measure  of  value,  but  metal,  especially  gold,  is 
used  for  money  in  the  payment  of  penalties  and  weregild.  The  objects  at 
stake  in  formulEe  of  oaths  and  of  duels  were  estimated  in  gold.^  There  was 
therefore  a  pure  gold  currency.  In  ancient  India,  however,  silver  and 
copper  were  also  used  and  locally  some  coins  of  lead  and  mixed  metals 
occurred.  In  value  one  of  gold  equaled  ten  of  silver,  and  one  of  silver 
forty  of  copper.*  The  most  ancient  money  of  China  consisted  of  shells,^ 
also  of  knives  and  dress  patterns  of  silk.^  The  knives  had  rings  at  the  end 
of  the  handle  and  were  gradually  reduced  to  rings  of  metal  as  money.''  The 
same  ancient  king  who  established  measures  of  length  and  capacity  is  the 
legendary  author  of  money  (2697  B.C.).  He  fixed  the  five  objects  of 
exchange,  —  beads,  jade,  gold,  knives,  textiles.  The  sign  for  money  was 
combined  of  the  signs  for  "  shell  "  and  "  to  exchange."  ^  We  hear  that  the 
Chinese  emperor,  119  B.C.,  gave  to  his  vassals  squares  of  white  deerskin, 
about  one  foot  on  a  side,  embroidered  on  the  hem.  He  who  had  one  of 
these  could  get  an  audience  of  the  emperor.^  We  are  inclined  to  connect 
with  that  usage  the  use  of  a  scarf  of  bluish-white  silk  in  central  Asia,  which 
was  used  in  all  greetings  and  ceremonies.  A  certain  quality  of  this  scarf 
was  used  in  places  as  the  unit  of  value. ^**    Przewalsky  mentions  the  chadak 

^  Powers,  21.  ^  Ridgeway,  21. 

2  Schurz,  25.  ^  Vissering,  Chinese  Currency. 

8  Jolly,  Recht  tind  Siite,  96.  ''  Ridgeway,  156. 

*  JASB,  II,  214. 

^  Puini,  Le  Origine  della  Civilth,  64 ;  Century  Diet.,  s.v.  "  Knife-money." 

^  Vissering,  Chinese  Cnrreticy,  38.  ^o  U.S.Nat.  Mus.,    1893,  l-i- 


154  FOLKWAYS 

which  is  given  to  every  guest  in  southern  Mongolia,  for  which  another  must 
be  given  in  return.  In  Chalcha  chadaks  are  used  as  money,  not  as  gifts. ^  An 
intragroup  money  of  copper  or  brass  rings  is  also  reported  from  Korintji  on 
Sumatra.  They  are  cast  of  three  sizes,  so  that  one  hundred  and  twenty, 
three  hundred  and  sixty,  and  four  hundred  and  eighty  are  required  to 
equal  a  Dutch  gulden.'^  In  the  Old  Testament  the  bride  price  and  pen- 
alties were  to  be  paid  in  money. ^  Gifts  and  fees  to  the  sanctuary  were 
to  be  paid  in  kind.*  If  the  sacrificer  wished  to  redeem  his  animal,  etc.,  he 
must  pay  twenty  per  cent  more  than  the  priest's  assessment  of  it.^  Until 
the  Exile  the  precious  metals  were  paid  by  weight.*^  The  rings  represented 
on  the  Egyptian  monuments  were  of  wire  with  a  round  section.  Those 
found  by  Schliemann  at  Mykenae  are  similar,  or  they  are  spirals  of  wire.'' 
In  Homer  cattle  are  the  unit  of  value,  but  metals  are  used  as  media.  The 
talent  is  mentioned  only  in  reference  to  gold.**  Possibly  Schurz  is  right  in 
supposing  that  fluctuations  in  the  value  of  cattle  and  sheep  forced  the 
classical  nations  to  use  metal. ^  The  metals  were  in  the  shape  of  caldrons 
or  tripods,  in  which  fines  were  imposed.  They  may  have  been  accumu- 
lated because  used  as  money,  or  a  great  man  who  had  many  clients  may 
have  needed  many  for  meals. ^^  "  The  transition  from  the  old  simple  mode 
of  exchange  to  the  use  of  currency  can  nowhere  be  better  traced  than 
amongst  the  Romans."  Fines  were  set  in  cattle  or  sheep,  but  copper  was 
used  as  well,  weighed  when  sold.  Then  the  state  set  the  shape  and  fineness 
of  the  bars  and  stamped  them  with  the  mark  of  a  sheep  or  ox.  Later  the 
copper  was  marked  to  indicate  its  value,  and  so  money  was  reached. ^^ 
Amongst  Germans  and  Scandinavians  the  cow  was  the  primitive  unit  of 
value. 1'^  It  was  superseded  by  metals  used  in  rings  to  make  out  the  fractions. ^'^ 

154.  The  evolution  of  money.  It  is  evident  that  money  was 
developed  out  of  trade  by  instinctive  operations  of  interest,  and 
that  money  existed  long  before  the  idea  of  it  was  formed.  The 
separate  operations  were  stimulated  only  by  the  most  immediate 

1  First  Journey  (Germ.),  6i. 

2  Globus,  LXXVI,  372. 

3  Exod.  xxii.  16;  xxi.  36. 
*  Deut.  xiv.  24. 

^  Levit.  xxvii.  13,  15,  19. 

6  Buhl,  Soc.   Verhdlt.  der  Isr.,  95. 

■^  Ridgeway,  Origin  of  Currency  and  Weight  Standards,  36. 

^  Ridgeway,  3. 

9  Schurz,  15. 

10  Babelon,  Origines  de  la  Monnaie,  72. 

11  Schrader,  Prehist.  Antiq.  of  Aryans,  153;   Ridgeway,  31. 

12  Weinhold,  D.  F.,  II,  52. 

13  Geijer,  Sveriges  Historie,  I,  327  ;  Sophus  Midler,  Vor  Oldtid,  409. 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  EXISTENCE  155 

and  superficial  desires,  but  they  set  supply  and  demand  in 
motion  and  produced  economic  value  thousands  of  years  before 
any  man  conceived  of  value.  The  rational  analysis  of  value  and 
money  is  not  yet  satisfactorily  made.  There  are,  therefore,  points 
of  view  in  which  money  is  the  most  marvelous  product  of  the 
folkways.  The  unconsciousness  of  the  operation  and  the  second- 
ary results  of  it  are  here  in  the  strongest  contrast.  Inside  of  the 
we-group  useful  property  was  shared  or  exchanged  in  an  infinite 
variety  of  ways,  according  to  variations  of  circumstances.  We 
cannot  follow  the  customs  which  thence  arose,  because  the  phe- 
nomena have  been  reported  to  us  without  distinction  between 
intragroup  and  intergroup  transactions.  We  see  groups  of 
predominant  wares  set  out  in  intergroup  trade,  and  only  slowly 
is  a  smaller  number  segregated  to  be  the  general  terms  of  every 
trade.  The  inconvenience  of  barter  was  only  slowly  felt,  and 
could  not  have  been  a  motive  until  trade  was  customary  and 
familiar.  In  intragroup  exchanges  the  predominant  ware  was 
more  easily  differentiated.  It  was  the  thing  greatly  desired. 
Here  the  amulet-trophy-ornament  was  important  for  the  elements 
of  superstition,  vanity,  and  magic  which  it  bore.  In  intergroup 
trade  the  utility  of  the  object  predominated.  It  was  sought  in 
journeys  only  for  its  utility,  and  in  that  trade  the  transactions 
first  became  impersonal.  In  the  selection  of  leading  wares  indi- 
viduals could  not  experiment  for  their  own  risk.  By  taking  what 
each  wanted  at  a  time  selection  at  last  resulted,  and  when  we 
are  told  that  a  certain  group  uses  this  or  that  group  of  articles 
for  money,  we  are  told  only  what  articles  predominate  in  their 
desires  or  transactions  ;  in  other  words,  what  stage  in  the  selec- 
tion of  a  money  they  have  reached.  It  is  evident  that  this  entire 
operation  was  an  impersonal  and  unregulated  play  of  custom, 
which  went  through  a  long  and  varying  evolution,  but  kept  its 
authority  all  the  time  and  at  every  stage.  The  persistence  of  the 
word  "shilling"  in  our  language  is  a  striking  proof  of  the  power 
of  custom  —  above  all,  popular  custom  —  in  connection  with 
money.  The  metric  system  was  invented  to  be  a  rational  sys- 
tem, but  the  populace  has  insisted  on  dividing  kilograms  and 
liters  into  halves  and  quarters.    Language,  money,  and  weights 


156  FOLKWAYS 

and  measures  are  things  which  show  the  power  of  popular  cus- 
tom more  than  any  others.  The  selection  of  predominant  wares 
reached  its  acme  in  the  selection  of  one^  not  necessarily  the  com- 
modity most  desired,  but,  after  the  function  of  money  is  per- 
ceived, the  one  which  performs  it  best.  To  return  and  take  up 
a  greater  number  is  to  go  backward  on  the  path  of  civilization. 
155.  The  ethical  functions  of  money.  From  shells  to  gold  the 
ethics  of  social  relations  has  clung  to  money.  There  is  more  pure 
plutocracy  in  Melanesia  than  in  New  York.  The  differentiation 
of  men  by  wealth  is  greatly  aided  by  money,  because  money  adds 
immensely  to  the  mobility  of  wealth  and  lets  all  forces  reach 
their  full  effect  in  transactions.  The  social  effect  of  debt  is  best 
seen  in  barbarous  societies  which  have  money.  Debt  and  war 
together  made  slavery.^  It  is,  however,  an  entire  mistake  to 
regard  a  money-system  as  in  itself  a  mischief-working  system. 
The  effect  of  money  is  exhausted  when  we  notice  that  it  makes 
wealth  mobile  and  lets  forces  work  out  their  full  result  by 
removing  friction.  So  soon  as  there  is  a  money  there  is  a 
chance  for  exchanges  of  money  for  goods  and  goods  for  money, 
also  for  the  loan  and  repayment  of  money  at  different  times, 
under  which  transactions  interests  may  change  and  speculation 
can  arise.  These  facts  have  always  interested  the  ethical  philos- 
ophers. "  Naught  hath  grown  current  amongst  mankind  so 
mischievous  as  money.  This  brings  cities  to  their  fall.  This 
drives  men  homeless,  and  moves  honest  minds  to  base  contrivings. 
This  hath  taught  mankind  the  use  of  villainies,  and  how  to  give 
an  impious  turn  to  every  kind  of  act."  ^  In  such  diatribes 
"  money  "  stands  for  wealth  in  general.  Money,  properly  speak- 
ing, has  no  more  character  than  axes  of  stone,  bronze,  iron,  or 
steel.  It  only  does  its  own  work  impersonally  and  mechanically. 
The  ethical  functions  and  character  ascribed  to  it  are  entirely 
false.  There  can  be  no  such  thing  as  "  tainted  money."  Money 
bears  no  taint.  It  serves  the  murderer  and  the  saint  with  equal 
indifference.  It  is  a  tool.  It  can  be  used  one  day  for  a  crime, 
the  next  day  for  the  most  beneficent  purpose.    No  use  leaves 

1  See  Chapter  VI. 

2  Sophokles,  Antigone,  292  (Campbell's  trans.). 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  EXISTENCE  157 

any  mark  on  it.  The  Solomon  Islanders  are  expert  merchants  and 
"are  fully  the  equal  of  white  men  in  cheating."^  They  do  it 
with  shell  money  as  whites  do  it  with  gold,  silver,  and  banknotes. 
That  is  to  say,  the  "  money  "  is  indifferent  because  it  has  no 
ethical  function  at  all  and  absolutely  no  character. 

156.  There  are  other  topics  which  might  be  brought  under 
the  struggle  for  existence  as  a  cluster  of  folkways,  with  great 
advantage.  The  struggle  for  existence  takes  on  many  different 
forms  and  produces  phenomena  which  are  cases  of  folkways.  It 
speedily  develops  industrial  organization,  which,  in  one  point  of 
view,  is  only  the  interaction  of  folkways.  Weights  and  measures, 
the  measurement  of  time,  the  communication  of  intelligence,  and 
trade  are  primary  folkways  in  their  earliest  forms  and  deserve 
careful  study  as  such. 

1  JAI,  XXVI,  405. 


CHAPTER    IV 

LABOR,  WEALTH 

Introduction.  —  Notions  of  labor.  —  Classical  and  mediceval  notions.  — 
Labor  has  always  existed.  —  Modern  view  of  labor.  —  Movable  capital  in 
modern  society  ;  conditions  of  equality  ;  present  temporary  status  of  the 
demand  for  men.  —  Effect  of  the  facility  of  winning  wealth.  —  Chances  of 
acquiring  wealth  in  modern  times  ;  effect  on  modern  mores  ;  speculation 
involved  in  any  change.  - —  Mores  conform  to  changes  in  life  conditions  ; 
great  principles;  their  value  and  fate.  —  The  French  revolution.  —  Ruling 
classes ;  special  privileges ;  corruption  of  the  mores.  —  The  standard 
of  living. 

157.  The  topics  treated  in  Chapter  III  —  tools,  language,  and 
money  —  belong  almost  entirely  in  the  folkways.  The  element  of 
esteem  for  tools  is  sometimes  very  great.  They  are  made  divine 
and  receive  worship.  Nevertheless,  there  is  little  reflection  stimu- 
lated to  produce  a  sense  of  their  importance  to  welfare.  There- 
fore the  moral  element  pertaining  to  the  mores  is  not  prominent 
in  them.  When  the  moral  element  exists  at  all  in  regard  to  tools, 
language,  or  money,  it  is  independent  and  rises  to  the  conception 
of  prosperity,  its  sense  and  conditions.  There  are  notions  at  all 
stages  of  civilization  about  productive  labor  and  wealth,  as  parts 
of  the  fate  of  man  on  earth  and  of  the  conditions  of  his  happi- 
ness and  welfare.  At  this  point  they  take  the  character  of  a 
philosophy,  and  are  turned  back  on  the  work,  as  regulative 
notions  of  how,  and  how  much,  to  work.  The  mores  of  the 
struggle  for  existence  are  in  those  notions.  From  the  time 
when  men  had  any  accumulated  wealth  they  seem  to  have  been 
struck  by  its  effect  on  the  character  of  the  possessor.  The 
creature  seemed  to  be  stronger  than  the  creator.  Here  ethical 
reflections  began.  They  have  been  more  actively  produced  since 
it  has  been  possible  for  men  to  acquire  wealth  in  a  lifetime  by 
their    own  efforts.     Envy   has   been   awakened,  and   has   been 

158 


LABOR,  WEALTH  1 59 

gratified  by  theoretical  discussions  of  the  power,  rights,  and  duties 
of  wealth.  When  wealth  was  due  to  the  possession  of  land  or 
to  the  possession  of  rank  and  political  power,  the  facts  about 
its  distribution  seemed  to  be  like  the  differences  in  health, 
strength,  beauty,  etc.  It  now  appears  that  the  ethics  of  poverty 
are  as  well  worth  studying  as  those  of  wealth,  and  that,  in  short, 
every  man's  case  brings  its  own  ethics,  or  that  there  are  no 
ethics  at  all  in  the  matter.  The  ideas,  however,  which  are 
current  in  the  society  at  the  time  are  conditions  for  the 
individual,  and  they  are  a  part  of  the  mores  of  the  environment 
in  which  the  struggle  for  existence  must  be  carried  on. 

158.  Notions  of  labor.  Nature  peoples  generally  regard  pro- 
ductive labor  as  the  business  of  women,  unworthy  of  men.  The 
Jews  believed  in  a  God  who  worked  six  days  and  rested  on  the 
seventh.  He  differed  from  the  Olympian  gods  of  Greece,  who 
were  revelers,  and  from  Buddha  who  tried  to  do  nothing,  or 
from  Brahma  who  was  only  Thought.  The  Sabbath  of  rest 
implied  other  days  of  labor.  In  the  book  of  Proverbs  idleness  is 
denounced  as  the  cause  of  poverty  and  want.^  Many  passages 
are  cited  from  the  rabbinical  literature  in  honor  of  productive 
labor  and  in  disapproval  of  idleness.^  In  Book  II,  Chapter  62, 
of  the  Apostolic  Constitutions,  the  basis  of  which  is  a  Jewish 
work,  it  is  taught  that  gainful  occupations  should  be  incidental 
and  that  the  worship  of  God  should  be  the  main  work  of  life. 
Hellenic  shows  and  theaters  are  to  be  avoided.  To  this  the 
Christian  editor  added  heathen  shows  and  sports  of  any  kind. 
Young  men  ought  to  work  to  earn  their  own  support.  The 
Zoroastrian  religion  was  a  developed  form  of  the  strife  between 
good  forces  and  evil  forces.  The  good  men  must  enUst  on  the 
side  of  the  good  forces.  This  religion  especially  approved  all  the 
economic  virtues,  and  productive  efforts,  like  the  clearing  of 
waste  land,  or  other  labor  to  increase  favorable  conditions  and 
to  overcome  harmful  or  obstructive  influences,  were  religious, 
and  were  counted  as  help  to  the  good  forces. 

1  Prov.  xxiv.  30. 

'^Jewish  Encyc,  s.v.  "  Labor."  The  same  view  is  found  in  2  Thess.  iii.  10,  and 
Eph.  iv.  28. 


l6o  FOLKWAYS 

159.  Classical  and  mediaeval  notions  of  labor.  The  Greeks  and 
Romans  regarded  all  labor  for  gain  as  degrading.  The  Greeks 
seem  to  have  reached  this  opinion  through  a  great  esteem  for 
intellectual  pursuits,  which  they  thought  means  of  cultivation. 
The  gainful  occupations,  or  any  occupations  pursued  for  gain, 
were  "  banausic,"  which  meant  that  they  had  an  effect  opposite  to 
that  of  cultivation.  The  Romans  seem  to  have  adopted  the  Greek 
view,  but  they  were  prepared  for  it  by  militarism.  The  Middle 
Ages  got  the  notion  of  labor  from  the  Roman  tradition.  They 
mixed  this  with  the  biblical  view.  Labor  was  a  necessity,  as  a 
consequence  and  penalty  of  sin,  and  directly  connected,  as  a 
curse,  with  the  "  Fall."  It  was  correlative  to  a  curse  on  the 
ground,  by  which,  also  as  a  curse  for  sin,  it  was  made  hard  to 
win  subsistence  by  agriculture.  The  mediaeval  philosophers, 
being  clerics,  held  a  life  of  contemplation  to  be  far  superior  to 
one  of  labor  or  fighting.  Labor  was  at  best  an  evil  necessity,  a 
hardship,  a  symptom  of  the  case  of  man,  alienated  from  God  and 
toiling  to  get  back,  if  there  was  a  way  to  get  back,  to  the  kingdom 
of  God.  The  church  offered  a  way  to  get  back,  namely,  by  sacra- 
ments, devotion,  ritual,  etc.,  that  is,  by  a  technically  religious  life, 
which  could  be  lived  successfully  only  if  practiced  exclusively. 
It  occupied  all  the  time  of  the  "  religious,"  technically  so 
called.  Labor  was  used  for  penance  and  for  ascetic  purposes. 
Often  it  was  employed  for  useful  results  and  with  beneficial 
effect  on  useful  arts.  The  purpose,  however,  was  to  ward  off 
the  vices  of  leisure.  The  ascetic  temper  and  taste  made  labor 
sweet,  so  long  as  asceticism  ruled  the  mores  of  the  age.^  Labor 
for  economic  production  was  not  appreciated  by  the  church. 
The  production  of  wealth  was  not  a  religious  purpose.  It  was 
even  discouraged,  since  disapproval  of  wealth  and  luxury  was 
one  of  the  deep  controlling  principles  of  mediaeval  Christianity. 
The  unreality  of  mediaeval  world  philosophy  appeared  most  dis- 
tinctly in  the  views  of  marriage  and  labor,  the  two  chief  interests 
of  everyday  life.  Marriage  was  a  concession,  a  compromise  with 
human  weakness.  There  was  something  better,  viz.  celibacy. 
Labor  was  a  base  necessity.    Contemplation  was  better. 

1  Thomas  Aquinas,  Summa,  II,  2,  qu.  82,  i,  2  ;  qu.  187,  3. 


LABOR,  WEALTH  l6l 

160.  Labor  has  always  existed.  Wealth  became  possible.  Land. 

In  all  these  cases  the  view  of  labor  was  dogmatic.  It  was 
enjoined  by  religion.  There  was  some  sense  and  truth  in  each 
view,  but  each  was  incomplete.  The  pursuit  of  gainful  effort  is 
as  old  as  the  existence  of  man  on  earth.  The  development  of 
trade  and  transportation,  slavery,  political  security,  and  the  inven- 
tion of  money  and  credit  are  steps  in  it  which  have  made  possible 
large  operations,  great  gains,  and  wealth.  Some  men  have 
seized  these  chances  and  have  made  a  powerful  class.  Rulers, 
chiefs,  and  medicine  men  have  observed  this  power  which  might 
either  enhance  or  supplant  their  own,  and  have  sought  to  win  it. 
In  all  primitive  agricultural  societies  land  is  the  only  possession 
which  can  yield  a  large  annual  revenue  for  comfort  and  power. 
The  mediaeval  people  of  all  classes  got  as  much  of  it  as  they 
could.  It  would  be  very  difficult  indeed  to  mention  any  time 
when  there  were  no  rich  men,  and  still  harder  to  mention  a  time 
when  the  power  of  wealth  was  not  admired  and  envied,  and  given 
its  sway  (sec.  150).  Thus  the  religions  and  philosophies  may  have 
preached  various  doctrines  about  wealth,  and  may  have  found 
obedience,  but  the  production  of  wealth,  the  love  of  wealth,  and 
the  power  of  wealth  have  run  through  all  human  history.  The 
religions  and  philosophies  have  not  lacked  their  effect,  but  they 
have  always  had  to  compromise  with  facts,  just  as  we  see  them 
do  to-day.  The  compromise  has  been  in  the  mores.  In  so  far  as 
it  was  imperfect  and  only  partly  effected  there  have  been  con- 
tradictions in  the  mores.  Such  was  the  case  in  the  Middle  Ages. 
Wealth  had  great  power.  It  at  last  won  the  day.  In  the  fifteenth 
century  all  wanted  it,  and  were  ready  to  do  anything  to  get  it. 
Venality  became  the  leading  trait  of  the  mores  of  the  age.  It 
affected  the  interpretation  of  the  traditional  doctrines  of  labor, 
wealth,  the  highest  good,  and  of  virtue,  so  that  men  of  high  pur- 
pose and  honest  hearts  were  carried  away  while  professing  dis- 
regard of  wealth  and  luxury. 

161.  Modern  view  of  labor.  It  is  only  in  the  most  recent 
times,  and  imperfectly  as  yet,  that  labor  has  been  recognized  as 
a  blessing,  or,  at  worst,  as  a  necessity  which  has  great  moral 
and  social  compensations,  and  which,  if  rightly  understood  and 


1 62  FOLKWAYS 

wisely  used,  brings  joy  and  satisfaction.  This  can  only  be  true, 
however,  when  labor  is  crowned  by  achievement,  and  that  is 
when  it  is  productive  of  wealth.  Labor  for  the  sake  of  labor  is 
sport.  It  has  its  limits,  and  lies  outside  of  the  struggle  for 
existence,  which  is  real,  and  is  not  play.  Labor  in  the  struggle 
for  existence  is  irksome  and  painful,  and  is  never  happy  or 
reasonably  attractive  except  when  it  produces  results.  To  glorify 
labor  and  decry  wealth  is  to  multiply  absurdities.  The  modern 
man  is  set  in  a  new  dilemma.  The  father  labors,  wins,  and  saves 
that  his  son  may  have  wealth  and  leisure.  Only  too  often  the 
son  finds  his  inheritance  a  curse.  Where  is  the  error  .?  Shall 
the  fathers  renounce  their  labors  ? 

162.  Movable  capital  in  modern  society.  Conditions  of  equality. 
Present  temporary  status  of  the  demand  for  men.  In  modern 
times  movable  capital  has  been  immensely  developed  and  even 
fixed  capital  has  been  made  mobile  by  the  joint-stock  device. 
It  has  disputed  and  largely  defeated  the  social  power  of  land 
property.  It  has  become  the  social  power.  While  land  owners 
possessed  the  great  social  advantage,  they  could  form  a  class  of 
hereditary  nobles.  The  nobles  now  disappear  because  their  social 
advantage  is  gone.  The  modern  financiers,  masters  of  industry, 
merchants,  and  transporters  now  hold  control  of  movable  capi- 
tal. They  hold  social  and  political  power.  They  have  not  yet 
formed  a  caste  of  nobles,  but  they  may  do  so.  They  may, 
by  intermarriages,  absorb  the  remnants  of  the  old  nobility  and 
limit  their  marriages  further  to  their  own  set.  It  is  thus  that 
classes  form  and  reform,  as  new  groups  in  the  society  get  pos- 
session of  new  elements  of  social  power,  because  power  produces 
results.  The  dogmas  of  philosophers  deal  with  what  ought  to 
be.  What  is  and  shall  be  is  determined  by  the  forces  at  work. 
No  forces  appear  which  make  men  equal.  Temporary  conditions 
occur  under  which  no  forces  are  at  work  which  any  one  can  seize 
upon.  Then  no  superiority  tells,  and  all  are  approximately  equal. 
Such  conditions  exist  in  a  new  colony  or  state,  or  whenever  the 
ratio  of  population  to  land  is  small.  If  we  take  into  account 
the  reflex  effect  of  the  new  countries  on  Europe,  it  is  easy  to 
see  that  the  whole  civilized  world  has  been  under  these  conditions 


LABOR,  WEALTH  163 

for  the  last  two  hundred  or  three  hundred  years.  The  effect  of 
the  creation  of  an  immense  stock  of  movable  capital,  of  the 
opportunities  in  commerce  and  industry  offered  to  men  of  talent, 
of  the  immense  aid  of  science  to  industry,  of  the  opening  of  new 
continents  and  the  peopling  of  them  by  the  poorest  and  worst  in 
Europe,  has  been  to  produce  modern  mores.  All  our  popular 
faiths,  hopes,  enjoyments,  and  powers  are  due  to  these  great 
changes  in  the  conditions  of  life.  The  new  status  makes  us 
believe  in  all  kinds  of  rosy  doctrines  about  human  welfare,  and 
about  the  struggle  for  existence  and  the  competition  of  life  ;  it 
also  gives  us  all  our  contempt  for  old-fashioned  kings  and  nobles, 
creates  democracies,  and  brings  forth  new  social  classes  and  gives 
them,  power.  For  the  time  being  things  are  so  turned  about  that 
numbers  are  a  source  of  power.  Men  are  in  demand,  and  an 
increase  in  their  number  increases  their  value.  Why  then  should 
we  not  join  in  dithyrambic  oratory,  and  set  all  our  mores  to 
optimism  ?  The  reason  is  because  the  existing  status  is  tem- 
porary and  the  conditions  in  it  are  evanescent.  That  men  should 
be  in  demand  on  the  earth  is  a  temporary  and  passing  status  of 
the  conjuncture  which  makes  things  now  true  which  in  a  wider 
view  are  delusive.  These  facts,  however,  will  not  arrest  the 
optimism,  the  self-confidence,  the  joy  in  life,  and  the  eagerness  for 
the  future,  of  the  masses  of  to-day. 

163.  Effect  of  the  facility  of  winning  wealth.  All  the  changes 
in  conditions  of  life  in  the  last  four  hundred  years  have  refash- 
ioned the  mores  and  given  modern  society  new  ideas,  standards, 
codes,  philosophies,  and  religions.  Nothing  acts  more  directly 
on  the  mores  than  the  facility  with  which  great  numbers  of 
people  can  accumulate  wealth  by  industry.  If  it  is  difficult  to 
do  so,  classes  become  fixed  and  stable.  Then  there  will  be  an 
old  and  stiff  aristocracy  which  will  tolerate  no  upstarts,  and 
other  classes  will  settle  into  established  gradations  of  depend- 
ence. The  old  Russian  boyars  were  an  example  of  such  an  aris- 
tocracy. Certain  mediaeval  cities  ran  into  this  form.  In  it  the 
mores  of  conservatism  are  developed,  —  unchangeable  man- 
ners, fixed  usages  and  ideas,  unenlightenment,  refusal  of  new 
ideas,  subserviency  of  the  lower  classes,  and  sycophancy.     The 


1 64  FOLKWAYS 

government  is  suspicious  and  cruel.  If  it  is  easily  possible  to  gain 
wealth,  a  class  of  upstart  rich  men  arises  who,  in  a  few  years, 
must  be  recognized  by  the  aristocracy,  because  they  possess 
financial  power  and  are  needed.  Struggles  and  civil  wars  may 
occur,  as  in  the  Italian  cities,  during  this  change,  and  the  old 
aristocracy  may  long  hold  aloof  from  the  new.  In  time,  the  new 
men  win  their  way.  The  history  of  every  state  in  Europe  proves 
it.  Old  fortunes  decay  and  old  families  die  out.  The  result  is 
inevitable.  Laws  and  institutions  cannot  prevent  it.  Certain 
mores  may  have  been  recognized  as  aristocratic  and  there  may 
be  lamentations  over  their  decline.  They  are  poetic,  romantic, 
and  adventurous.  Therefore  they  call  out  regret  for  their  loss 
from  those  who  do  not  think  what  would  come  back  with  them 
if  they  were  recalled.  Ethical  philosophers  may  see  ample  reason 
to  doubt  the  benefit  of  new  mores  and  the  vulgarization  of  every- 
thing. Society  cannot  stand  still,  and  its  movement  will  run 
the  course  set  by  the  forces  which  produce  it.  It  must  be 
accepted  and  profit  must  be  drawn  from  it,  as  best  possible. 

164.  Chances  of  acquiring  wealth  in  modern  times ;  effect  on 
modern  mores  ;  speculation  involved  in  any  change.  The  effect 
of  the  opening  of  new  continents,  the  application  of  new  inven- 
tions, and  the  expansion  of  commerce  has  been  to  make  it  easy 
for  men  with  suitable  talent  to  increase  wealth.  These  changes 
have  cheapened  all  luxuries,  that  is,  have  reduced  them  to  com- 
mon necessities.  They  have  made  land  easily  accessible  to  all, 
even  the  poorest,  in  the  new  countries,  while  lowering  rent  in 
old  countries.  They  have  raised  wages  and  raised  the  standard 
of  living  and  comfort.  They  have  lessened  the  competition  of 
life  throughout  civilized  nations,  and  have  made  the  struggle  for 
existence  far  less  severe.  It  is  the  changes  in  life  conditions 
which  have  made  slavery  impossible  and  extended  humanitarian 
sympathy.  They  have  lessened  social  differentiation  (that  is,  they 
have  democratized),  and  they  have  intensified  the  industrial 
organization.  In  detail,  and  for  individuals,  this  has  often  caused 
hardship.  For  the  petty  professional  and  semiprofessional  classes 
it  has  been  made  harder  to  keep  up  the  externals  of  a  certain 
social   position.    For  those  classes   the  standard  of  living  has 


LABOR,  WEALTH  1 65 

risen  faster  than  steam  has  cheapened  luxuries.  Discontent, 
anxiety,  care  for  appearances,  desire  to  impose  by  display,  envy, 
and  mean  social  ambition  characterize  the  mores,  together  with 
energy  and  enterprise.  Envy  and  discontent  are  amongst  the 
very  strongest  traits  of  modern  society.  Very  often  they  are 
only  manifestations  of  irritated  vanity.  It  is  in  the  nature  of 
things  that  classes  of  men  and  forms  of  property  shall  go 
through  endless  vicissitudes  of  advantage  and  disadvantage. 
Nobody  can  foresee  these  and  speculate  upon  them  with  success. 
When  it  is  proposed  to  "  reorganize  society  "  on  any  socialistic 
theory,  or  on  no  theory,  it  should  be  noticed  that  such  an  enter- 
prise involves  a  blind  speculation  on  the  vicissitudes  of  classes 
and  forms  of  property  in  the  future.  "  Wealth,  whether  in  land 
or  money,  has  been  increased  by  marriages  and  inheritances, 
reduced  to  fragments  by  divisions,  even  in  noble  families  [in 
spite  of  settlements  and  entails],  dissipated  by  prodigals,  recon- 
stituted by  men  of  economical  habits,  centupled  by  industrious 
and  competent  men  of  enterprise,  scattered  by  the  indolent,  the 
unfortunate,  and  the  men  of  bad  judgment,  who  have  risked  it  un- 
wisely. Political  events  have  affected  it  as  well  as  the  favor  of 
princes,  advantageous  offices  in  the  state,  popular  revolts,  wars, 
confiscations,  from  the  abolition  of  serfdom  in  the  fourteenth 
century  until  the  abolition,  in  1790,  of  the  dues  known  as  feudal, 
although  they  were,  for  the  most  part,  owned  by  members  of 
the  bourgeoisie."  ^  So  it  will  be  in  the  future,  in  spite  of  all  that 
men  can  do.  If  two  men  had  the  same  sum  of  money  in  1200, 
and  one  bought  land  while  the  other  became  a  money  lender, 
anywhere  in  western  Europe,  the  former  would  to-day  be  more 
or  less  rich  according  to  the  position  of  his  land.  He  might  be 
a  great  millionaire.  The  other  would  have  scarcely  anything- 
left.2  Shall  we  then  all  buy  land  now  .?  Let  those  do  so  who 
can  foresee  the  course  of  values  in  the  next  seven  hundred  years. 
The  popular  notion  is  that  nobles  have  always  owned  land.  The 
truth  is  that  men  who  have  acquired  wealth  have  bought  land 
and  got  themselves  ennobled.  In  France,  "  in  the  seventeenth 
and  eighteenth  centuries,  nineteen  twentieths  of  those  who  were 

1  D'Avenel,  Hist.  Econ.,  142.  2  D'Avenel,  397. 


1 66  FOLKWAYS 

called  nobles  were  middle-class  men  enriched,  decorated,  and 
possessed  of  land."^  The  middle  class  in  western  Europe  has 
been  formed  out  of  the  labor  class  within  seven  hundred  years. 
The  whole  middle  class,  therefore,  represents  the  successful  rise 
of  the  serfs,  but,  since  a  labor  class  still  remains,  it  is  asserted 
that  there  has  been  no  change.  On  the  other  hand,  there  has 
been  a  movement  of  nobles  and  middle-class  grandees  downward 
into  the  labor  class  and  the  proletariat.  It  was  said,  a  few 
years  ago,  that  a  Plantagenet  was  a  butcher  in  a  suburb  of 
London.  It  is  also  asserted  that  representatives  of  great  medi- 
aeval families  are  now  to  be  found  as  small  farmers,  farm 
laborers,  or  tramps  in  modern  England.^ 

165.  Mores  conform  to  changes  in  life  conditions ;  great  prin- 
ciples ;  their  value  and  fate.  For  our  purpose  it  suffices  here  to 
notice  how  the  mores  have  followed  the  changes  in  life  condi- 
tions, how  they  have  reacted  on  the  current  faiths  and  philoso- 
phies, and  how  they  have  produced  ethical  notions  to  justify 
the  mores  themselves.  They  have  produced  notions  of  natural 
rights  and  of  political  philosophy  to  support  the  new  institutions. 
There  are  thousands  in  the  United  States  who  believe  that  every 
adult  male  has  a  natural  right  to  vote,  and  that  the  vote  makes 
the  citizen.  The  doctrine  of  natural  rights  has  received  some 
judicial  recognition,  and  it  has  been  more  or  less  accepted  and 
applied  in  the  constitutions  of  various  states  which  were  estab- 
lished in  the  nineteenth  century.  The  American  doctrines  of 
1776  and  the  French  doctrines  of  1789  are  carried  on  and  used 
in  stump  oratory  until  they  get  in  the  way  of  some  new  popular 
purpose,  but  what  produced  both  was  the  fact  that  some  new 
classes  had  won  wealth  and  economic  power  and  they  wanted 
political  recognition.  To  get  it  they  had  to  invent  some  new 
"  great  principles  "  to  justify  their  revolt  against  tradition.  That 
is  the  way  in  which  all  "  great  principles  "  are  produced.  They 
are  always  made  for  an  exigency.  Their  usefulness  passes  with 
the  occasion.  The  mores  are  forever  adjusting  efforts  to  circum- 
stances.   Sooner  or  later  they  need  new  great  principles.    Then 

1  D'Avenel,  144. 

2  Hardy  used  this  fact  in  Tess  of  the  D^Urbe^-villes. 


LABOR,  WEALTH  .  167 

they  obliterate  the  old  ones.  The  old  jingle  of  words  no  longer 
wins  a  response.  The  doctrine  is  dead.  In  1776  it  seemed  to 
every  Whig  in  America  that  it  was  a  pure  axiom  to  say  that 
governments  derive  their  just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the 
governed.  They  clung  to  this  as  a  sacred  dogma  for  over  a  hun- 
dred years,  because  it  did  not  affect  unfavorably  any  interest. 
It  is  untrue.  Governments  get  their  powers  from  the  histor- 
ical fact  of  their  existence.  They  are  all  ephemeral,  subject  to 
change.  When  a  change  takes  place  it  is  controlled  by  the  ideas 
and  interests  of  the  time  of  change,  when  the  popular  element 
in  self-government  may  be  much  greater  than  when  the  consti- 
tution was  last  previously  established.  In  1898  the  popular  will, 
in  the  United  States,  was  to  take  possession  of  the  Philippine 
Islands  and  to  become  rulers  there,  not  ruled,  as  the  fathers 
were  in  the  colonies  of  1776.  The  great  doctrine  of  tne  source 
of  due  power  was  quickly  trampled  under  foot.  The  same  fate 
awaits  all  the  rest  of  the  "  great  principles."  The  doctrine  that 
all  men  are  equal  is  being  gradually  dropped,  from  its  inherent 
absurdity,  and  we  may  at  any  time  find  it  expedient  to  drop  the 
jingle  about  a  government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for 
the  people.  It  was  only  good  historically  to  destroy  the  doctrine, 
"  Everything  for  the  people  ;  nothing  by  them." 

166.  The  French  Revolution.  The  French  Revolution  was 
due  to  the  fact  that  a  great  change  had  come  about  in  the  dis- 
tribution of  economic  power  between  classes  and  in  the  class 
mores  which  correspond  to  economic  power.  All  the  political 
institutions  of  a  modern  state  are  conservative  in  the  sense  that 
they  retain  and  sustain  what  is  and  has  been,  and  resist  interfer- 
ence or  change.  The  historical  picture  is  often  such  that  abuses 
are  maintained  and  reform  seems  hopeless,  on  account  of  the 
power  of  existing  institutions  and  customs  and  the  depth  of 
convictions  of  social  welfare  which  have  become  traditional. 
The  student  of  the  history  is  led  to  believe  that  any  reform  or 
revolution,  as  a  dissolution  of  the  inherited  system  of  repression 
and  retention,  is  worth  all  that  it  may  cost.  Hence  some  students 
of  history  become  believers  in  "revolution"  as  a  beneficent 
social  force  or  engine.    In  the  case  of  the  French  Revolution, 


1 68  FOLKWAYS 

the  passions  which  were  set  loose  destroyed  the  whole  social 
order,  swept  away  all  the  institutions,  and  even  destroyed  all  the 
inherited  mores.  It  is  evident  that  this  last  is  what  the  revo- 
lutionists finally  aimed  at.  The  ancien  reghne  came  to  mean 
the  whole  fabric  of  the  old  society,  with  its  codes,  standards, 
and  ideas  of  right,  wrong,  the  desirable,  etc.  The  revolutionists 
also  undertook  to  invent  new  mores,  that  is,  new  codes  and 
standards,  new  conceptions  of  things  socially  desirable,  a  new 
religion,  and  new  notions  of  civil  duty  and  responsibility.  During 
the  Directory  and  the  Consulate  there  was  a  gulf  between  the 
ancient  and  the  new  in  which  there  was  anarchy  of  the  mores, 
even  after  the  civil  machinery  was  repaired  and  set  in  operation 
again.  Napoleon  brought  back  institutions  and  forms  of  social 
order  so  far  as  seemed  desirable  for  his  own  interest.  The 
historical  continuity  was  broken  and  has  remained  so.  Of  the 
ancieji  regime  there  can  be  found  to-day  only  ruins  and  relics. 
Nevertheless,  the  ancient  mores  of  social  faith  and  morality,  of 
social  well  living,  of  religious  duty  and  family  virtue,  are  sub- 
stantially what  they  were  before  the  great  explosion.  This  is 
the  last  and  greatest  lesson  of  the  revolution  :  it  is  impossible 
to  abolish  the  mores  and  to  replace  them  by  new  ones  rationally 
invented.  To  change  a  monarchy  into  a  republic  is  trifling. 
Individuals  and  classes  can  be  guillotined.  Institutions  can  be 
overturned.  Religion  can  be  abolished  or  put  out  of  fashion. 
The  mores  are  in  the  habits  of  the  people,  and  are  needed  and 
practiced  every  day.  The  revolutionists  ordered  changes  in  the 
social  ritual,  and  they  brought  about  a  disuse  of  "monsieur" 
and  "  madame."  All  their  innovations  in  the  ritual  have  fallen 
into  disuse,  and  the  old  fashions  have  returned,  in  obedience  to 
common  sense.  The  new  classes  have  not  enjoyed  their  victory 
over  the  old  as  to  courtesy,  social  comity,  and  civil  good-fellow- 
ship. They  have  abandoned  it,  and  have  recognized  the  fact 
that  the  old  aristocracy  had  well  solved  all  matters  of  this  kind. 
As  wealth  has  increased  and  artisans  and  peasants  have  gained 
new  powers  of  production  and  acquisition,  they  have  learned  to 
laugh  at  the  civil  philosophy  and  enthusiasm  of  the  eighteenth- 
century  philosophers,  and  have  ordered  their  lives,  as  far  as 


LABOR,  WEALTH  169 

possible  or  convenient,  on  the  old  aristocratic  models.  Sans- 
culottism  is  inconsistent  with  respect  for  productive  labor,  or  with 
the  accumulation  of  wealth.  No  one  who  can  earn  great  wages 
or  who  possesses  wealth  will,  out  of  zeal  for  philosophical  doc- 
trines, prefer  to  live  in  squalor  and  want.  The  relation  of 
modern  mores  to  new  feelings  in  respect  to  labor  and  trade,  and 
to  the  accumulation  of  wealth,  are  to  be  easily  perceived  from 
the  course  of  modern  revolutions. 

167.  Ruling  classes.  Special  privileges.  Corruption  of  the 
mores.  In  every  societal  system  or  order  there  must  be  a  ruling 
class  or  classes  ;  in  other  words,  a  class  gets  control  of  any  society 
and  determines  its  political  form  or  system.  The  ruling  class, 
therefore,  has  the  power.  Will  it  not  use  the  power  to  divert 
social  effort  to  its  own  service  and  gain }  It  must  be  expected 
to  do  so,  unless  it  is  checked  by  institutions  which  call  into  action 
opposing  interests  and  forces.  There  is  no  class  which  can  be 
trusted  to  rule  society  with  due  justice  to  all,  not  abusing  its 
power  for  its  own  interest.  The  task  of  constitutional  govern- 
ment is  to  devise  institutions  which  shall  come  into  play  at  the 
critical  periods  to  prevent  the  abusive  control  of  the  powers  of 
a  state  by  the  controlling  classes  in  it.  The  ruling  classes  in 
mediaeval  society  were  warriors  and  ecclesiastics,  and  they  used 
all  their  power  to  aggrandize  themselves  at  the  expense  of  other 
classes.  Modern  society  is  ruled  by  the  middle  class.  In  honor  of 
the  bourgeoisie  it  must  be  said  that  they  have  invented  institutions 
of  civil  liberty  which  secure  to  all  safety  of  person  and  property. 
They  have  not,  therefore,  made  a  state  for  themselves  alone  or 
chiefly,  and  their  state  is  the  only  one  in  which  no  class  has  had 
to  fear  oppressive  use  of  political  power.  The  history  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  however,  plainly  showed  the  power  of  capital  in 
the  modern  state.  Special  legislation,  charters,  and  franchises 
proved  to  be  easy  legislative  means  of  using  the  powers  of  the 
state  for  the  pecuniary  benefit  of  the  few.  In  the  first  half  of 
the  century,  in  the  United  States,  banks  of  issue  were  used  to 
an  extravagant  pitch  for  private  interest.  The  history  is  dis- 
graceful, and  it  is  a  permanent  degradation  of  popular  govern- 
ment that  power  could  not  be  found,  or  did  not  exist,  in  the 


1 70  FOLKWAYS 

system  to  subjugate  this  abuse  and  repress  this  corruption  of 
state  power.  The  protective-tariff  system  is  simply  an  elaborate 
system  by  which  certain  interests  inside  of  a  country  get  con- 
trol of  legislation  in  order  to  tax  their  fellow-citizens  for  their 
own  benefit.  Some  of  the  victims  claim  to  be  taken  "  into  the 
steal,"  and  if  they  can  make  enough  trouble  for  the  clique  in  power, 
they  can  force  their  own  admission.  That  only  teaches  all  that 
the  great  way  to  succeed  in  the  pursuit  of  wealth  is  to  organize 
a  steal  of  some  kind  and  get  inside  of  it.  The  pension  system 
in  the  United  States  is  an  abuse  which  has  escaped  from  con- 
trol. There  is  no  longer  any  attempt  to  cope  with  it.  It  is  the 
share  of  the  "  common  man "  in  the  great  system  of  public 
plunder.  "Graft"  is  only  a  proof  of  the  wide  extent  to  which 
this  lesson  to  get  into  the  steal  is  learned.  It  only  shows  that 
the  corrupt  use  of  legislation  and  political  power  has  affected 
the  mores.  Every  one  must  have  his  little  sphere  of  plunder 
and  especial  advantage.  This  conviction  and  taste  becomes  so 
current  that  it  affects  all  new  legislation.  The  legislators  do 
not  doubt  that  it  is  reasonable  and  right  to  enact  laws  which 
provide  favor  for  special  interests,  or  to  practice  legislative 
strikes  on  insurance  companies,  railroads,  telephone  companies, 
etc.  They  laugh  at  remonstrance  as  out  of  date  and  "unpracti- 
cal." The  administrators  of  life-insurance  companies,  savings 
banks,  trusts,  etc.,  proceed  on  the  belief  that  men  in  positions 
of  power  and  control  will  use  their  positions  for  their  own 
advantage.  They  think  that  that  is  only  common  sense.  "  What 
else  are  we  here  for.?"  It  is  the  supreme  test  of  a  .system  of 
government  whether  its  machinery  is  adequate  for  repressing 
the  selfish  undertakings  of  cliques  formed  on  special  interests 
and  saving  the  public  from  raids  of  plunderers.  The  modern 
democratic  states  fail  under  this  test.  There  is  not  a  great  state 
in  the  world  which  was  not  democratized  in  the  nineteenth 
century.  There  is  not  one  of  them  which  did  not  have  great 
financial  scandals  before  the  century  closed.  Financial  scandal 
is  the  curse  of  all  the  modern  parliamentary  states  with  a  wide 
suffrage.  They  give  liberty  and  security,  with  open  chances 
for  individual  enterprise,  from   which  results   great  individual 


LABOR,  WEALTH  1 7 1 

satisfaction  and  happiness,  but  the  political  machinery  offers 
opportunities  for  manipulation  and  corrupt  abuse.  They  educate 
their  citizens  to  seek  advantages  in  the  industrial  organization  by 
legislative  devices,  and  to  use  them  to  the  uttermost.  The  effect 
is  seen  in  the  mores.  We  hear  of  plutocracy  and  tainted  money, 
of  the  power  of  wealth,  and  the  wickedness  of  corporations. 
The  disease  is  less  specific.  It  is  constitutional.  The  critics 
are  as  subject  to  it  as  the  criticised.  A  disease  of  the  mores  is 
a  disease  of  public  opinion  as  to  standards,  codes,  ideas  of 
truth  and  right,  and  of  things  worth  working  for  and  means  of 
success.  Such  a  disease  affects  everybody.  It  penetrates  and 
spoils  every  institution.  It  spreads  from  generation  to  genera- 
tion, and  at  last  it  destroys  in  the  masses  the  power  of  ethical 
judgment. 

168.  The  standard  of  living.  One  of  the  purest  of  all  the 
products  of  current  mores  is  the  standard  of  living.  It  belongs 
to  a  subgroup  and  is  a  product  of  the  mores  of  a  subgroup.  It 
has  been  called  a  psychological  or  ethical  product,  which  view 
plainly  is  due  to  an  imperfect  analysis  or  classification.  The 
standard  of  living  is  the  measure  of  decency  and  suitability  in 
material  comfort  (diet,  dress,  dwelling,  etc.)  which  is  traditional 
and  habitual  in  a  subgroup.  It  is  often  wise  and  necessary  to 
disregard  the  social  standard  of  comfort,  because  it  imposes 
foolish  expenses  and  contemptible  ostentation,  but  it  is  very 
difficult  to  disregard  the  social  standard  of  comfort.  The 
standard  is  upheld  by  fear  of  social  disapproval,  if  one  derogates 
from  class  "  respectability."  The  disapproval  or  contempt  of 
one's  nearest  associates  is  the  sanction.  The  standards  and  code 
of  respectability  are  in  the  class  mores.  They  get  inside  of  the 
mind  and  heart  of  members  of  the  class,  and  betray  each  to  the 
class  demands. 

169.  If,  however,  the  standard  of  living  which  one  has  inherited 
from  his  class  is  adopted  as  an  individual  standard,  and  is 
made  the  object  of  effort  and  self-denial,  the  individual  and 
social  results  are  of  high  value.  One  man  said,  "  Live  like  a  hog 
and  you  will  behave  like  one  "  ;  to  which  another  replied,  "  Behave 
like  a  hog  and  you  will  live  hke  one."    Both  were  right  in  about 


172  FOLKWAYS 

equal  measure.  The  social  standard  of  a  class  acts  like  honor. 
It  sustains  self-respect  and  duty  to  self  and  family.  The  pain 
which  is  produced  by  derogation  produces  effort  and  self- 
denial.  The  social  standard  may  well  call  out  and  concentrate 
all  there  is  in  a  man  to  work  for  his  social  welfare.  Evidently 
the  standard  of  living  never  can  do  more  than  that.  It  never 
can  add  anything  to  the  forces  in  a  man's  own  character  and 
attainments. 


CHAPTER  V 

SOCIETAL  SELECTION 

Social  selection  by  the  mores.  —  Instrumentalities  of  suggestion.  —  Sym- 
bols, pictures,  etc.  —  Apparatus  of  suggestion.  —  Watchwords,  catchwords. 

—  "  Slave,"  "  democracy."  —  Epithets.  —  Phrases.  —  Pathos.  —  Pathos  is 
unfavorable  to  truth.  —  Analysis  and  verification  as  tests. —  Humanity. — 
Selection  by  distinction.  —  Aristocracies.  —  Fashion.  —  Conventionalization. 

—  Uncivilized  fashions.  —  Ideals  of  beauty.  —  Fashion  in  other  things  than 
dress. —  Miscellaneous  fashions. —  All  deformations  by  fashion  are  irra- 
tional. —  Satires  on  fashion.  —  Fashion  in  faiths  and  ideals.  —  Fashion  is 
not  trivial,  not  subject  to  argument.  —  Remoter  effects  of  fashion. . —  Slang 
and  expletives.  —  Poses,  fads,  and  cant. —  Illustrations.  —  Heroes,  scape- 
goats, and  butts.  —  Caricature.  —  Relation  of  fads,  etc.,  to  mores.  —  Ideals. 

—  Ideals  of  beauty.  —  The  man-as-he-should-be.  —  The  standard  type  of 
man.  —  Who  does  the  thinking?  —  The  gentleman.  —  Standards  set  by 
taboos.  — •  Crimes.  —  Criminal  law.  —  Mass  phenomena  of  fear  and  hope.  — 
Manias,  delusions.— Monstrous  mass  phenomena.  —  Gregariousness  in  the 
Middle  Ages.  —  The  mendicant  orders.  ^ — Other  mendicants.  —  Popular 
mania  for  poverty  and  beggary. —  Delusions.—  Manias  and  suggestion. — 
Power  of  the  crowd  over  the  individual. —  Discipline  by  pain.  —  The 
mediaeval  church  operated  societal  selection.  —  The  mediaeval  church.  — 
Sacerdotal  celibacy. — The  masses  wanted  clerical  celibacy.  —  Abelard. — 
The  selection  of  sacerdotal  celibacy.  • —  How  the  church  operated  selection. 

—  Mores  and  morals  ;  social  code.  —  Orthodoxy  ;  treatment  of  dissent ; 
selection  by  torture.  —  Execution  by  burning.  —  Burning  in  North  Ameri- 
can colonies.  —  Solidarity  in  penalty  for  fault  of  one.  —  Torture  in  the 
ancient  states.  —  Torture  in  the  Roman  empire.  —  Jewish  and  Christian  uni- 
versality ;  who  persecutes  whom  ?  —  The  ordeal.  —  Irrationality  of  torture. 

—  Inquisitorial  procedure  from  Roman  law.  —  Bishops  as  inquisitors. — 
Definition  of  heretic.  —  The  Albigenses.  —  Persecution  was  popular.  — 
Theory  of  persecution. —  Duties  laid  on  the  civil  authority.  —  Public  opin- 
ion as  to  the  burning  of  heretics.  —  The  shares  of  the  church  and  the  masses. 

—  The  church  uses  its  power  for  selfish  aggrandizement.  —  The  inquisition 
took  shape  slowly.  —  Frederick  II  and  his  code.  — Formative  legislation. 

—  Dungeons. —  The  yellow  crosses. —  Confiscation. -^  Operation  of  the 
inquisition.  —  Success  of  the  inquisition.  —  Torture  in  civil  and  ecclesias- 
tical trials.  —  The  selection  accomplished.  —  Torture  in  England.  —  The 
Spanish  inquisition.  —  The  inquisition  in  Venice.  —  The  use  of  the  inquisi- 
tion for  political  and  personal  purposes.  —  Stages  of  the  selection  by  murder. 

170,  Social  selection  by  the  mores.  The  most  important  fact 
about  the  mores  is  their  dominion  over  the  individual.  Arising 
he  knows  not  whence  or  how,  they  meet  his  opening  mind  in 

173 


/ 


174  FOLKWAYS 

earliest  childhood,  give  him  his  outfit  of  ideas,  faiths,  and  tastes, 
and  lead  him  into  prescribed  mental  processes.  They  bring  to 
him  codes  of  action,  standards,  and  rules  of  ethics.  They  have 
a  model  of  the  man-as-he-should-be  to  which  they  mold  him, 
in  spite  of  himself  and  without  his  knowledge.  If  he  submits 
and  consents,  he  is  taken  up  and  may  attain  great  social  success. 
If  he  resists  and  dissents,  he  is  thrown  out  and  may  be  trodden 
under  foot.  The  mores  are  therefore  an  engine  of  social  selec- 
tion. Their  coercion  of  the  individual  is  the  mode  in  which  they 
operate  the  selection,  and  the  details  of  the  process  deserve 
study.  Some  folkways  exercise  an  unknown  and  unintelligent 
selection.  Infanticide  does  this  (Chapter  VII).  Slavery  always 
exerts  a  very  powerful  selection,  both  physical  and  social 
(Chapter  VI). 

171.  Instrumentalities  of  suggestion.  Suggestion  is  exerted 
in  the  mores  by  a  number  of  instrumentalities,  all  of  which 
have  their  origin  in  the  mores,  and  may  only  extend  to  all  what 
some  have  thought  and  felt,  or  may  (at  a  later  stage)  be  used 
with  set  intention  to  act  suggestively  in  extending  certain 
mores. 

Myths,  legends,  fables,  and  mythology  spread  notions  through 
a  group,  and  from  generation  to  generation,  until  the  notions 
become  components  of  the  mores,  being  interwoven  with  the 
folkways.  Epic  poems  have  powerfully  influenced  the  mores. 
They  present  types  of  heroic  actions  and  character  which  serve  as 
models  to  the  young.  The  Iliad  and  Odyssey  became  text-books 
for  the  instruction  of  Greek  youth.  They  set  notions  of  heroism 
and  duty,  and  furnished  all  Greeks  with  a  common  stock  of  nar- 
ratives, ideas,  and  ideals,  and  with  sentiments  which  everybody 
knew  and  which  could  be  rearoused  by  an  allusion.  Everybody 
was  expected  to  produce  the  same  reaction  under  the  allusion. 
Perhaps  that  was  a  conventional  assumption,  and  the  reaction 
in  thought  and  feeling  may  have  been  only  conventional  in 
many  cases,  but  the  suggestion  did  not  fail  of  its  effect  even 
then.  Later,  when  the  ideals  of  epic  heroism  and  of  the  old 
respect  for  the  gods  were  popularly  rejected  and  derided,  this 
renunciation  of  the  old  stock  of  common  ideas  and  faiths  marked 


SOCIETAL  SELECTION  175 

a  decline  in  the  morale  of  the  nation.  It  is  a  very  important 
question  :  What  is  the  effect  of  conventional  humbug  in  the 
mores  of  a  people,  which  is  suggested  to  the  young  as  solemn 
and  sacred,  and  which  they  have  to  find  out  and  reject  later  in 
life  ?  The  Mahabharata,  the  Kalevala,  the  Edda,  the  Nibelnjigen 
Noth,  are  other  examples  of  popular  epics  which  had  great 
influence  on  the  mores  for  centuries.  Such  poems  present 
models  of  action  and  principle,  but  it  is  inevitable  that  a  later 
time  will  not  appreciate  them  and  will  turn  them  to  ridicule,  or 
will  make  of  them  only  poses  and  affectations.  The  former  is 
the  effect  most  likely  to  be  produced  on  the  masses,  the  latter 
on  the  cultured  classes.  In  the  Greco-Roman  world,  at  the 
beginning  of  the  Christian  era,  various  philosophic  sects  tried 
to  restore  and  renew  the  ideals  of  Greek  heroism,  virtue,  and 
religious  faith,  so  far  as  they  seemed  to  have  permanent  ethical 
value.  The  popular  mores  were  never  touched  by  this  effort. 
In  fact,  it  is  impossible  for  us  to  know  whether  the  writings  of 
Seneca,  Plutarch,  Marcus  Aurelius,  Epictetus,  and  Pliny  repre- 
sent to  us  the  real  rules  of  life  of  those  men,  or  are  only  a  literary 
pose.  In  the  Renaissance,  and  since  then,  men  educated  in  the 
classics  have  been  influenced  by  them  in  regard  to  their  stand- 
ards of  noble  and  praiseworthy  character,  and  of  what  should 
be  cultivated  in  thought  and  conduct.  Such  men  have  had  a 
common  stock  of  quotations,  of  accepted  views  in  life  philos- 
ophy, and  of  current  ethical  opinions.  This  stock,  however, 
has  been  common  to  the  members  of  the  technical  guild  of  the 
learned.  It  has  never  affected  the  masses.  Amongst  Protestants 
the  Bible  has,  in  the  last  four  hundred  years,  furnished  a  com- 
mon stock  of  history  and  anecdote,  and  has  also  furnished 
phrases  and  current  quotations  familiar  to  all  classes.  It  has 
furnished  codes  and  standards  which  none  dared  to  disavow, 
and  the  suggestion  of  which  has  been  overpowering.  The  effect 
on  popular  mores  has  been  very  great. 

172.  Symbols,  pictures.  Before  the  ability  to  read  became 
general  art  was  employed  in  the  form  of  symbols  to  carry  sug- 
gestion. Symbolic  acts  were  employed  in  trade  and  contracts, 
in  marriage  and  religion.     For  us  writing  has  taken  the  place  of 


1 76  FOLKWAYS 

symbols  as  a  means  of  suggestion.  Symbols  do  not  appeal  to 
us.  They  are  not  in  our  habits.  Illustrative  pictures  influence  us. 
The  introduction  of  them  into  daily  newspapers  is  an  important 
development  of  the  arts  of  suggestion.  Mediaeval  art  in  colored 
glass,  carving,  sculpture,  and  pictures  reveals  the  grossness  and 
crass  simplicity  of  the  mediaeval  imagination,  but  also  its  child- 
ish originality  and  directness.  No  doubt  it  was  on  account  of 
these  latter  characteristics  that  it  had  such  suggestive  power. 
It  was  graphic.  It  stimulated  and  inflamed  the  kind  of  imagi- 
nation which  produced  it.  It  found  its  subjects  in  heaven,  hell, 
demons,  torture,  and  the  scriptural  incidents  which  contained 
any  horrible,  fantastic,  or  grotesque  elements.  The  crucifix 
represented  a  man  dying  in  the  agony  of  torture,  and  it  was  the 
chief  symbol  of  the  religion.  The  suggestion  in  all  this  art  pro- 
duced barbaric  passion  and  sensuality.  Any  one  who,  in  child- 
hood, had  in  his  hands  one  of  the  old  Bibles  illustrated  by  wood 
cuts  knows  what  power  the  cuts  had  to  determine  the  concept 
which  was  formed  from  the  text,  and  which  has  persisted  through 
life,  in  spite  of  later  instruction. 

173.  Apparatus  of  suggestion.  In  modern  times  the  appara- 
tus of  suggestion  is  in  language,  not  in  pictures,  carvings, 
morality  plays,  or  other  visible  products  of  art.  Watchwords, 
catchwords,  phrases,  and  epithets  are  the  modern  instrumentali- 
ties. There  are  words  which  are  used  currently  as  if  their  mean- 
ing was  perfectly  simple,  clear,  and  unambiguous,  which  are  not 
defined  at  all.  "Democracy,"  the  "People,"  "Wall  Street," 
"Slave,"  "Americanism,"  are  examples.  These  words  have 
been  called  "  symbols."  They  might  better  be  called  "  tokens." 
They  are  like  token  coins.  They  "pass";  that  is  their  most 
noteworthy  characteristic.  They  are  familiar,  unquestioned, 
popular,  and  they  are  always  current  above  their  value.  They 
always  reveal  the  invincible  tendency  of  the  masses  to  mytholo- 
gize.  They  are  personified  and  a  superhuman  energy  is  attrib- 
uted to  them.  "  Democracy  "  is  not  treated  as  a  parallel  word 
to  aristocracy,  theocracy,  autocracy,  etc.,  but  as  a  Power  from 
some  outside  origin,  which  brings  into  human  affairs  an  inspira- 
tion and  energy  of  its  own.    The  "  People  "  is  not  the  population, 


r 


SOCIETAL  SELECTION  1 77 

but  a  creation  of  mythology,  to  which  inherent  faculties  and 
capacities  are  ascribed  beyond  what  can  be  verified  within 
experience.  "  Wall  Street  "  takes  the  place  which  used  to  be 
assigned  to  the  devil.  What  is  that  "  Wall  Street  "  which  is  cur- 
rently spoken  of  by  editors  and  public  men  as  thinking,  wanting, 
working  for,  certain  things  }  There  is  a  collective  interest  which 
is  so  designated  which  is  real,  but  the  popular  notion  under 
"  Wall  Street  "  is  unanalyzed.  It  is  a  phantasm  or  a  myth.  In  all 
these  cases  there  is  a  tyranny  in  the  term.  Who  dare  criticise 
democracy  or  the  people  .?  Who  dare  put  himself  on  the  side 
of  Wall  Street  ?  The  tyranny  is  greatest  in  regard  to  "  Ameri- 
can "  and  "Americanism."  Who  dare  say  that  he  is  not 
"  American "  ?  Who  dare  repudiate  what  is  declared  to  be 
"  Americanism "  }  It  follows  that  if  anything  is  base  and 
bogus  it  is  always  labeled  "American."  If  a  thing  is  to  be 
recommended  which  cannot  be  justified,  it  is  put  under  "Ameri- 
canism." Who  does  not  shudder  at  the  fear  of  being  called 
"unpatriotic"  ?  and  to  repudiate  what  any  one  chooses  to  call 
"American"  is  to  be  unpatriotic.  If  there  is  any  document  of 
Americanism,  it  is  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  Those 
who  have  Americanism  especially  in  charge  have  repudiated  the 
doctrine  that  "governments  derive  their  just  powers  from  the 
consent  of  the  governed,"  because  it  stood  in  the  way  of  what 
they  wanted  to  do.  They  denounce  those  who  cling  to  the 
doctrine  as  un-American.  Then  we  see  what  Americanism  and 
patriotism  are.  They  are  the  duty  laid  upon  us  all  to  applaud, 
follow,  and  obey  whatever  a  ruling  clique  of  newspapers  and 
politicians  chooses  to  say  or  wants  to  do.  "  England "  has 
always  been,  amongst  us,  a  kind  of  counter  token,  or  token  of 
things  to  be  resisted  and  repudiated.  The  "symbols,"  or 
"tokens,"  always  have  this  utility  for  suggestion.  They  carry  a 
coercion  with  them  and  overwhelm  people  who  are  not  trained 
to  verify  assertions  and  dissect  fallacies. 

174.  Watchwords,  catchwords.  A  watchword  sums  up  one 
policy,  doctrine,  view,  or  phase  of  a  subject.  It  may  be  legiti- 
mate and  useful,  but  a  watchword  easily  changes  its  meaning 
and    takes    up   foreign  connotations  or   fallacious   suggestions. 


1 78  FOLKWAYS 

Critical  analysis  is  required  to  detect  and  exclude  the  fallacy. 
Catchwords  are  acutely  adapted  to  stimulate  desires.  In  the 
presidential  campaign  of  1900  we  saw  a  catchword  delib- 
erately invented,  —  "the  full  dinner  pail."  Such  an  inven- 
tion turns  suggestion  into  an  art.  Socialism,  as  a  subject  of 
popular  agitation,  consists  almost  altogether  of  watchwords, 
catchwords,  and  phrases  of  suggestion  :  "  the  boon  of  nature," 
"  the  banquet  of  life,"  "  the  disinherited,"  "  the  submerged 
tenth,"  "  the  mine  to  the  miner,"  "  restore  the  land  to  the 
landless."  Trades  unionism  consists  almost  entirely,  on  its  phil- 
osophical side,  of  suggestive  watchwords  and  phrases.  It  is  said 
that  "labor"  creates  all  value.  This  is  not  true,  but  the  fallacy 
is  complete  when  labor  is  taken  in  the  sense  of  "  laborers," 
collectively  and  technically  so  called,  —  an  abuse  of  language 
which  is  now  current.  To  say  that  wage-earners  create  all  value 
is  to  assert  a  proposition  from  which  numerous  and  weighty 
consequences  follow  as  to  rights  and  interests.  "  The  interest 
of  one  is  the  interest  of  all  "  is  a  principle  which  is  as  good  for 
a  band  of  robbers  as  for  a  union  of  any  other  kind.  "  Making 
work"  by  not  producing  is  the  greatest  industrial  fallacy 
possible. 

175.  Slave,  democracy.  Since  "democratic"  is  now  a  word 
to  conjure  with,  we  hear  of  democracy  in  industry,  banking, 
education,  science,  etc.,  where  the  word  is  destitute  of  meaning 
or  is  fallacious.  It  is  used  to  prejudice  the  discussion.  Since 
the  abolition  of  slavery  the  word  "  slave  "  has  become  a  token. 
In  current  discussions  we  hear  of  "  rent  slaves,"  "  wages  slavery," 
"  debt  slavery,"  "  marriage  slavery,"  etc.  These  words  bear 
witness  to  great  confusion  and  error  in  the  popular  notions  of 
what  freedom  is  and  can  be.  For  negroes  emancipation  con- 
tained a  great  disillusion.  They  had  to  learn  what  being  "  free  " 
did  not  mean.  Debt  slavery  is  the  oldest  kind  of  slavery  except 
war  captivity.  A  man  in  debt  is  not  free.  A  man  who  has  made 
a  contract  is  not  free.  A  man  who  has  contracted  duties  and 
obligations  as  husband  and  father,  or  has  been  born  into  them 
as  citizen,  son,  brother,  etc.,  is  not  free.  Can  we  imagine  our- 
selves "free"  from  the  conditions  of  human  life.''    Does  it  do 


SOCIETAL  SELECTION  I  79 

any  good  to  stigmatize  the  case  as  "  wages  slavery,"  when  what 
it  means  is  that  a  man  is  under  a  necessity  to  earn  his  Hving  ? 
It  would  be  a  grand  reform  in  the  mores  if  the  masses  should 
learn  to  turn  away  in  contempt  from  all  this  rhetoric. 

176.  Epithets.  Works  of  fiction  have  furnished  the  language 
with  epithets  for  types  of  individuals  (sec.  622).  Don  Quixote, 
Faust,  Punch,  Reinecke  Fuchs,  Br'er  Rabbit,  Falstaff,  Bottom, 
and  many  from  Dickens  (Pickwick,  Pecksniff,  Podsnap,  Turvey- 
drop,  Uriah  Heep)  are  examples.  The  words  are  like  coins. 
They  condense  ideas  and  produce  classes.  They  economize  lan- 
guage. They  also  produce  summary  criticisms  and  definition 
of  types  by  societal  selection.  All  the  reading  classes  get  the 
use  of  common  epithets,  and  the  usage  passes  to  other  classes 
in  time.  The  coercion  of  an  epithet  of  contempt  or  disapproval 
is  something  which  it  requires  great  moral  courage  to  endure. 

177.  Phrases.  The  educated  classes  are  victims  of  the  phrase. 
Phrases  are  rhetorical  flourishes  adapted  to  the  pet  notions  of 
the  time.  They  are  artifices  of  suggestion.  They  are  the  same 
old  tricks  of  the  medicine  man  adapted  to  an  age  of  literature 
and  common  schools.  Instead  of  a  rattle  or  a  drum  the  opera- 
tor talks  about  "  destiny "  and  "  duty,"  or  molds  into  easy 
phrases  the  sentiments  which  are  popular.  It  is  only  a  differ- 
ence of  method.  Solemnity,  unction,  and  rhetorical  skill  are 
needed.  Often  the  phrases  embody  only  visionary  generalities. 
"  Citizenship,"  "publicity,"  "  public  policy,"  "  restraint  of  trade," 
"he  who  holds  the  sea  will  hold  the  land,"  "trade  follows  the 
flag,"  "the  dollar  of  the  fathers,"  "the  key  of  the  Pacific," 
"peace  with  honor,"  are  some  of  the  recent  coinages  or  recoin- 
ages.  Phrases  have  great  power  when  they  are  antithetical  or 
alliterative.  Some  opponents  of  the  silver  proposition  were  quite 
perplexed  by  the  saying  :  "  The  white  man  with  the  yellow  metal 
is  beaten  by  the  yellow  man  with  the  white  metal."  In  1844 
the  alliterative  watchword  "  Fifty-four  forty  or  fight  "  nearly  pro- 
voked a  war.  If  it  had  been  "  Forty-nine  thirty  or  fight,"  that 
would  not  have  had  nearly  so  great  effect.  The  "  Cape  to 
Cairo  "  railroad  is  another  case  of  alliteration.  Humanitarianism 
has  permeated  our  mores  and  has  been  a  fountain  of  phrases 


l8o  FOLKWAYS 

Forty  years  ago  the  phrase  "enthusiasm  of  humanity"  was 
invented.  It  inspired  a  school  of  sentimental  philosophizing 
about  social  relations,  which  has  been  carried  on  by  phrase 
making  :  "  the  dignity  of  labor,"  "  the  nobility  of  humanity,"  "  a 
man  is  not  a  ware,"  "an  existence  worthy  of  humanity,"  "a 
living  wage."  "Humanity"  in  modern  languages  is  generally 
used  in  two  senses  :  {a)  the  human  race,  {b)  the  sympathetic 
sentiment  between  man  and  man.  This  ambiguity  enters  into 
all  the  phrases  which  are  humanitarian. 

178.  Pathos.  Suggestion  is  powerfully  aided  hy pathos,  in  the 
original  Greek  sense  of  the  word.  Pathos  is  the  glamour  of 
sentiment  which  grows  up  around  the  pet  notion  of  an  age  and 
people,  and  which  protects  it  from  criticism.  The  Greeks,  in 
the  fourth  century  before  Christ,  cherished  pathos  in  regard  to 
tyrannicide.  Tyrants  were  bosses,  produced  by  democracy  in 
towns,  but  hated  by  democrats.  Tyrannicides  were  surrounded 
with  a  halo  of  heroism  and  popular  admiration. ^  Something  of 
the  same  sentiment  was  revived  in  the  sixteenth  century,  when 
it  appeared  that  a  tyrant  was  any  ruler  whose  politics  one  did 
not  like.  It  cost  several  rulers  their  lives.  Pathos  was  a  large 
element  in  the  notions  of  woman  and  knighthood  (twelfth  and 
thirteenth  centuries),  of  the  church  (thirteenth  century),  of  the 
Holy  Sepulcher  (eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries).  In  the  thir- 
teenth century  there  was  a  large  element  of  pathos  in  the  glori- 
fication of  poverty.  A  great  deal  of  pathos  has  been  expended 
on  the  history  and  institutions  of  Greece  and  Rome  in  modern 
times.  Classical  studies  still  depend  largely  on  it  for  their  pres- 
tige. There  is  a  pathos  of  democracy  in  the  United  States.  In 
all  English-speaking  countries  marriage  is  an  object  of  pathos. 
The  pathos  is  cultivated  by  poetry  and  novels.  Humanitarianism 
is  nourished  by  pathos  and  it  stimulates  pathos.  The  "  poor  " 
and  the  "laborers"  are  objects  of  pathos,  on  account  of  which 
these  terms,  in  literature,  refer  to  a  conventional  and  unreal 
concept.  Consequently  there  is  no  honest  discussion  of  any 
topic  which  concerns  the  poor  or  laborers.  Some  people  make 
opposition  to  alcohol  an  object  of  pathos. 

^  Burckhardt,  Kidtiirgesch.  Griechenlands,  I,  211. 


SOCIETAL  SELECTION  l8l 

179.  Pathos  is  unfavorable  to  truth.  Whenever  pathos  is  in 
play  the  subject  is  privileged.  It  is  regarded  with  a  kind  of 
affection,  and  is  protected  from  severe  examination.  It  is  made 
holy  or  sacred.  The  thing  is  cherished  with  such  a  preestab- 
lished  preference  and  faith  that  it  is  thought  wrong  to  verify  it. 
Pathos,  therefore,  is  unfavorable  to  truth.  It  has  always  been  an 
element  in  religion.  It  is  an  element  now  in  patriotism,  and  in 
regard  to  the  history  of  one's  own  country.  The  coercion  of 
pathos  on  the  individual  comes  in  popular  disapproval  of  truth- 
telling  about  the  matter  in  question.  The  toleration  for  forgery 
and  fraud  in  the  Christian  church  until  modern  times,  which  to 
modern  people  seems  so  shocking  and  inexplicable,  was  chiefly 
due  to  pathos  about  religion  and  the  church.  If  a  forgery  would 
help  the  church  or  religion,  any  one  who  opposed  it  would  seem 
to  be  an  enemy  of  religion  and  the  church  and  willing  to  violate 
the  pathos  which  surrounded  them. 

180.  The  value  of  analysis  and  verification  as  tests.  In  all  the 
cases  of  the  use  of  catchwords,  watchwords,  and  phrases,  the 
stereotyped  forms  of  language  seem  to  convey  thought,  espe- 
cially ascertained  truth,  and  they  do  it  in  a  way  to  preclude 
verification.  It  is  absolutely  essential  to  correct  thinking  and 
successful  discussion  to  reject  stereotyped  forms,  and  to  insist 
on  analysis  and  verification.  Evidently  all  forms  of  suggestion 
tend  to  create  an  atmosphere  of  delusion.  Pathos  increases  the 
atmosphere  of  delusion.  It  introduces  elements  which  corrupt 
the  judgment.  In  effect,  it  continues  the  old  notion  that  there 
are  edifying  falsehoods  and  useful  deceits.  The  masses  always 
infuse  a  large  emotional  element  into  all  their  likes  and  dislikes, 
approval  and  disapproval.  Hence,  in  time,  they  surround  what 
they  accept  with  pathos  which  it  is  hard  to  break  through. 

181.  Humanity.  The  standard  of  humanity  or  of  decent 
behavior,  especially  towards  the  weak  or  those  persons  who 
may  be  at  one's  mercy,  or  animals,  is  entirely  in  the  mores  of 
the  group  and  time.  To  the  Gauchos  of  Uruguay  "inhumanity 
and  love  of  bloodshed  become  second  nature."  Their  customs 
of  treating  beasts  habituate  them  to  bloodshed.  "  They  are 
callous  to  the  sight  of  blood  and  suffering  and  come  to  positively 


1 82  FOLKWAYS 

enjoy  it."  They  have  no  affection  for  their  horses  and  dogs. 
They  murder  for  plunder.^  It  is  very  rarely  that  we  meet  with 
such  a  description  as  that  of  any  people.  Polynesians  were  blood- 
thirsty and  cruel,  perhaps  because  they  had  no  chase  of  wild 
animals  in  which  to  expend  their  energies.^  North  American 
Indians  could  invent  frightful  tortures,  but  they  were  not  blood- 
thirsty. They  were  not  humane.  Suffering  did  not  revolt  them. 
Schomburgk  ^  tells  a  story  of  an  Indian  who  became  enraged  at 
his  wife  because  she  groaned  with  toothache.  He  cut  down  her 
hammock  and  caused  her  to  fall  so  that  she  suffered  a  dislocation 
of  the  arm.  A  European  witness  went  to  the  chief  with  a  report 
and  remonstrance,  but  the  chief  was  astonished  that  any  one 
should  take  any  notice  of  such  an  incident.  The  Assyrians  cut 
in  stone  representations  of  flaying,  impaling,  etc.,  and  of  a  king 
with  his  own  royal  hands  putting  out  the  eyes  of  prisoners.  The 
Egyptians  represented  kings  slaying  men  (national  enemies)  in 
masses.  The  Romans  enjoyed  bloodshed  and. the  sight  of  suffer- 
ing.* The  Middle  Ages  reveled  in  cruelty  to  men  and  beasts. 
It  is  in  the  Middle  Ages  that  we  could  find  the  nearest  parallels 
to  the  Gauchos  above.  None  of  these  people  felt  that  repulsive 
revolt  of  the  whole  nature  at  inhumanity  which  characterizes 
modern  cultivated  people.  The  horrors  have  all  receded  out 
of  our  experience,  and  almost  out  of  our  knowledge.  The  line  of 
familiarity  is  set  far  off.  Therefore  a  little  thing  in  the  way  of 
inhumanity  is  strange  and  exerts  its  full  repulsive  effect.  Things 
happen,  however,  which  show  us  that  human  nature  is  not 
changed,  and  that  the  brute  in  it  may  awake  again  at  any  time. 
It  is  all  a  question  of  time,  custom,  and  occasion,  and  the  indi- 
vidual is  coerced  to  adopt  the  mores  as  to  these  matters  which 
are  then  and  there  current. 

182.  Selection  by  distinction.  One  of  the  leading  modes  by 
which  the  group  exercises  selection  of  its  adopted  type  on  the 
individual  is  by  distinction.  Distinction  is  selection.  It  appeals 
to  vanity.  It  acts  in  two  ways  and  has  two  opposite  effects. 
One  likes  to  be  separated  from  the  crowd  by  what  is  admired, 
and  dislikes  to  be  distinguished  for  what  is  not  admired.     Cases 

1  JAI,  XI,  44.       "  Ratzel,  Volkerhmde,  II,  163.       ^  BritJsch  Gidana,  II,  428. 
*  Grupp,  Ktdturgesch.  der  Rom.  Kaiserzeit,  I,  32. 


SOCIETAL  SELECTION  183 

occur  in  which  the  noteworthy  person  is  not  sure  whether  he 
ought  to  be  proud  or  ashamed  of  that  for  which  he  is  distin- 
guished. When  a  society  gives  titles,  decorations,  and  rewards 
for  acts,  it  stimulates  what  it  rewards  and  causes  new  cases  of 
it.  The  operation  of  selection  is  direct  and  rational.  The  cases 
in  which  the  application  of  distinction  is  irrational  show  most 
clearly  its  selective  effect.  School-teachers  are  familiar  with 
the  fact  that  children  will  imitate  a  peculiarity  of  one  which 
marks  him  out  from  all  the  rest,  even  if  it  is  a  deformity  or 
defect.  Why  then  wonder  that  barbarian  mothers  try  to 
deform  their  babies  towards  an  adopted  type  of  bodily  perfection 
which  is  not  rationally  preferable  .''  A  lady  of  my  acquaintance 
showed  me  one  of  her  dolls  which  had  wire  attachments  on  its 
legs  in  imitation  of  those  worn  by  children  for  orthopedic  effect. 
She  explained  that  when  she  was  a  child,  another  child  who  had 
soft  bones  or  weak  ankles,  and  who  wore  irons  for  them,  was 
brought  into  her  group  of  playmates.  They  all  admired  and 
envied  her,  and  all  wished  that  they  had  weak  bones  so  that  they 
could  wear  irons.  This  lady  made  wire  attachments  for  her  doll 
that  it  might  reach  the  highest  standard. 

183.  Aristocracies.  All  aristocracies  are  groups  of  those  who 
are  distinguished,  at  the  time,  for  the  possession  of  those  things 
which  are  admired  or  approved,  and  which  give  superiority  in 
the  struggle  for  existence  or  in  social  power.  In  the  higher 
civilization,  until  modern  times,  the  possession  of  land  was  the 
only  social  power  which  would  raise  a  man  above  sordid  cares 
and  enable  him  to  plan  his  life  as  he  chose.  By  talent  an  income 
could  be  won  which  would  give  the  same  advantage,  but  not 
with  the  same  security  of  permanence  and  independence.  The 
fields  for  talent  were  war,  civil  administration,  and  religion, 
the  last  including  all  mental  activity.  Men  of  talent  had  to 
win  their  place  by  craft  and  charlatanism  (sorcery,  astrology, 
therapeutics).  Their  position  never  was  independent,  except 
in  church  establishments.  They  had  to  win  recognition  from 
warriors  and  landowners,  and  they  became  comrades  and  allies 
of  the  latter.  Merchants  and  bankers  were  the  aristocracy  at 
Carthage,   Venice,   Florence,   and   Genoa,   and   in   the    Hansa. 


1 84  FOLKWAYS 

Talented  military  men  were  aristocrats  under  Napoleon,  courtiers 
were  such  under  Louis  XIV,  and  ecclesiastics  at  Rome.  Since 
the  fourteenth  century  capital  has  become  a  new  and  the  greatest 
and  indispensable  social  power.  Those  who,  at  any  time,  have 
the  then  most  important  social  power  in  their  hands  are  courted 
and  flattered,  envied  and  served,  by  the  rest.  They  make  an 
aristocracy.  The  aristocrats  are  the  distinguished  ones,  and 
their  existence  and  recognition  give  direction  to  social  ambition. 
Of  course  this  acts  selectively  to  call  out  what  is  most  advan- 
tageous and  most  valued  in  the  society. 

184.  There  are  a  number  of  mass  phenomena  which  are  on  a 
lower  grade  than  the  mores,  lacking  the  elements  of  truth  and 
right  with  respect  to  welfare,  which  illustrate  still  further  and 
more  obviously  the  coercion  of  all  mass  movements  over  the 
individual.    These  are  fashion,  poses,  fads,  and  affectations. 

185.  Fashion.  Fashion  in  dress  has  covered  both  absurdities 
and  indecencies  with  the  aegis  of  custom.  From  the  beginning 
of  the  fourteenth  century  laws  appear  against  indecent  dress. 
What  nobles  invented,  generally  in  order  to  give  especial  zest 
to  the  costume  of  a  special  occasion,  that  burghers  and  later 
peasants  imitated  and  made  common. ^  In  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury the  man's  hose  fitted  the  legs  and  hips  tightly.  The  latchet 
was  of  a  different  color,  and  was  decorated  and  stuffed  as  if 
to  exaggerate  still  further  the  indecent  obtrusiveness  of  it.^ 
Schultz  ^  says  that  the  pictures  which  we  have  do  not  show  the 
full  indecency  of  the  dress  against  which  the  clergy  and  moral- 
ists of  the  fifteenth  century  uttered  denunciations,  but  only 
those  forms  which  were  considered  decent,  that  is,  those  which 
were  within  the  limits  which  custom  at  the  time  had  established. 
At  the  same  time  women  began  to  uncover  the  neck  and  bosom. 
The  extent  to  which  this  may  be  carried  is  always  controlled  by 
fashion  and  the  mores.  Puritans  and  Quakers  attempted  to 
restrict  it  entirely,  and  to  so  construct  the  dress,  by  a  necker- 
chief or  attachment  to  the  bodice,  that  the  shape  of  the  bust 
should  be  entirely  concealed.    The  mores  rejected  this  rule  as 

^  Scherr,  Kidturgesch.,  109.  ^  Rudeck,  Oeffentl.  Sittlichkeit,  45. 

3  Deutsches  Leben,  285,  297,  332. 


SOCIETAL  SELECTION  1 85 

excessive.  In  spite  of  all  the  eloquence  of  the  moral  preachers, 
that  form  of  dress  which  shows  neck  and  bosom  has  become 
established,  only  that  it  is  specialized  for  full  dress  and  covered 
by  conventionalization. 

186.  Conventionalization.  Conventionalization  also  comes  into 
play  to  cover  the  dress  of  the  ballet  or  burlesque  opera  and  the 
bathing  dress.  Conventionalization  always  includes  strict  speci- 
fication and  limits  of  time,  place,  and  occasion,  beyond  which 
the  same  dress  would  become  vicious.  Amongst  Moslems  and 
Orientals  this  conventionalization  as  to  dress  has  never  been 
introduced.  We  are  familiar  with  the  fact  that  when  a  fashion 
has  been  introduced  and  has  become  common  our  eye  is  formed 
to  it,  and  no  one  looks  "right"  or  stylish  who  does  not  con- 
form to  it.  We  also  know  that  after  the  fashion  has  changed 
things  in  the  discarded  fashion  look  dowdy  and  rustic.  No  one 
can  resist  these  impressions,  try  as  he  may.  This  fact,  in  the 
experience  of  everybody,  gives  us  an  example  of  the  power  of 
current  custom  over  the  individual.  While  a  fashion  reigns  its 
tendency  is  to  greater  and  greater  extravagance  in  order  to  pro- 
duce the  desired  and  admired  effect.  Then  the  toleration  for 
any  questionable  element  in  the  fashion  is  extended  and  the 
extension  is  unnoticed.  If  a  woman  of  i860,  in  the  dress  of  her 
time,  were  to  meet  a  woman  of  1906,  in  the  dress  of  her  time, 
each  would  be  amazed  at  the  indecency  of  the  dress  of  the 
other.  No  dress  ever  was  more,  or  more  justly,  denounced  for 
ugliness,  inconvenience,  and  indecency  than  the  crinoline,  but 
all  the  women  from  1855  to  1865,  including  some  of  the  sweet- 
est who  ever  lived,  wore  it.  No  inference  whatever  as  to  their 
taste  or  character  would  be  justified.  There  never  is  any 
rational  judgment  in  the  fashion  of  dress.  No  criticism  can 
reach  it.  In  a  few  cases  we  know  what  actress  or  princess 
started  a  certain  fashion,  but  in  the  great  majority  of  cases  we  do 
not  know  whence  it  came  or  who  was  responsible  for  it.  We  all 
have  to  obey  it.  We  hardly  ever  have  any  chance  to  answer 
back.  Its  all-sufficient  sanction  is  that  "  everybody  wears  it," 
or  wears  it  so.  Evidently  this  is  only  a  special  application  to 
dress  of  a  general  usage  —  conventionalization. 


1 86  FOLKWAYS 

187.  Uncivilized  fashions.  Those  "good  old  times"  of  sim- 
plicity and  common  sense  in  dress  must  be  sought  in  the  time 
anterior  to  waistband  and  apron.  All  the  barbarians  and 
savages  were  guilty  of  folly,  frivolity,  and  self-deformation  in 
the  service  of  fashion.  They  found  an  ideal  somewhere  which 
they  wanted  to  attain,  or  they  wanted  to  be  distinguished,  that 
is,  raised  out  of  the  commonplace  and  universal.  At  one  stage 
distinction  comes  from  being  in  the  fashion  in  a  high  and  marked 
degree.  Also  each  one  flees  the  distinction  of  being  out  of  the 
fashion,  which  would  not  draw  admiration.  At  another  stage 
distinction  comes  from  starting  a  new  fashion.  This  may  be 
done  by  an  ornament,  if  it  is  well  selected  so  that  it  will  "take."^ 
Beads  have  been  a  fashionable  ornament  from  the  days  of 
savagery  until  to-day.  An  Indian  woman  in  Florida  "  had  six 
quarts  (probably  a  peck)  of  the  beads  gathered  about  her  neck, 
hanging  down  her  back,  down  upon  her  breasts,  filling  the  space 
under  her  chin,  and  covering  her  neck  up  to  her  ears.  It  was  an 
effort  for  her  to  move  her  head.  She,  however,  was  only  a  little, 
if  any,  better  off  in  her  possessions  than  most  of  the  others. 
Others  were  about  equally  burdened.  Even  girl  babies  are 
favored  by  their  proud  mammas  with  a  varying  quantity  of  the 
coveted  neckwear.  The  cumbersome  beads  are  said  to  be  worn 
by  night  as  well  as  by  day."  ^  "A  woman  sometimes  hangs  a 
weight  of  over  five  pounds  around  her  neck,  for  besides  the 
ordinary  necklaces  the  northern  women  wear  one  or  more  large 
white,  polished  shells,  which  are  brought  from  the  western  coast 
and  which  weigh  from  half  a  pound  upward."^  "  Fashions  change 
in  Bechuanaland ;  one  year  the  women  all  wear  blue  beads,  but 
perhaps  the  next  (and  just  when  a  trader  has  laid  in  a  supply  of 
blue  beads)  they  refuse  to  wear  any  color  but  yellow.  At  the 
time  of  writing  [1886]  the  men  wore  small  black  pot  hats,  but 
several  years  ago  they  had  used  huge  felt  hats,  like  that  of 
Rip  Van  Winkle,  and  as  a  consequence  the  stores  are  full  of 
those  unsalable  ones."* 

1  Lippert,  Ktdturgesch.,  I,  370. 

2  Bur.  '-^thnoL,  V,  488. 

^  Gary  and  Tuck,  Chin  Hills,  I,  173. 

*  JAI,  XVI,  87  ;  cf.  Fritsch,  Eingeb.  Siid-Afr.,  170. 


SOCIETAL  SELECTION  187 

188.  Fashion  in  ethnography.  The  Carib  women  in  Surinam 
think  that  large  calves  of  the  leg  are  a  beauty.  Therefore  they 
bind  the  leg  above  the  ankle  to  make  the  calves  larger.  They 
begin  the  treatment  on  children. ^  Some  Australian  mothers 
press  down  their  babies'  noses.  "  They  laugh  at  the  sharp 
noses  of  Europeans,  and  call  them  tomahawk  noses,  preferring 
their  own  style."  ^  The  presence  of  two  races  side  by  side  calls 
attention  to  the  characteristic  differences.  Race  vanity  then 
produces  an  effort  to  emphasize  the  race  characteristics. 
Samoan  mothers  want  the  noses  and  foreheads  of  their  babies 
to  be  flat,  and  they  squeeze  them  with  their  hands  accordingly.^ 
The  "  Papuan  ideal  of  female  beauty  has  a  big  nose,  big  breasts, 
and  a  dark -brown,  smooth  skin."  ■*  To-day  the  Papuans  all 
smoke  white  clay  pipes.  Four  weeks  later  no  one  will  smoke  a 
white  pipe.  All  want  brown  ones.  Still  four  weeks  later  no 
one  wants  any  pipe  at  all.  All  run  around  with  red  umbrellas.^ 
On  the  Solomon  Islands  sometimes  they  want  plain  pipes  ;  then 
again,  pipes  with  a  ship  or  anchor  carved  on  them  ;  again,  pipes 
with  a  knob.  Women  wear  great  weights  of  metal  as  rings  for 
ornament.^  The  Galla  women  wear  rings  to  the  weight  of  four  or 
six  pounds.'''  Tylor^  says  that  an  African  belle  wears  big  copper 
rings  which  become  hot  in  the  sun,  so  that  the  lady  has  to  have 
an  attendant,  whose  duty  it  is  to  cool  them  down  by  wetting 
them.  The  queen  of  the  Wavunias  on  the  Congo  wore  a  brass 
collar  around  her  neck,  which  weighed  from  sixteen  to  twenty 
pounds.  She  had  to  lie  down  once  in  a  while  to  rest.^  The 
Herero  wear  iron  which  in  the  dry  climate  retains  luster.  The 
women  wear  bracelets  and  leglets,  and  iron  beads  from  the  size 
of  a  pea  to  that  of  a  potato.    They  carry  weights  up  to  thirty-five 


1  Bijdragen  tot  T.  L.  eii  V.-kzmde,  XXXV,  67. 

2  JAI,  XIII,  280. 

3  Aicstral.  Assoc.  Adv.  Sci.,  1892,  622. 

*  Hagen,  U}ittr  den  Papicas.,  241. 
5  Ibid.,  213. 

5  Woodford,  Naturalist  among  HeadhiinterSy  178. 
■^  Paulitschke,  Etknog.  N.O.  A/rikas,  I,  93. 

*  Anthropology,  ii,-2,. 
9  JAI,  XVII,  235. 


1 88  FOLKWAYS 

pounds  and  are  forced  to  walk  with  a  slow,  dragging  step 
which  is  considered  aristocratic.  Iron  is  rare  and  worth  more 
than  silver/  Livingstone  says  that  in  Balonda  poorer  people 
imitate  the  step  of  those  who  carry  big  weights  of  ornament, 
although  they  are  wearing  but  a  few  ounces. ^  Some  women  of 
the  Dinka  carry  fifty  pounds  of  iron.  The  rings  on  legs  and 
arms  clank  like  the  fetters  of  slaves.  The  men  wear  massive 
ivory  rings  on  the  upper  arm.  The  rich  cover  the  whole  arm. 
The  men  also  wear  leather  bracelets  and  necklaces.'^  In  Behar, 
Hindostan,  the  women  wear  brass  rings  on  their  legs.  "  One 
of  these  is  heavy,  nearly  a  foot  broad,  and  serrated  all  around 
the  edges.  It  can  only  be  put  on  the  legs  by  a  blacksmith,  who 
fits  it  on  the  legs  of  the  women  with  his  hammer,  while  they 
writhe  upon  the  ground  in  pain."  Women  of  the  milkman  caste 
wear  bangles  of  bell  metal,  often  up  to  the  elbow.  "  The  greater 
the  number  of  bangles,  the  more  beautiful  the  wearer  is  con- 
sidered." *  The  satirist  could  easily  show  that  all  these  details 
are  shown  now  in  our  fashions. 

189.  Ideals  of  beauty.  In  Melanesia  a  girdle  ten  centimeters 
wide  is  worn,  drawn  as  tight  as  possible.  One  cut  from  the  body 
of  a  man  twenty-seven  years  old  measured  only  sixty-five  centi- 
meters.^ The  women  of  the  Barito  valley  wear  the  sarong 
around  the  thighs  so  tight  that  it  restricts  the  steps  and  pro- 
duces a  mincing  gait  which  they  think  beautiful.^  The  Ruku- 
yenn  of  Guiana  have  an  ideal  of  female  beauty  which  is  marked 
by  a  large  abdomen.  They  wind  the  abdomen  with  many  girdles 
to  make  it  appear  large.  "  The  women  of  the  Payaguas,  in  Para- 
guay, from  youth  up,  elongate  the  breasts,  and  they  continue  this 
after  they  are  mothers  by  means  of  bandages."  *"  The  southern 
Arabs  drop  hot  grease  from  a  candle  on  a  bride's  fingers,  and 
then  plaster  the  fingers  with  henna.  Then  the  grease  is  taken 
off,  and  light-colored  spots  (if  possible,  regular)  are  left  where 
it  was,  while  the  rest  of  the  skin  is  colored  brown  by  the  henna. 

1  Biittner,  Das  Hinterland  von  Walfischbai,  235.  ^  Finsch,  Satnoafahrten,  90. 

2  South  Africa,  I,  298.  ^  Schwaner,  Borneo,  I,  221. 

3  Schweinfurth,  Heart  0/  A/r.,  I,  153.  "^  Ratzel,  Volkerkmide,  II,  570. 
<  JASB,  III,  370. 


SOCIETAL  SELECTION  1 89 

They  put  on  the  bride  seventeen  garments,  a  silk  one  and  a 
musHn  one  alternately;  then  a  mantle  over  all,  and  a  rug  on  the 
mantle,  and  all  possible  ornaments.^  Flinders  Petrie  thinks  that 
we  must  recognize  a  principle  of  "  racial  taste,"  "  which  belongs 
to  each  people  as  much  as  their  language,  which  may  be  borrowed 
like  languages  from  one  race  by  another,  but  which  survives 
changes  and  long  eclipses  even  more  than  language."^  The 
cases  given  show  that  ideals  of  beauty  are  somehow  formed, 
which  call  for  a  deformation  of  the  human  body.  The  foreheads 
are  flattened,  the  lips  enlarged,  the  ears  drawn  down,  the  skull 
forced  into  a  sugar-loaf  shape,  the  nose  flattened,  etc.,  to  try  to 
reach  a  form  approved  by  fashion.  There  is  an  ideal  of  beauty 
behind  the  fashion,  a  selected  type  of  superiority,  which  must 
be  assumed  as  the  purpose  of  the  fashion. 

190.  Fashion  in  other  things  than  dress.  As  will  appear 
below,  fashion  controls  many  things  besides  dress.  It  governs 
the  forms  of  utensils,  weapons,  canoes  and  boats,  tools,  etc., 
amongst  savages.  In  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries  there 
was  a  fashionable  attitude  or  pose  in  standing  for  women,  in 
which  the  abdomen  was  thrown  forward.  It  is  often  seen  in 
pictures  and  portraits.^  It  is  inelegant  and  destitute  of  mean- 
ing. The  Venetians  were  luxurious  and  frivolous,  jealous  and 
distrustful  of  women,  and  fond  of  pleasure  and  fashion.  From 
the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century  a  shopkeeper  in  the  Merceria 
adopted  a  custom  of  showing  the  new  fashions  of  Paris  on 
Ascension  Day  by  means  of  a  life-size  doll  dressed  in  them.* 
The  Venetian  women  of  that  period  wore  patins,  shoes  with 
blocks  underneath,  some  of  which  were  two  feet  high.  The 
women  were  unable  to  walk  without  a  maid  on  each  side  to 
support  them.^  Yriarte  thinks  that  these  patins  were  due  to  the 
policy  of  the  husbands.  When  an  ambassador,  in  conversation 
with  the  doge  and  his  counselors,  said  that  shoes  would  be  far 
more  convenient,  a  counselor  replied,  "  Only  too  convenient ! 

1  Pommerol,  Une  Femnie  chez  les  Sa/iartennes,  243. 

2  Siiiithson.  Rep.,  1895,  59.'i. 

3  Umsc/iau,  IV,  789. 

*  Yriarte,   La  Vie  ifiiii  Pairicien  de  Venise,  58. 
5  Ibid.,  53. 


I90 


FOLKWAYS 


Only  too  much  so  !  "  Under  the  French  Directory,  a  demi-terme 
was  the  name  of  a  framework  worn  by  women  to  look  as  if  they 
would  soon  be  mothers.^  Thirty  years  ago  "  poufs  "  were  worn 
to  enlarge  the  dress  on  the  hips  at  the  side.  The  "  Grecian 
bend,"  stooping  forward,  was  an  attitude  both  in  walking  and 
standing.  Then  followed  the  bustle.  Later,  the  contour  was 
closely  fitted  by  the  dress.  No  one  thought  that  the  human 
figure  would  be  improved  if  changed  as  the  dress  made  it  appear 
to  be.  No  fashion  was  adopted  because  it  would  have  an  indecent 
effect.  The  point  for  our  purpose  is  that  women  wore  dresses 
of  the  appointed  shape  because  everybody  did  so,  and  for  no 
other  reason,  being  unconscious  of  the  effect. 

Erasmus,  in  his  colloquy  on  the  Franciscans,  makes  one  of 
the  characters  say :  "  I  think  that  the  whole  matter  of  dress 
depends  upon  custom  and  the  opinions  which  are  current."  He 
refers  to  some  unnamed  place  where  adulterers,  after  conviction, 
are  never  allowed  to  uncover  the  private  parts,  and  says,  "  Cus- 
tom has  made  it,  for  them,  the  greatest  of  all  punishments." 
"The  fact  is  that  nothing  is  so  ridiculous  that  usage  may  not 
make  it  pass." 

Fashion  has  controlled  the  mode  of  dressing  the  hair  and 
deforming  the  body.  It  has  determined  what  animals,  or  what 
special  race  of  an  animal  species,  should  be  petted.  It  controls 
music  and  literature,  so  that  a  composer,  poet,  or  novelist  is  the 
rage  or  is  forgotten.  In  mediaeval  literature  the  modes  of  alle- 
gory were  highly  esteemed  and  very  commonly  used.  The 
writers  described  war  and  battles  over  and  over  again,  and  paid 
little  attention  to  nature.  In  fact,  natural  background,  geography, 
and  meteorology  were  made  as  conventional  as  stage  scenery, 
and  were  treated  as  of  no  interest  and  little  importance.  Modern 
taste  for  reality  and  for  the  natural  details  throws  this  mediaeval 
characteristic  by  contrast  into  strong  relief. 

191.  Miscellaneous  fashions.  Fashion  rules  in  architecture. 
In  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries  in  England,  English 
Renaissance  and  Gothic  were  regarded  as  barbaric,  and  palladian 
was  admired.    In   France   the   preference   was  for  rococo  and 

1  Du  Camp,  Paris,  VI,  388. 


SOCIETAL  SELECTION 


191 


Mansard  forms.  At  the  present  time  the  English  Renaissance 
and  Gothic  are  in  favor  again,  and  palladian  is  regarded  with 
disfavor.  Painting  and  sculpture  undergo  variations  of  fashion 
as  to  standards  and  methods.  The  same  is  true  of  literature. 
Poetry  and  novels  follow  phases  of  fashion.  A  successful  novel 
makes  imitations  and  sets  a .  fashion  for  a  time.  Types  of 
heroes  and  ideals  of  character  come  and  go  by  fashion.  The 
type  of  the  man-as-he-should-be  varies  by  fashion,  and  this  type 
exerts  a  great  selection  in  the  education  of  the  young.  Educa- 
tional methods  run  through  fashions.  Fads  in  methods  of  teach- 
ing arise,  are  advocated  with  great  emphasis,  have  their  run, 
decline,  and  disappear.  There  are  fashions  of  standing,  walking, 
sitting,  gesture,  language  (slang,  expletives),  pronunciation, 
key  of  the  voice,  inflection,  and  sentence  accent ;  fashions  in 
shaking  hands,  dancing,  eating  and  drinking,  showing  respect, 
visiting,  foods,  hours  of  meals,  and  deportment.  When  snuff 
was  taken  attitudes  and  gestures  in  taking  it  were  cultivated 
which  were  thought  stylish.  F'ashion  determines  what  type  of 
female  beauty  is  at  a  time  preferred,  —  plump  or  svelte,  blond  or 
brunette,  large  or  petite,  red-haired  or  black-haired.  When  was 
that  "  simple  time  of  our  fathers  "  when  people  were  too  sensible 
to  care  for  fashions  }  It  certainly  was  before  the  Pharaohs  and 
perhaps  before  the  glacial  epoch.  Isaiah  (iii.  16)  rebukes  the 
follies  of  fashion.  Chrysostom  preached  to  the  early  church 
against  tricks  and  manners  of  gesture  and  walk  which  had 
been  learned  in  the  theater.  Since  literature  has  existed  moral- 
ists have  satirized  fashion.  Galton  has  noticed  what  any  one 
may  verify,  —  that  old  portraits  show  "  indisputable  signs  of  one 
predominant  type  of  face  supplanting  another."  "  If  we  may 
believe  caricaturists,  the  fleshiness  and  obesity  of  many  English 
men  and  women  in  the  earlier  years  of  this  century  [nineteenth] 
must  have  been  prodigious."  ^  Part  of  this  phenomenon  may  be 
due  to  the  fashion  of  painting.  The  portrait  painter  warps  all  his 
subjects  toward  the  current  standard  of  "good  looks,"  but  it  is 
more  probable  that  there  is  a  true  play  of  variation.  Platycnem- 
ism  and  the  pierced  olecranon  run  in  groups  for  a  time.     Then 

1  Galton,  HiuHcDi  Faculty,  6,  8. 


192  FOLKWAYS 

they  run  out.  There  are  fashions  in  disease,  as  if  fashion  were 
really  in  nature.  This  goes  beyond  the  limits  of  our  definition, 
but  the  rise  and  passing  away  of  variations  in  breeding  plants 
and  animals,  and  perhaps  in  men,  suggests  that  fashion  may  be 
an  analogous  play  of  experiment,  half  caprice,  half  earnest,  whose 
utility  lies  in  selection.  If  there  was  no  reaching  out  after 
novelty  except  upon  rational  determination,  the  case  would  be 
very  different  from  what  it  is  when  variation  brings  spontaneous 
suggestions.  Our  present  modes  of  dress  (aside  from  the  varia- 
tions imposed  by  fashion)  are  the  resultant  of  all  the  fashions  of 
the  last  two  thousand  years. 

192.  All  deformations  by  fashion  are  irrational.  There  is  no 
guarantee  that  fashions  will  serve  expediency.  Deformations  of 
the  skull  may  not  be  harmful ;  they  are  not  useful.  The  block 
inserted  in  the  lip  interferes  with  eating  and  speaking.  It  alters 
the  language.  Saliva  cannot  be  retained,  and  flows  over  it.  To 
those  who  are  outside  the  fashion  it  is  extremely  ugly  and  dis- 
gusting. To  those  inside  the  fashion  it  is  a  standard  of  beauty 
and  a  badge  of  dignity  and  tribal  position.  All  fashions  tend  to 
extravagance  because  the  senses  become  accustomed  to  them, 
and  it  is  necessary,  in  order  to  renew  the  impression  of  distinc- 
tion, to  exaggerate.  The  extravagances  of  fashion  run  through 
all  grades  of  civilization.  They  show  that  fashion,  coming  from 
the  whole  to  the  individual,  adds  nothing  to  the  sense,  judgment, 
or  taste  of  the  latter,  but  imposes  on  him  a  coercion  to  conform. 
He  who  dissents  is  thought  rustic  and  boorish.  He  is  more  or 
less  severely  boycotted,  which  means  not  only  that  he  is  made 
to  suffer,  but  that  he  loses  important  advantages  and  hurts  his 
interests. 

193.  Satires  on  fashion.  Forty  years  ago  a  lady  who  swung 
her  arms  as  she  walked  was  considered  strong-minded.  A  lady 
who  was  young  when  the  present  queen  of  England  introduced 
the  fashion  of  brushing  up  the  hair  and  uncovering  the  ears  says 
that  it  seemed  indecent.  Fashion  is  stronger  than  autocracy. 
Nicholas  I  of  Russia  disapproved  of  late  hours  and  ordered 
that  court  balls  should  be  commenced  early  that  they  might 
be  finished  early.    He  found  himself  almost  alone  until  eleven 


SOCIETAL  SELECTION 


193 


o'clock,  and  had  to  give  up  his  reform.^  In  the  height  of  the 
crinohne  fashion  Leech  pubhshed  in  Punch  a  picture  of  two 
maiden  ladies  who  "  think  crinoline  a  preposterous  and  extrava- 
gant invention  and  appear  at  a  party  in  a  simple  and  elegant 
attire."  The  shocked  horror  of  the  bystanders  is  perfect,  but 
the  two  ladies  would  to-day  be  quite  in  the  fashion.  Du  Maurier 
published  in  PuncJi  a  skit  in  which  a  little  girl  asked  her  mother 
how  Eve  knew,  the  first  time  that  she  saw  Cain  as  a  baby,  that 
he  was  not  ugly.  This  is  a  very  clever  hit  at  the  origin  of  con- 
ventions. There  was  when  Cain  was  born  no  established  con- 
vention that  all  babies  are  pretty. 

194.  Fashion  in  faiths  and  ideals.  There  are  also  fashions  in 
trading,  banking,  pohtical  devices,  traveling,  inn  keeping,  book 
making,  shows,  amusements,  flowers,  fancywork,  carriages,  gar- 
dens, and  games.  There  seem  to  be  fashions  in  logic  and  reason- 
ing. Arguments  which  are  accepted  as  convincing  at  one  time 
have  no  effect  at  another  (sec.  227,  n.  4).  For  centuries  western 
Europe  accepted  the  argument  for  the  necessity  of  torture  in 
the  administration  of  justice  as  convincing.  At  different  periods 
the  satisfaction  in  allegory  as  a  valid  method  of  interpretation 
has  been  manifested  and  the  taste  for  allegory  in  the  arts  has 
appeared.  Philosophy  goes  through  a  cycle  of  forms  by  fashion. 
Even  mathematics  and  science  do  the  same,  both  as  to  method 
and  as  to  concepts.  That  is  why  "  methodology  "  is  eternal. 
Mediaeval  "realism"  ruled  all  thought  for  centuries,  and  its 
dominion  is  yet  by  no  means  broken.  It  prevails  in  political 
philosophy  now.  Nominalism  is  the  philosophy  of  modern 
thought.  Scholasticism  held  all  the  mental  outfit  of  the  learned. 
Thomas  Aquinas  summed  up  all  that  man  knows  or  needs  to 
know.  A  modern  man  finds  it  hard  to  hold  his  own  attention 
throughout  a  page  of  it,  even  for  historical  purposes.  "  Phlogis- 
ton" and  "vortices"  had  their  day  and  are  forgotten.  Eight- 
eenth-century deism  and  nineteenth-century  rationalism  interest 
nobody  any  more.  Eighteenth-century  economists  argued  in 
favor  of  stimulating  population  in  order  to  make  wages  low,  and 
thereby  win  in  international   competition.    They   never  had  a 

^  Century  Magazine,  XLII,  89. 


194  FOLKWAYS 

compunction  or  a  doubt  about  this  argument.  No  wonder  it 
has  been  asserted  that  all  truth,  except  that  which  is  mathemat- 
ically demonstrable,  is  only  a  function  of  the  age.  When  the 
earth  is  underpopulated  and  there  is  an  economic  demand  for 
men,  democracy  is  inevitable.  That  state  of  things  cannot  be 
permanent.  Therefore  democracy  cannot  last.  It  contains  no 
absolute  and  "eternal"  truth.  While  it  lasts  a  certain  set  of 
political  notions  and  devices  are  in  fashion.  Certain  moral 
standards  go  with  them.  Evolution  is  now  accepted  as  a  final 
fact  in  regard  to  organic  phenomena.  A  philosophy  of  nature  is 
derived  from  it.  Is  it  only  a  fashion,  —  a  phase  of  thought.? 
For  to  all  but  a  very  few  such  a  philosophy  has  no  guarantee 
except  that  it  is  current.  All  accept  it  because  all  accept  it, 
and  for  no  other  reason.  Narrower  philosophies  become  the 
fashion  in  classes,  coteries,  and  cliques.  They  are  really  affec- 
tations of  something  which  wins  prestige  and  comes  to  be  a 
badge  of  culture  or  other  superiority.  A  few  are  distinguished 
because  they  know  Greek,  or  because  they  are  "freethinkers," 
or  because  they  are  ritualists,  or  because  they  profess  a  certain 
cultus  in  art,  or  because  they  are  disciples  of  Ruskin,  Eastlake, 
Carlyle,  Emerson,  Browning,  Tolstoi,  or  Nietsche,  and  culti- 
vate the  ideas  and  practices  which  these  men  have  advocated  as 
true  and  wise.  Often  such  fashions  of  thought  or  art  pass  from 
a  narrow  coterie  to  a  wider  class,  and  sometimes  they  permeate 
the  mores  and  influence  an  age.  When  men  believed  in  witches 
they  did  so  because  everybody  did.  When  the  belief  in  witches 
was  given  up  it  was  because  a  few  men  set  the  fashion,  and  it 
was  no  longer  "  enlightened  "  to  believe  in  them. 

195.  Fashion  not  trivial ;  not  subject  to  argument.  Fashion 
is  by  no  means  trivial.  It  is  a  form  of  the  dominance  of  the 
group  over  the  individual,  and  it  is  quite  as  often  harmful  as 
beneficial.  There  is  no  arguing  with  the  fashion.  In  the  case 
of  dress  we  can  sometimes  tell  what  princess  or  actress  started 
the  fashion,  and  we  sometimes  know,  in  the  case  of  ideas,  who 
set  them  afloat.  Generally,  however,  it  is  not  known  who  started 
a  fashion  in  dress.  The  authority  of  fashion  is  imperative  as  to 
everything  which   it   touches.    The   sanctions   are   ridicule   and 


SOCIETAL  SELECTION 


195 


powerlessness.  The  dissenter  hurts  himself ;  he  never  affects 
the  fashion.  No  woman,  whatever  her  age  or  position  or  her 
opinion  about  the  crinoHne  fashion,  could  avoid  wearing  one.  No 
effort  to  introduce  a  fashion  of  "  rational  dress  "  for  women  has 
ever  yet  succeeded.  An  artist,  novelist,  poet,  or  playwright 
of  a  school  which  is  out  of  fashion  fails  and  is  lost.  An  oppo- 
nent of  the  notions  which  are  current  can  get  no  hearing.  The 
fashion,  therefore,  operates  a  selection  in  which  success  and 
merit  are  often  divorced  from  each  other,  but  the  selection  is 
pitiless.  The  canons  of  criticism  are  set  by  fashion.  It  follows 
that  there  is  no  rational  effect  of  fashion.  There  was  a  rule  in 
goblinism  :  Say  naught  but  good  of  the  dead.  The  rule  was 
dictated  by  fear  that  the  ghost  would  be  angry  and  return  to 
avenge  the  dead.  The  rule  has  come  down  to  us  and  is  an  im- 
perative one.  Eulogies  on  the  dead  are,  therefore,  conventional 
falsehoods.  It  is  quite  impossible  for  any  one  to  depart  from  the 
fashion.  The  principle  is  in  fashion  that  one  should  take  the 
side  of  the  weaker  party  in  a  contest.  This  principle  has  no 
rational  ground  at  all.  There  is  simply  a  slight  probability  that 
the  stronger  will  be  in  the  wrong.  Fashion  requires  that  we  should 
all  affect  nonpartisanship  in  discussion,  although  it  is  absurd  to 
do  so.  Of  course  these  weighty  rules  on  important  matters  go 
over  into  the  mores,  but  they  are  fashions  because  they  are  arbi- 
trary, have  no  rational  grounds,  cannot  be  put  to  any  test,  and 
have  no  sanction  except  that  everybody  submits  to  them. 

196.  Remoter  effects  of  fashion.  The  selective  effect  of 
fashion,  in  spite  of  its  irrationality  and  independently  of  the  good- 
ness or  badness  of  its  effect  on  interests,  is  a  reflection  on  the 
intelligence  of  men.  It  accounts  for  many  heterogeneous  phe- 
nomena in  society.  The  fashions  influence  the  mores.  They 
can  make  a  thing  modest  or  immodest,  proper  or  improper,  and, 
if  they  last  long  enough,  they  affect  the  sense  and  the  standards 
of  modesty  and  propriety.  Fashions  of  banking  and  trading 
affect  standards  of  honesty,  or  definitions  of  cheating  and 
gambling.  Public  shows,  dances,  punishments,  and  executions 
affect,  in  time,  standards  of  decency,  taste  in  amusement,  senti- 
ments of  humanity,  views  as  to  what  is  interesting  and  attractive. 


196  FOLKWAYS 

Methods  of  argument  which  are  fashionable  may  train  people 
to  flippancy,  sophistry,  levity  of  mind,  and  may  destroy  the 
power  to  think  and  reason  correctly.  Scherr^  says  that  fashion 
served  as  a  means  to  transfer  to  Germany  the  depravation  of 
morals  which  had  corrupted  the  Latin  nations  in  the  sixteenth 
century.  Fashions  now  spread  through  all  civilized  nations  by 
contact  and  contagion.    They  are  spread  by  literature. 

197.  Slang  and  expletives.  Slang  and  expletives  are  fashions 
in  language.  Expletives  are  of  all  grades  from  simple  interjec- 
tions to  the  strongest  profanity.  Many  expletives  are  ancient 
religious  formulas  of  objurgation,  obsecration,  asseveration, 
anathema,  etc.  They  express  a  desire  to  curse  or  bless,  invite 
or  repel.  Where  the  original  sense  is  lost  they  sink  into  inter- 
jections, the  whole  sense  of  which  is  in  the  accent.  Their  use 
rises  and  falls  with  fashion  in  nations,  classes,  groups,  and  fam- 
ilies, and  it  controls  the  habits  of  individuals.  Whether  certain 
persons  use  a  pious  dialect,  a  learned  (pedantic)  dialect,  a  gam- 
bler's slang,  a  phraseology  of  excessive  adjectives  and  silly 
expletives,  or  profane  expressions,  oaths,  and  phrases  which 
abuse  sacred  things,  depends  on  birth  and  training.  In  this 
sense  each  dialect  is  the  language  for  each  group  and  corre- 
sponds to  the  mores  of  the  group.  There  may  be  some  psychol- 
ogy of  expletives,^  but  they  seem  to  be  accounted  for,  like 
slang,  by  the  expediency  of  expression,  which  is  the  purpose  of 
all  language.  There  is  a  need  for  expression  which  will  win 
attention  and  impress  the  memory.  A  strong  expletive  shocks 
an  opponent,  or  it  is  an  instinctive  reaction  on  a  situation  which 
threatens  the  well-being  of  the  speaker.  It  is  a  vent  to  emotion 
which  gives  relief  from  it  when  other  relief  is  not  possible. 
This  last  is  one  of  the  chief  useful  reasons  for  expletives.  How- 
ever, even  then  they  are  a  vicious  habit,  for  stronger  and 
stronger  expressions  are  required  to  win  the  same  subjective 
effects.  Old  expressions  lose  force.  Slang  is  the  new  coinage. 
The  mintage  is  often  graphic  and  droll ;  it  is  also  often  stupid 
and  vulgar.    A  selection  goes  on.    Some  of  it  is  rejected  and 

1  Deutsche  Frauetizvelt,  II,  65. 

2  Patrick  in  Psych.  Rev.,  VIII,  113. 


SOCIETAL  SELECTION  1 97 

some  enters  into  the  language.  Expletives  also  go  out  of  fash- 
ion. The  strain  for  effect  can  be  satisfied  only  by  constantly 
greater  and  greater  excess.  It  becomes  a  bad  personal  habit  to 
use  grotesque  and  extravagant  expressions.  Slang  and  exple- 
tives destroy  the  power  of  clear  and  cogent  expression  in  speech 
or  writing ;  and  they  must  affect  powers  of  thinking.  Although 
slang  is  a  new  coinage  which  reinvigorates  the  language,  the 
fashion  of  slang  and  expletives  must  be  rated,  like  the  fashion 
of  using  tobacco  and  alcohol,  as  at  best  a  form  of  play,  a  habit 
and  custom  which  springs  from  no  need  and  conduces  to  no 
interest.  The  acts  result  in  an  idle  satisfaction  of  the  doer,  and 
the  good  or  ill  effects  all  fall  within  his  own  organism.  The 
prevalence  of  such  fashions  in  a  society  becomes  a  fact  of  its 
mores,  for  there  will  be  rational  effects  on  interests.  The  selec- 
tive effect  of  them  is  in  the  resistance  to  the  fashions  or  sub- 
jection to  them.  They  are  only  to  a  limited  extent  enforced  by 
social  sanctions.  There  is  personal  liberty  in  regard  to  them. 
Resistance  depends  on  independent  judgment  and  self-control, 
and  produces  independence  and  self-control ;  that  is,  it  affects 
character.  Groups  are  differentiated  inside  the  society  of  those 
who  resist  and  those  who  do  not,  and  the  effect  on  the  mores 
(character  of  the  group)  results.  The  selective  effects  appear 
in  the  competition  of  life  between  the  two  groups. 

198.  Poses,  fads,  and  cant.  When  fashion  seizes  upon  an  idea 
or  usage  and  elevates  it  to  a  feature  of  a  society  at  a  period,  it 
is,  as  was  said  above,  affected  by  those  who  cannot  attain  to 
the  real  type  and  who  exaggerate  its  external  forms.  The 
humanism  of  the  Renaissance  produced  an  affectation  of  learn- 
ing, dilettante  interest  in  collecting  manuscripts,  and  zeal  for 
style  which  was  genuine  in  scholars,  but  was  an  affectation  of 
the  followers.  There  was  also  an  affectation  of  pagan  philos- 
ophy and  of  alienation  from  Christianity.  The  euphuists  in 
England  in  the  sixteenth  century,  the  precieuses  of  Moliere's 
time,  the  ilhiniinati  of  the  eighteenth  century,  are  instances  of 
groups  of  people  who  took  up  a  whim  and  exaggerated  conduct 
of  a  certain  type,  practicing  an  affectation.  There  are  poses 
which  are  practiced  as  a  fashion  for  a  time.    Fads  get  currency. 


198  FOLKWAYS 

Dandyism,  athleticism,  pedantry  of  various  kinds,  reforms  of 
various  kinds,  movements,  causes,  and  questions  are  phenomena 
of  fads  around  which  groups  cluster,  formed  of  persons  who 
have  a  common  taste  and  sentiment.  Poses  go  with  them. 
Poses  are  also  affected  by  those  who  select  a  type  of  character 
which  is  approved.  The  dandy  has  had  a  score  of  slang  names 
within  two  centuries  corresponding  to  varieties  of  the  pose  and 
dress  which  he  affected.  He  has  now  given  way  to  the  athlete, 
who  is  quite  a  different  type.  The  Byronic  pose  prevailed  for  a 
generation.  Goethe's  Werther  inspired  a  pose.  They  would 
both  now  be  ridiculed.  Favorite  heroes  in  novels  have  often  set 
a  pose.  Carlyle  inspired  a  literary  pose  ("hatred  of  shams," 
etc.).  He  and  Ruskin  set  a  certain  cant  afloat,  for  every  fad 
and  pose  which  pretends  to  be  sober  and  earnest  must  have  a 
cant.  Zola,  D'Annunzio,  Wagner,  Ibsen,  Gorky,  Tolstoi, 
Sudermann,  are  men  who  have  operated  suggestion  on  the 
public  mind  of  our  time.  They  get  a  response  from  a  certain 
number  who  thus  cluster  into  a  self-selected  union  of  sympathy 
and  propagate  the  cult  of  a  view  of  life.  Gloom  and  savagery, 
passion  and  crime,  luxury  and  lust,  romance  and  adventure, 
adultery  and  divorce,  self-indulgence  and  cynicism,  the  reality 
of  foulness  and  decay,  are  so  suggested  as  to  become  centers 
on  which  receptive  minds  will  organize  and  congenial  ones  will 
combine  in  sympathy.  It  is  the  effect  of  a  great  and  active 
literature  of  belles-lettres,  which  is  practically  current  through- 
out the  civilized  world,  to  multiply  these  sects  of  sentimental 
philosophy,  with  the  fads  and  poses  which  correspond,  and  to 
provide  them  with  appropriate  cant.  The  cant  of  the  voluptu- 
ary, the  cynical  egoist,  the  friend  of  humanity,  and  all  the  rest 
is  just  as  distinct  as  that  of  the  religious  sectarian.  Each  of 
the  little  groups  operates  its  own  selection,  but  each  is  small. 
They  interfere  with  and  neutralize  each  other,  but  a  general 
drift  may  be  imparted  by  them  to  the  mores.  Our  age  is  opti- 
mistic by  virtue  of  the  economic  opportunities,  power,  and  pros- 
perity which  it  enjoys.  The  writers  above  mentioned  are  all 
pessimistic.  They  do  not  affect  the  age  except  upon  the  sur- 
face, by  entertaining  it,  but  they  disturb  its  moral  philosophy, 


[ 


SOCIETAL  SELECTION 


199 


they  confuse  its  standards  and  codes,  and  they  corrupt  Its  tastes. 
They  set  fashions  in  Hterature  which  the  writers  of  the  second 
class  imitate.  In  general,  they  relax  the  inhibitions  which  have 
come  down  to  us  in  our  mores  without  giving  by  suggestion  an 
independence  of  character  which  would  replace  the  traditions 
by  sound  judgments.  Their  influence  will  be  greater  when  it  has 
been  diluted  so  as  to  reach  the  great  mass.  It  hardly  can  be  worse 
than  that  of  the  literature  which  is  now  used  by  that  class. 

199.  Illustrations.  In  the  later  days  of  Greece  the  study  of 
Homer  became  an  affectation.  Dio  Chrysostom  tells  of  a  visit 
he  made  to  a  colony  on  the  Borysthenes,  in  which  nearly  all 
could  read  the  Iliad,  and  heard  it  more  willingly  than  anything 
else.^  The  Athenians,  especially  the  gilded  youth,  affected  Spar- 
tan manners  and  ways.  The  dandies  went  about  with  uncut 
hair,  unwashed  hands,  and  they  practiced  fist-fights.  They 
were  as  proud  of  torn  ears  as  German  students  are  of  cuts  on 
their  faces. ^  The  religious  and  social  reforms  of  Augustus 
were  a  pose.  They  lacked  sincerity  and  were  adopted  for  a 
political  purpose.  Men  took  them  up  who  did  not  conform 
their  own  conduct  to  them.  Hence  a  "general  social  false- 
hood "  was  the  result.''^  In  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries  all  the 
well-to-do  classes  spent  their  time  in  making  imitations  of  the 
ancient  literature  and  philosophy.  They  tried  to  imitate  Seneca 
and  Pliny,  writing  compositions  and  letters,  and  pursuing  a 
mode  of  life  which  they  supposed  the  men  of  the  period  of  glory 
had  lived.*  The  French  of  the  fifteenth  century  had  the  great- 
est fear  of  ridicule  ;  the  Italians  feared  most  that  they  might 
appear  to  be  simpletons.^  In  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  cen- 
turies the  "chevaliers  transis  "  wore  furs  in  summer  and  sum- 
mer mantles  in  winter.  They  meant  to  prove  that  "  love  suffices 
for  everything."^  Old  pictures  of  the  sixteenth  century  show 
that  it  was  considered  modest  to  squint.    A  Spaniard  thought 

1  Orat.,  XXXVI. 

2  Beloch,  Griech.  Gesc/t.,  II,  29. 

3  Boissier,  Relig.  Ro7n.,  I,  211. 

*  Dill,  Last  Century  of  the  Western  Empire. 

^  Gregorovius,  Ltccret.   Borgia,  99. 

6  De  Maulde  la  Claviere,  Les  Fetnines  de  la  Renaissance,  457. 


200  FOLKWAYS 

that  it  showed  friendship  for  any  one  to  squint  at  him.  It  was 
also  considered  a  sign  of  probity  to  have  the  Hps  primly  closed 
and  drawn. 1  The  Italian  cicisbco  in  the  seventeenth  century 
was  a  cavalier  servejite,  who  attended  a  married  lady.  Such 
men  practiced  extravagances  and  affectations,  and  are  generally 
described  as  effeminate. ^ 

200.  Heroes,  scapegoats  and  butts,  caricature.  Fashion  sets, 
for  any  group  at  any  time,  its  pet  likes  and  dislikes.  The  mass 
must  have  its  heroes,  but  also  its  victims  and  scapegoats  and 
the  butts  of  its  ridicule.  Caricature  is  futile  when  it  is  destitute 
of  point.  The  test  of  it  lies  in  the  popular  response  which 
shows  whether  it  has  touched  the  core  of  the  thing  or  not. 
When  it  can  do  this  it  reveals  the  real  truth  about  the  thing 
better  than  a  volume  of  argument  could  do  it.  Sometimes  a 
popular  conviction  is  produced  by  a  single  incident  which  is  a 
very  important  societal  fact.  The  voyage  of  the  Oregon  from 
Manila  in  1898  convinced  the  American  people  that  they  must 
cut  a  canal  through  the  isthmus.  Probably  this  conviction  was 
a  non  segtiititr,  but  argument  cannot  overcome  it,  and  it  will 
control  action  with  all  the  financial  and  other  consequences 
which  must  ensue.  A  satire,  an  epigram,  or  a  caricature  may 
suffice  to  produce  such  a  conviction. 

201.  Caricature.  The  mere  rhetorical  form  may  have  the 
greatest  importance.  A  caricature  often  stings  national  vanity. 
A  state  may  be  represented  as  afraid,  as  having  "  backed  down," 
as  having  appeared  ridiculous.  Group  vanity  is  often  a  stronger 
motive  than  personal  vanity,  and  the  desire  to  gratify  it  will 
prove  stronger  than  any  rational  conviction. 

202.  Relation  of  fads,  etc.,  to  mores.  Thus  the  vanities, 
desires,  prejudices,  faiths,  likes,  and  dislikes,  which  pervade  a 
society,  coerce  dissenters  and  become  stronger  and  stronger 
mass  phenomena.  They  then  affect  interests.  Then  they  wind 
strands  of  influence  and  control  around  individuals  and  demand 
sacrifices.  In  their  combination  they  weave  webs  of  action 
which   constitute  life  and  history.    The  selection   which   they 

1  Erasmus,  De  Civil.  Alorinn  Pueril.,  I,  i,  i. 

2  De  Maulde,  470. 


SOCIETAL  SELECTION  20I 

exert,  drawing  in  some  and  repelling  others,  produces  results  on 
the  societal  fabric  of  a  later  time.  The  consequences  react  on 
character,  moral  tone,  life  philosophy,  ethical  principles,  and 
ruling  sentiments.  Thus  they  affect  the  mores,  or  even  enter 
into  them.  The  whole  is  handed  on  to  the  rising  generation  to 
be  their  outfit  of  knowledge,  faith,  and  policy,  and  their  rules 
of  duty  and  well  living. 

203.  Ideals.  An  ideal  is  entirely  unscientific.  It  is  a  phantasm 
which  has  little  or  no  connection  with  fact.  Ideals  are  very 
often  formed  in  the  effort  to  escape  from  the  hard  task  of  deal- 
ing with  facts,  which  is  the  function  of  science  and  art.  There 
is  no  process  by  which  to  reach  an  ideal.  There  are  no  tests 
by  which  to  verify  it.  It  is  therefore  impossible  to  frame  a 
proposition  about  an  ideal  which  can  be  proved  or  disproved. 
It  follows  that  the  use  of  ideals  is  to  be  strictly  limited  to 
proper  cases,  and  that  the  attempt  to  use  ideals  in  social  dis- 
cussion does  not  deserve  serious  consideration.  An  ideal  differs 
from  a  model  in  that  the  model  is  deduced  from  reality  but 
within  the  bounds  of  reality.  It  is  subject  to  approved  methods 
of  attainment  and  realization.  An  ideal  also  differs  from  a 
standard,  for  a  standard  must  be  real. 

204.  When  ideals  may  be  used.  What  are  the  proper  cases 
for  the  use  of  ideals  .?  Ideals  can  be  useful  when  they  are 
formed  in  the  imagination  of  the  person  who  is  to  realize  them 
by  his  own  exertions,  for  then  the  ideal  and  the  programme  of 
action  are  in  the  same  consciousness,  and  therefore  the  defects 
of  an  ideal  are  reduced  or  removed.  Ideals  are  useful  (a)  in 
homiletics,  which  are  chiefly  occupied  with  attempts  at  sugges- 
tion. In  limited  cases  a  preacher  or  teacher  can  suggest  ideals 
which,  if  apprehended  and  adopted,  become  types  toward  which 
young  persons  may  train  themselves.  Even  then  these  cases 
merge  in  the  next  class,  (b)  Ideals  are  useful  in  self-education. 
The  idea  is  then  taken  up  from  books  or  from  admired  persons 
by  suggestion  and  imitation,  or  from  autosuggestion,  but  gen- 
erally from  a  combination  of  the  two.  An  ideal  from  autosug- 
gestion produces  enthusiasm.  The  fantastic  character  of  the 
ideal,  if  the  person  is  young,  is  unimportant.    His  will  is  enlisted 


202  FOLKWAYS 

to  work  for  it.  He  can  constantly  compare  the  ideal  with  his 
experience.  The  ideal  is  at  last  shorn  down  to  reality  and 
merges  in  sober  plans  of  effort,  {c)  A  far  larger  field  for  ideals 
is  afforded  by  vanity.  As  vanity  is  itself  a  subjective  affection, 
but  one  which  can  be  awakened  only  in  society,  it  uses  the 
imagination  to  suppose  cases,  plan  unlimited  schemes,  devise 
types  of  self-decoration  and  dreams  of  superiority,  distinction, 
power,  success,  and  glory.  The  creations  are  all  phantasms.  The 
ends  are  all  ideals.  These  ideals  may  not  be  extravagant. 
Vanity  generally  creates  them  by  raising  to  a  higher  pitch  some 
treatment  of  the  body  or  dress,  some  admired  trait  of  character, 
some  action  which  has  won  glory,  or  given  pleasure  and  won 
applause.  This  whole  field  for  ideals  is  largely  influenced  by 
suggestion  from  the  current  tastes  and  fashionable  standards 
in  the  group,  but  autosuggestion  is  also  very  active  in  it. 
[d)  Ideals  also  find  a  great  field  in  marriage.  In  this  case  ideals 
of  happiness  have  powerfully  affected  the  institution  at  all  its 
stages.  Experience  of  marriage  has  been  partly  pleasant  and 
partly  the  contrary.  The  experience  has  stimulated  the  reflection : 
How  blessed  it  would  be  if  only  this  or  that  unpleasant  detail 
could  be  corrected  !  This  has  led  to  idealization  or  the  imagi- 
native conception  of  a  modified  institution.  Our  novels  now 
sometimes  aid  in  this  idealization.  Men  loved  their  daughters 
with  zealous  and  protective  affection  long  before  they  loved  their 
wives.  The  father's  love  reached  out  to  follow  his  daughter 
into  matrimony  and  to  secure  for  her  some  stipulations  which 
should  free  wedlock  for  her  from  pain  or  care  which  other  wives 
had  to  endure.  These  stipulations  were  always  guided  by  ideal- 
ization. The  rich  and  great  were  first  able  to  realize  the  modi- 
fications. These  then  passed  into  fashion,  custom,  and  the 
mores,  and  the  institution  was  perfected  and  refined  by  them. 

205.  Ideals  of  beauty.  The  educated  ideals  under  the  second 
and  third  of  the  above  heads  become  mass  phenomena  under 
the  influence  of  fashion,  when  they  control  many  or  all.  Ideal 
types  of  beauty  are  adopted  by  a  group.  Uncivilized  people 
adopt  such  types  of  bodily  beauty  (sec.  189).  The  origin  of 
them  is  unknown.    A  Samoan  mother  presses  her  thumb  on  the 


SOCIETAL  SELECTION 


203 


nose  of  her  baby  to  flatten  it.^  An  Indian  mother  puts  a  board 
on  the  forehead  of  her  baby  to  make  it  recede.  Teeth  are 
knocked  out,  or  filed  into  prescribed  shapes,  or  blackened.  The 
skin  is  painted,  cut  into  scars,  or  tattooed.  Goblinism  may  have 
furnished  the  original  motives  for  some  deformations,  but  the 
natural  physical  features  of  the  group  which  distinguish  it  from 
others,  or  the  features  produced  by  goblinistic  usages,  come  to 
be  the  standard  of  beauty  for  the  group.  Those  features  are 
accentuated  and  exaggerated  by  the  deformations  which  are 
practiced.  The  aim  is  at  an  ideal  perfection  of  physical  beauty. 
All  fashion  in  dress  has  the  same  philosophy.  In  other  cases, 
also,  it  seems  that  fashion  is  pursuing  a  fleeting  and  impossible 
ideal  of  perfect  beauty,  style,  grace,  dexterity,  etc.,  which  shall 
give  distinction  and  superiority  or  impose  subjection. 

206.  The  man-as-he-should-be.  Group  ideals  may  be  types  of 
character.  In  the  Old  Testament  the  ideal  type  is  the  "just 
man,"  who  conformed  to  ritual  standards  at  all  points.  A  Mos- 
lem is  a  man  who  is  "  faithful  "  to  Islam,  which  is  self-surrender 
to  the  Omnipotent  One.^  The  type  of  the  perfect  man-as-he- 
should-be  in  the  Mahabharata  is  one  who  will  give  his  all  to  a 
Brahmin.  The  god  Siva,  disguised  as  a  Brahmin,  came  to  a  hero. 
He  ordered  the  hero  to  kill  his  own  son  and  serve  his  corpse 
for  the  Brahmin  to  eat.  The  hero  obeyed  at  once.  The  Brahmin 
set  the  hero's  buildings  on  fire,  but  the  latter  served  the  dish 
without  heeding  the  fire.  The  Brahmin  ordered  him  to  eat  of 
the  dish.  He  prepared  to  obey,  but  was  excused  from  this  trial. 
He  had  triumphantly  stood  the  test.  There  was  nothing  he 
would  not  do  for  a  Brahmin.^  The  poem  also  contains  a  type  of 
female  perfection  in  person  and  character,  —  Savitri.*  The 
Greeks  had  many  standards  of  personal  excellence  and  social 
worth  which  entered  to  some  extent  into  their  mores.  The  ideal 
types  were  noble  and  refined.  They  have  affected  the  mores  of 
the  class  educated  in  the  "humanities"  since  the  Renaissance. 

1  Aiistr.  Ass.  Adv.  Sci.,  1S92,  62  ;   JAI,  XIII,  280. 

2  Pischon,  Einfliiss  d.  Islam,  i. 
^  Das  Freie  Wort,  II,  312. 

*  Holtzmann,  Iiidische  Sagen,  I,  247. 


204 


FOLKWAYS 


They  have  never  been  truly  incorporated  in  the  mores  of  any 
society.  Olbos  was  wealth,  with  grace,  opulence,  elegance,  and 
generosity,  and  so  wealth  when  not  sordid  or  arrogant,  the 
opposite  of  plutocratic.  Arete  was  capacity,  capability,  and  prac- 
tical efficiency,  —  executive  ability.  Aidos  was  the  opposite  of 
"  cheek."  SopJirosyne  was  continence,  self-control.  Kalokaga- 
thie  contained  notions  of  economic,  aesthetic,  and  moral  good, 
fused  into  a  single  concept.^  The  eletUJieros  was  the  gentleman 
endowed  with  all  admirable  qualities. ^  The  Greeks  proved  that 
people  could  sink  very  low  while  talking  very  nobly.  The  ideals 
were  in  the  literature,  not  in  the  mores.  "  Their  predisposition, 
their  will,  and  their  fate  formed  a  consistent  whole,  and  their 
decline  was  a  consequence  of  the  social  and  political  life  which 
Ihey  lived."  ^  In  the  sixth  and  seventh  centuries  a.d.  the  man- 
as-he-should-be  was  religious,  —  a  hermit  or  a  monk.  In  any  case 
he  was  an  ascetic.  In  Charlemagne's  time  the  preferred  type 
was  changed.  It  became  the  warrior  and  knight,  and  led  up  to 
chivalry.  A  new  poetry  flourished  to  develop  and  propagate 
the  new  ideal.  In  mediaeval  society  there  were  strongly  defined 
ideals  of  the  man-as-he-should-be.  Milte  was  generosity  of 
heart  and  mind.  In  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries  it  was 
the  noble  desire  of  the  lord  to  share  all  he  had  with  his  retainers, 
which  desire  called  out  their  devotion  to  him.*  The  minstrels 
meant  by  it  lavishness  of  gifts  to  themselves.  Maze  was  the 
cardinal  virtue.  It  meant  observation  of  the  limits  in  all  actions 
and  manifestations  of  feeling,  the  opposite  of  excess  and  ex- 
travagance.^ The  church  taught  admiration  of  arbitrary  ideals 
of  ecclesiastical  virtues.  The  ideals  were  ascetic.  They  seem 
to  have  been  derived  from  the  fathers  of  the  fourth  and  fifth 
centuries,  but  they  offer  an  example  of  borrowed  and  adopted 
ideals  which  were  fully  incorporated  in  the  popular  mores.  The 
age  accepted  ascetic  standards  of  goodness  and  character.  The 
religious  classes  and  the  lay  classes  did  not  fall  under  the  same 

1  Burckhardt,  Griech.  Kulturgeschichte,  I,  171  ;   II,  365. 

-  Becker-Hermann,  Cliarikles,  III,  318. 

3  Burckhardt,  II,  365. 

*  VshXhdLwii,  Dichtuiig  tind  Sage,  232. 

^  Weinhold,  Deittsche  Fraiten,  I,  162. 


SOCIETAL  SELECTION  205 

standards  of  conduct  and  duty.  It  was  the  business  of  the 
former  to  hve  by  the  full  standard.  All  classes,  however, 
accepted  the  standards  as  valid,  and  the  layman  conformed  to 
them  at  times,  or  as  far  as  worldly  life  would  permit.  Elizabeth 
of  Thuringia  seems  to  be  the  ideal  of  the  married  woman,  but 
her  saintliness  interfered  with  her  other  duties,  and  even  her  own 
time  does  not  seem  to  have  been  sure  in  its  judgment  of  her. 
That  she  was  flogged  is  a  fact  which  has  many  relations  to  her 
character  and  her  age.^  All  admired  men  who  practiced  asceti- 
cism and  self-discipline.  The  types  of  the  age  were  knightli- 
ness  and  saintliness.  They  were  both  highly  elaborated.  The 
knightly  type  began  to  develop  in  the  time  of  Charlemagne  and 
ran  through  the  crusades.  It  contained  grotesque  and  absurd 
elements.  The  story  of  the  crusades  is  a  criticism  upon  it. 
The  knight  was  a  fantastic  person,  who  might  do  isolated  deeds 
of  valor,  but  who  could  not  make  a  plan,  work  persistently  to  a 
purpose,  cooperate  with  others,  or  either  enforce  or  submit  to 
discipline.  Both  the  knight  and  the  saint  were  ideal  types  which 
exerted  a  controlling  power  of  selection  through  centuries. 

207.  The  standard  type  of  man.  Is  the  ideal  of  the  man-as-he- 
should-be  to  be  found,  for  us,  in  the  "common  man,"  or  in  the 
highest  product  of  our  culture  .''  That  is  a  most  vital  question 
for  any  society.  It  includes  the  question  whether  the  society 
has  a  discord  in  itself  as  to  its  own  ideal  of  the  type  of  men  it 
wants  to  produce.  In  the  upper  strata  of  the  masses,  amongst 
the  educated,  industrious,  sober-minded  people  of  good  incomes, 
there  exists  the  best  family  life.  The  children  live  constantly 
with  their  parents,  and  the  latter  watch  over  the  health,  manners, 
and  morals  of  the  children  unceasingly  from  birth  to  maturity. 
The  same  parents  make  great  sacrifices  for  the  education  of 
their  children,  although  the  class,  as  a  class,  has  means  to 
secure  what  is  necessary  without  hard  sacrifice.  The  point  is 
that  they  value  education  highly  and  get  it.  We  also  multiply 
educational  institutions.  We  feel  sure  that  all  this  is  good  work. 
The  churches  and  all  good  literature  constantly  inculcate  good 
manners  and  morals  according  to  the  standards  in  the  present 

1  Michael,  Gesch.  d.  Deutschen  Volkes,  II,  209-214. 


206  FOLKWAYS 

mores.  Here  is  a  set  of  objects  to  be  prized  and  worked  for  in 
families,  schools,  self-education,  literature,  and  art,  which  go  to 
the  production  of  a  type  of  men  as  the  highest  product  of  our 
civilization.  Then  suddenly  we  are  told  that  the  common  man 
is  wise  beyond  all  the  philosophers.  The  man  on  the  curbstone 
is  the  arbiter  of  our  destinies,  and  the  standard  man.  "  Cul- 
ture "  is  derided  and  sneered  at.  This  latter  view  has  great 
popularity.  It  brings  up  a  serious  question  :  whether  we  are 
spoiling  our  children  by  educating  them.  Are  we  spoiling  them 
for  political  power  }  Are  we  putting  them  under  disabilities  for 
public  influence  ?  It  is  related  of  an  English  statesman,  that 
when  asked  by  an  American  mother  whether  she  should  send 
her  son  to  Oxford,  he  replied  :  "  Why  send  him  to  Oxford  .?  Send 
him  to  Washington,  where  he  will  learn  democracy.  That  is 
what  he  will  need  to  know."  Certainly  it  behooves  us  to  know 
whether  we  are  spoiling  our  sons  by  sending  them  to  the  uni- 
versities, and  whether  we  ought  not  rather  to  send  them  to 
Tammany  Hall.  Either  on  one  side  or  the  other  there  is  a 
great  mass  of  empty  phrases  and  false  but  inflated  rhetoric. 

208.  Who  does  the  thinking?  The  notion  that  "the  group 
thinks  "  deserves  to  be  put  by  the  side  of  the  great  freaks  of 
philosophy  which  have  been  put  forth  from  age  to  age.  Only 
the  elite  of  any  society,  in  any  age,  think,  and  the  world's 
thinking  is  carried  on  by  them  by  the  transplanting  of  ideas 
from  mind  to  mind,  under  the  stress  and  strain  of  clashing  argu- 
ment and  tugging  debate.  If  the  group  thinks,  then  thought 
costs  nothing,  but  in  truth  thought  costs  beyond  everything  else, 
for  thousands  search  and  talk  while  only  one  finds  ;  when  he 
finds  something,  a  step  is  won  and  all  begins  over  again.  If 
this  is  so,  it  ought  to  be  universally  known  and  recognized. 
All  the  mores  would  then  conform  to  it. 

209.  The  gentleman.  In  modern  English-speaking  society  the 
"gentleman"  is  the  name  for  the  man-as-he-should-be.  The 
type  is  not  fixed  and  the  definition  is  not  established.  It  is  a 
collective  and  social  ideal.  Gentlemen  are  a  group  in  society 
who  have  selected  a  code  and  standard  of  conduct  as  most  con- 
ducive to  prosperous  and   pleasant  social  relations.    Therefore 


SOCIETAL  SELECTION  207 

manners  are  an  essential  element  in  the  type.  A  gentleman  is 
one  who  has  been  educated  to  conform  to  the  type,  and  that  he 
has  the  cacJiet  is  indicated  by  his  admission  to  the  group. 
Novels  develop  and  transmit  the  ideal ;  clubs  are  the  tribunal 
of  it.  It  is  a  floating  notion  which  varies  with  the  mores.  The 
modern  reader  finds  very  few  cases  in  Greek  literature  of  what 
he  can  recognize  as  gentlemen.  Orestes  in  the  Electra  of  Eurip- 
ides opens  the  discussion  of  what  makes  the  worth  of  a  man, 
but  after  saying  that  it  is  not  wealth  or  poverty,  and  not  valor 
in  war,  he  flinches  the  question  and  says  that  it  is  better  to 
leave  it  untouched.  The  peasant,  married  to  Electra,  certainly 
acts  the  gentleman.  He  also  says  of  Orestes  and  Pylades,  that 
if  they  really  are  as  noble  as  they  seem,  they  will  be  as  well 
satisfied  with  humble  fare  as  with  grand  fare.  A  gentleman  of 
a  century  ago  would  not  be  approved  now.  A  gentleman  of 
to-day  in  the  society  of  a  century  ago  would  be  thought  to  have 
rowdy  manners.  Artificial  manners  are  not  in  the  taste  of  our 
time ;  athletics  are.  The  "  gentleman "  always  tends  to  an 
arbitrary  definition.  It  appears  now  that  he  must  have  some 
skill  at  sports  and  games.  The  selective  force  of  the  social 
type  of  the  gentleman  is  obviov;s  in  our  own  society.  The 
sentiment  noblesse  obliQ-e  was  once  the  name  for  the  coercive 
force  exerted  on  a  noble  by  the  code  of  his  class.  Now  that 
fixed  classes  are  gone  and  the  gentleman  is  only  defined  by  the 
usage  and  taste  of  an  informal  class,  it  is  a  term  for  the  duties 
which  go  with  social  superiority  of  any  kind,  so  far  as  those 
duties  are  prescribed  and  sanctioned  by  public  opinion. 

210.  Social  standard  set  by  taboos.  It  may  be  still  more 
important  to  notice  that  the  standard  social  type  is  defined  by 
taboos  with  only  social  sanctions.  The  negative  side  of  noblesse 
oblige  is  more  important  than  the  positive.  A  gentleman  is 
under  more  restraints  than  a  non-gentleman.  In  the  eighteenth 
century  he  patronized  cockfights  and  prize  fights,  and  he  could 
get  drunk,  gamble,  tell  falsehoods,  and  deceive  women  without 
losing  caste.  He  now  finds  that  noblesse  oblige  forbids  all  these 
things,  and  that  it  puts  him  under  disabilities  in  politics  and 
business. 


2o8  FOLKWAYS 

A  society  exerts  a  positive  selection  on  individuals  by  its  defini- 
tion of  crimes  and  by  its  criminal  jurisprudence.  The  taboos 
are  turned  into  laws  and  are  enforced  by  positive  penalties. 

211.  Crimes.  The  number  and  variety  of  crimes  depends  on 
the  positive  action  of  the  state.  What  things  are  crimes  in  a 
state,  therefore,  indicates  what  the  ruling  authority  desires  to 
prevent.  The  motives  have  often  been  entirely  selfish  on  the 
part  of  a  king  or  a  ruling  caste,  or  they  were  dictated  by  a  desire 
to  further  the  vanity  of  such  persons.  By  judicial  precedent  at 
Rome  it  was  made  a  crime  to  beat  a  slave,  or  to  undress  near 
a  statue  of  the  emperor,  or  to  carry  a  coin  bearing  his  image 
into  a  latrine  or  a  lupanar.^  Xiphilin,  in  his  epitome  of  the 
history  of  Dio  Cassius,  inserts  a  story  that,  in  the  reign  of 
Domitian,  a  woman  was  executed  for  undressing  near  the  statue 
of  that  emperor.2  'p]-,g  notions  in  the  mores  of  what  ought  to 
be  prevented  have  been  very  variable  and  arbitrary.  Juvenal 
denounces  a  consul  who  while  in  office  drove  his  own  chariot, 
although  by  night  .^  Seneca  was  shocked  at  the  criminal  luxury 
of  putting  snow  in  wine.*  Pliny  is  equally  shocked  at  the  fashion 
of  wearing  gold  rings.^  Lecky,  after  citing  these  cases,  refers 
to  the  denunciations  uttered  by  the  church  fathers  against  women 
who  wore  false  hair.  Painting  the  face  is  an  old  fault  of  women, 
against  which  moral  teachers  of  all  ages  have  thundered.  Very 
recently,  amongst  us,  clergymen  have  denounced  women  for  not 
wearing  bonnets  in  church,  because  Paul  said  that  she  "dishon- 
oreth  her  head,  for  that  is  even  all  one  as  if  she  were  shaven."  ^ 
These  were  not  indeed  cases  of  crimes,  but  of  alleged  vices  or 
sins.  In  sumptuary  laws  we  have  cases  of  legislation  which  made 
fashions  crimes.  In  the  eighteenth  century  there  was  little  legis- 
lation against  brothels,  drinking  places,  or  gambling  houses.  We 
make  it  a  crime  to  sell  rum,  but  not  to  drink  it.  On  the  other 
hand,  until  recently  commercial  transactions  and  the  lending  of 

1  Suetonius,  Tiberius,  58. 

2  Manning,  Trafis.  of  Xiphiliti,  II,  83;  Xiphiliti's  Epitome,  published  in  1551. 
^  Satires,  VIII,  146. 

*  JVat.  Quaest.,  IV,  13  ;  Ep.,  78. 

s  Hist.  Nat.,  XXXIII,  4. 

^  N.  Y.  Times,  August  18,  1903.    (Cf.  sec.  483.) 


SOCIETAL  SELECTION  209 

money  for  interest  were  so  restricted  in  accordance  with  ethical 
and  economic  faiths  that  they  were  environed  by  crimes  which 
are  now  obsolete.  Heresy  and  sorcery  were  once  very  great 
crimes.    Witchcraft  and  usury  were  abominable  crimes. 

212.  Criminal  law.  In  the  original  administration  of  justice 
it  appears  that  there  was  only  one  punishment  for  the  violation 
of  taboo,  sin  and  crime  being  coincident  :  that  was  death.  Then, 
in  cases,  banishment  was  substituted  for  death,  although  this  was 
only  a  change  in  form,  since  a  banished  man  could  not  exist  alone. 
In  either  case  the  selection  was  of  the  simplest  kind.  The  soci- 
ety extruded  from  itself  one  wdio  violated  its  rules.  This  is  the 
fundamental  sense  of  all  punishments,  like  execution,  transporta- 
tion, or  imprisonment,  w^iich  remove  the  culprit  from  the  society, 
permanently  or  for  a  time.  Other  punishments  contained  origi- 
nally a  large  element  of  vengeance,  vengeance  being  a  primary 
impulse  of  great  force  to  satisfy  those  whom  the  crimes  injured  and 
to  deter  others  from  the  same  crime.  The  administration  of  jus- 
tice, therefore,  bore  witness  to  the  judgment  of  the  society  as  to 
what  conduct  and  character  should  be  selected  for  preservation  or 
caused  to  cease.  In  all  modern  states  the  power  to  make  acts 
crimes  has  been  abused,  and  the  motive  of  punishment  has  been 
so  lost  that  we  wrangle  as  to  what  it  is.  The  ruling  coterie  uses 
the  power  to  make  things  crimes  to  serve  its  own  interests. 
Protectionists  make  it  criminal  to  import  goods.  Governments 
do  the  same  to  further  their  fiscal  purposes.  They  also  make 
it  criminal  to  immigrate  or  emigrate,  or  to  coin  money,  even  of 
full  weight  and  fineness,  or  to  carry  letters  and  parcels.  In 
England  it  is  made  a  crime  to  violate  railroad  regulations.  In 
some  cases  regulations  for  barber  shops  are  enforced  by  making 
violations  crimes.  Generally,  sanitary  rules  are  so  enforced.  In 
the  latest  case  it  has  been  made  a  crime  to  spit  in  public  places. 
The  criminal  law  expresses  the  mores  of  the  time  when  they  have 
reached  very  concrete  and  definite  formulas  of  prohibition.  Per- 
haps the  administration  of  it  expresses  the  mores  still  more  clearly. 
It  is  now  recognized  as  true  that  frightful  penalties  do  not  exert 
a  proportionately  deterrent  effect.  Our  mores  do  not  permit  us 
to  inflict  pain  in  order  to  compel  men  to  confess,  or  to  put  them 


2IO  FOLKWAYS 

in  solitary  confinement  in  dark  and  loathsome  dungeons,  or  to  let 
our  prisons  become  sinks  of  vice  and  misery  or  schools  of  crime. 
The  selective  effect  of  punishment  is  the  one  which  we  seem  to 
aim  at,  although  not  very  intelligently. 

213.  Mass  phenomena  of  fear  and  hope.  Manias  and  delusions 
are  mental  phenomena,  but  they  are  social.  They  are  diseases  of 
the  mind,  but  they  are  epidemic.  They  are  contagious,  not  as 
cholera  is  contagious,  but  contact  with  others  is  essential  to  them. 
They  are  mass  phenomena.^  Some  great  hope  (the  good  to  be 
obtained  by  taking  the  heads  of  murdered  men  or  from  appeasing 
the  gods  by  sacrificing  one's  children)  or  some  great  fear  (drought, 
failure  of  food,  purgatory),  if  common  to  the  whole,  makes  them 
adopt  any  suggestion  of  a  means  to  realize  the  hope  or  avert  the 
feared  calamity.  Often  there  is  no  such  quasi-rational  reason  for 
common  action.  Hysteria,  especially  amongst  women  and  chil- 
dren, produces  manias  of  falsehood,  deceit  (fasting  women), 
trances,  and  witchcraft.  In  mediaeval  convents  sometimes  half 
the  inmates  were  afflicted  at  the  same  time.  Nervous  depression 
and  irritation  produced  physical  acts  of  relief.  One  irritated 
another,  and  one  surpassed  another,  until  there  was  a  catastrophe 
for  the  group. ^  Religious  enthusiasm  has  produced  innumerable 
manias  and  delusions.  Mediseval  Christianity,  Mohammedanism, 
Persia,  and  modern  Russia  furnish  cases.  Martyrdom  proves 
nothing  with  regard  to  the  truth  or  value  of  a  religion.  All  the 
sects  have  had  martyrs.  Martyrdom,  even  under  torture,  has 
been  sought,  under  the  influence  of  religious  enthusiasm,  not  only 
by  Christians  ^  but  by  Donatists,^  Manichaeans,  and  other  most 
abominated  heretics.  Even  the  Adamites  produced  martyrs  who 
went  joyously  to  death.^  Quakers  really  provrkod  their  own 
martyrdom  in  early  New   England. 

214.  Manias,  delusions.  The  phenomena  of  manias,  popular 
delusions,  group  hallucinations,  self-immolation,  etc.,  show  the 
possibilities  of  mental  contagion  in  a  group.  They  are  responses 
to  hope  or  fear  which  affect  large  numbers  at  the  same  time. 

1  Achelis,  Die  Ekstase,  113.  ^  Lecky,  E717'.  Morals,  I,  391. 

"^  Regnard,  Sorcellerie,  45.  "^  Gibbon,  Chap.  XXI. 

5  Lea,  Liqiiis.,  II,  518. 


SOCIETAL  SELECTION  21  I 

They  are  often  produced  by  public  calamities,  or  other  ills  of  life. 
Those  who  suffer  feel  themselves  selected  as  victims,  and  they 
ask,  Who  has  done  this  to  us,  and  why  ?  Often  people  who  are 
not  victims  interpret  a  natural  incident  by  egoistic  reference. 
This  is  done  not  on  account  of  the  destruction  wrought  by  an 
earthquake  or  a  tornado,  but  from  pure  terror  at  what  is  not 
understood,  e.g.  an  eclipse.^  Pilgrimages  and  crusades  were  cases 
of  mania  and  delusion.  The  element  of  delusion  was  in  the  notion 
of  high  merit  which  could  be  won  in  pursuing  the  crusades.  Very 
often  manias  and  delusions  are  pure  products  of  fashion,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  children's  crusades,  when  the  children  caught  the  infec- 
tion of  the  crusades,  but  did  not  know  what  they  were  doing,  or 
why,  and  rushed  on  their  own  destruction.  Often  manias  are 
logical  deductions  from  notions  (especially  religious  notions)  which 
have  been  suggested,  as  in  the  case  of  the  flagellants.  It  is  the 
ills  of  life  which  drive  people  to  such  deductions,  and  they  bear 
witness  to  excessive  nervous  excitement.  The  mediaeval  dancing 
mania  was  more  purely  nervous.  The  demonism  and  demonology 
of  the  Middle  Ages  was  a  fertile  source  for  such  deductions,  which 
went  far  to  produce  the  witchcraft  mania.  The  demonistic  notions 
taught  by  the  church  furnished  popular  deductions,  which  the 
church  took  up  and  reduced  to  dogmatic  form,  and  returned  as 
such  to  the  masses.  Thus  the  notions  of  sorcery,  heresy,  and 
witchcraft  were  developed. 

215.  Monstrous  mass  phenomena  of  mediaeval  society.  There 
must  have  been  a  deep  and  strong  anthropological  reason  for  the 
development  of  monstrous  social  phenomena  in  mediaeval  society. 
The  Latin  world  was  disintegrated  to  its  first  elements  between  the 
sixth  century  and  the  tenth.  Such  a  dissolution  of  society  abol- 
ished the  inherited  mores  with  all  their  restraints  and  inhibitions, 
and  left  society  to  the  control  of  fierce  barbaric,  that  is  physical, 
forces.  At  the  same  period  the  Latin  world  absorbed  hordes  of 
barbarians  who  were  still  on  a  low  nomadic  warrior  stage  of  civi- 
lization, and  who  adopted  the  ruins  of  Roman  culture  without 
assimilating  them.  The  Christian  church  contributed  crass  super- 
stitions about  the  other  world  and  the  relations  of  this  world  to 

^  Friedmann,   IVahnideen  im  Vblkerleben,  224. 


212  FOLKWAYS 

it.  The  product  was  the  Merovingian  and  Carlo vingian  history. 
Passion,  sensuality,  ferocity,  superstitious  ignorance,  and  fear 
characterized  the  age.  It  is  supposed  that  western  Europe  was 
overpopulated  and  that  the  crusades  operated  a  beneficial  reduc- 
tion of  numbers.^  These  facts  may  account  for  the  gigantic  mass 
phenomena  in  the  early  Middle  Ages.  Every  sentiment  was  ex- 
travagant. Men  were  under  some  mighty  gregarious  instinct  which 
drove  them  to  act  in  masses,  and  they  passed  from  one  great  pas- 
sion or  enthusiastic  impulse  to  another  at  very  short  intervals. 
The  passions  of  hatred  and  revenge  were  manifested,  upon  occa- 
sion, to  the  extremity  of  fiendishness.  Nothing  which  the  mind 
could  conceive  of  seemed  to  be  renounced  as  excessive  (Clement  V, 
John  XXII).  Gregory  IX  pursued  the  heretics  and  the  emperor 
with  an  absorption  of  his  whole  being  and  a  rancor  which  we  can- 
not understand.  Poverty  was  elevated  into  a  noble  virtue  and  a 
transcendent  merit  .^  This  was  the  height  of  ascetic  absurdity, 
since  poverty  is  only  want,  and  the  next  step  would  be  a  cult  of 
suicide.  The  mendicant  orders  fought  each  other  malignantly. 
Every  difference  of  opinion  made  a  war  of  extermination.  Civil 
contests  were  carried  on  with  extravagant  ferocity  as  to  the  means 
used  and  as  to  the  exultation  of  success  or  the  penalty  of  failure. 
What  was  lacking  was  discipline.  There  was  no  authority  or 
doctrine  which  could  set  limits  to  private  passion.  Life  was  held 
cheap.  The  gallows  a.nd  the  pit  were  in  use  all  the  time.  The 
most  marked  product  of  invention  was  instruments  of  torture. 
Men  and  women  were  burned  to  death  for  frivolous  reasons. 
Punishments  taught  people  to  gloat  over  suffering.  Torture  was 
inflicted  as  idly  as  we  take  testimony.  With  all  this  went  deep 
faith  in  the  efficacy  of  ritual  and  great  other-worldliness,  that  is, 
immediate  apprehension  of  the  other  world  in  this  one.  All  the 
mores  were  adjusted  to  these  features  of  faith  and  practice.  It  all 
proceeded  out  of  the  masses  of  the  people.  The  church  was  borne 
along  like  a  chip  on  the  tide.  The  church  hung  back  from  the 
crusades  until  the  depth  of  the  popular  interest  had  been  tested. 
Then  the  crusades  were  declared  to  be  the  "will  of  God."    This 

^  Kugler,  JCreiczziige,  7. 

2  Michael,  GescJi.  d.  Deiitschen  Volkes,  II,  80. 


SOCIETAL  SELECTION 


213 


gave  their  own  idea  back  again  to  the  masses  with  the  approval 
of  the  societal  authority.  The  masses  insisted  on  having  acts  and 
apparatus  provided  by  which  to  satisfy  their  application  of  dogma. 
The  power  of  the  keys  and  the  treasure  of  salvation  were  provided 
accordingly.  The  souls  of  the  people  were  torn  by  the  antago- 
nism between  the  wild  passions  of  the  age  and  the  ecclesiastical 
restraints  on  conduct.  They  feared  the  wrath  of  God  and  hell  to 
come.  The  ritual  and  sacramental  system  furnished  a  remedy. 
The  flagellants  were  a  phenomenon  of  seething,  popular  passion, 
outside  of  the  church  and  unapproved  by  its  authority.  Antony 
of  Padua  (f  123 1)  started  the  movement  by  his  sermons  on 
repentance  and  the  wrath  of  God.  Processions  of  weeping,  pray- 
ing, self-scourging,  and  half-naked  penitents  appeared  in  the 
streets  of  all  the  towns  of  Christendom.  "Nearly  all  enemies 
made  friends.  Usurers  and  robbers  made  haste  to  restore  ill- 
gotten  goods,  and  other  vicious  men  confessed  and  renounced  van- 
ity. Prisons  were  opened.  Prisoners  were  released.  Exiles  were 
allowed  to  return.  Men  and  women  accomplished  works  of  pity 
and  holiness,  as  if  they  feared  the  all-powerful  God  would  con- 
sume them  with  lire  from  heaven."^  This  movement  was  alto- 
gether popular.  It  broke  out  again  in  1349,  in  connection  with 
the  Black  Death.  Flagellation  for  thirty-three  and  a  half  days 
was  held  to  purge  from  all  sin.  This  was  heresy  and  the  flagel- 
lants were  persecuted.  The  theory  was  a  purely  popular  appli- 
cation by  the  masses  of  the  church  doctrine  of  penance,  outside 
of  the  church  system.  It  reappeared  from  time  to  time.  The 
dancing  mania  began  at  Aix-la-Chapelle  in  1373  and  lasted  for 
several  years .^  It  was  an  outlet  for  high  nervous  tension  under 
which  the  population  was  suffering  on  account  of  great  calamities, 
social  distress,  and  superstitious  interpretations  of  the  same.  In 
short,  the  period  was  one  of  monstrous  phenomena,  extravagant 
passions,  and  unreasonable  acts. 

216.  Gregariousness  of  the  Middle  Ages.  "  To  estimate  fully 
the  force  of  these  popular  ebullitions  in  the  Middle  Ages,  we 
must  bear  in  mind  the  susceptibility  of  the  people  to  contagious 

1  Michael,  Gesch.  d.  Deiitschen  Volkes,  II,  255-258. 
-  Lea,  Liqiiis.,  II,  38 1,  393. 


2  14  FOLKWAYS 

emotions  and  enthusiasms  of  which  we  know  httle  in  our  colder 
day.  A  trifle  might  start  a  movement  which  the  wisest  could  not 
explain  nor  the  most  powerful  restrain.  It  was  during  the  preach- 
ing of  this  crusade  [of  1208,  against  the  Albigenses]  that 
villages  and  towns  in  Germany  were  filled  with  women  who, 
unable  to  expend  their  religious  ardor  in  taking  the  cross, 
stripped  themselves  naked  and  ran  silently  through  the  roads 
and  streets.  Still  more  symptomatic  of  the  diseased  spirituality 
of  the  time  was  the  crusade  of  the  children,  which  desolated 
thousands  of  homes.  From  vast  districts  of  territory,  incited 
apparently  by  a  simultaneous  and  spontaneous  impulse,  crowds 
of  children  set  forth,  without  leaders  or  guides,  in  search  of  the 
Holy  Land  ;  and  their  only  answer,  when  questioned  as  to  their 
object,  was  that  they  were  going  to  Jerusalem.  Vainly  did 
parents  lock  their  children  up  ;  they  would  break  loose  and  dis- 
appear ;  and  the  few  who  eventually  found  their  way  home  again 
could  give  no  reason  for  the  overmastering  longing  which  had 
carried  them  away.  Nor  must  we  lose  sight  of  other  and  less 
creditable  springs  of  action  which  brought  to  all  crusades  the 
vile,  who  came  for  license  and  spoil,  and  the  base,  who  sought 
the  immunity  conferred  by  the  quality  of  crusader."  ^  "To  com- 
prehend fully  the  magnitude  and  influence  of  these  movements  we 
must  bear  in  mind  the  impressionable  character  of  the  populations 
and  their  readiness  to  yield  to  contagious  emotion.  When  we 
are  told  that  the  Franciscan  Berthold  of  Ratisbon  frequently 
preached  to  crowds  of  sixty  thousand  souls,  we  realize  what  power 
was  lodged  in  the  hands  of  those  who  could  reach  masses  so 
easily  swayed  and  so  full  of  blind  yearnings  to  escape  from  the 
ignoble  life  to  which  they  were  condemned.  How  the  slumber- 
ing souls  were  awakened  is  shown  by  the  successive  waves  of 
excitement  which  swept  over  one  portion  of  Europe  after  another 
about  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century.  The  dumb,  untutored 
minds  began  to  ask  whether  an  existence  of  hopeless  and  brutal 
misery  was  all  that  was  to  be  realized  from  the  promises  of  the 
gospel.  The  church  had  made  no  real  effort  at  internal  reform  ; 
it  was  still  grasping,  covetous,  licentious,  and  a  strange  desire 

1  Lea,  Inqicis.,  I,  147. 


SOCIETAL  SELECTION  215 

for  something  —  they  knew  not  exactly  what  —  began  to  take 
possession  of  men's  hearts  and  spread  hke  an  epidemic  from 
village  to  village  and  from  land  to  land."  ^ 

What  we  see  here  is  the  power  of  mere  gregariousness,  the 
impulse  of  acting  in  a  crowd,  without  knowledge  or  purpose.  The 
mere  sense  of  being  in  the  current  movement,  or  "  in  the  fashion," 
is  a  pleasure.  When  the  movement  is  great  in  its  compass  and 
the  numbers  involved  there  is  an  exhilaration  about  being  in  it. 
If  the  notions  by  which  it  is  enthused  are  great,  or  holy  and 
noble,  in  form  and  pretense,  even  if  not  really  so,  it  may  become 
demonic,  and  it  may  accomplish  incredible  things.  We  had  a 
grand  illustration  of  this  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War,  in  1861, 
both  in  the  North  and  South.  Dissent  on  both  sides  was  over- 
whelmed and  all  were  swept  away  into  the  prevailing  current. 

217.  The  mendicant  orders.  The  mendicant  orders  responded 
to  the  deepest  popular  faiths  and  highest  standards  of  the 
thirteenth  century.  Francis  of  Assisi  (f  1226)  took  up  the  notion 
that  it  was  wrong  to  own  property,  or  at  least  meritorious  to  re- 
nounce it,  and  affirmed  that  Christ  and  his  apostles  repudiated 
all  property  and  lived  on  alms.  The  Timotheists  of  the  fifth 
century  had  held  this  notion,  but  were  rated  as  heretics. ^  Poverty, 
for  Francis,  did  not  mean  a  little  property,  but  absolute  rejection 
of  all  property.  This  was  necessarily  only  a  pose.  He  had  to  use 
other  men's  property,  the  use  being  right.  Therefore  he  could 
only  renounce  productive  labor.  The  popular  religious  temper  of 
the  time  revered  simplicity,  humility,  self-denial,  and  renunciation 
of  "the  world"  as  especially  evangelical  virtues.  They  were 
thought  to  be  summed  up  in  poverty.  That  Francis  was  a  hero 
of  this  type  of  religion  has  been  universally  admitted.  The 
virtues  were  just  the  ones  which  the  Roman  court  did  not  show. 
Jacques  de  Vitry,  an  enthusiastic  preacher  against  the  Albigenses, 
went  through  Italy  to  Palestine  in  12 16.  He  left  a  journal^ 
in  which  he  recorded  his  sadness  at  observing  that,  at  the  papal 
court,  all  were  busy  with  secular  affairs,  kings  and  kingdoms, 
quarrels  and  lawsuits,  so  that  it  was  almost  impossible  to  speak 

^  Lea,  Iiiqiiis.,  I,  26S.  -  Lea,  Sacerd.  Celib.,  yil- 

^  Notiv.  Mem.  de  VAcad.  des  Scieftces,Lett7-es,  et  Beaux  Arts  de  Belgique.,  XXIII,  30. 


2i6  FOLKWAYS 

about  spiritual  matters.  He  greatly  admired  the  Franciscans,  who 
were  trying  to  renew  primitive  Christianity  and  save  souls,  thus 
shaming  the  prelates,  who  were  "dogs  who  do  not  bark."  The 
Count  of  Chiusi  gave  to  Francis  the  mountain  La  Verna  for 
retirement  and  meditation.  Armed  men  were  necessary  to  take 
possession  of  it  against  the  beasts  and  robbers  who  had  possession 
of  it.^  Carmichael  believes  that  Francis  received  the  stigmata, 
which  he  describes  in  detail.  The  Francis  of  tradition  is  a  fabu- 
lous person,  created  out  of  the  pet  ideas  of  his  time.^  The 
historical  person  was  a  visionary.  Dominic  was  a  zealot.  He 
wanted  to  convert  all  heretics  by  preaching  or  other  means. 

218.  Other  mendicant  orders.  De  Vitry  found  Humiliati  in  Lombardy, 
who  were  living  by  ideas  like  those  of  Francis.  The  Augustinian  hermits 
were  founded  in  1256,  the  CarmeHtes  in  1245,  and  the  Servites,  or  Servants 
of  Mary,  about  1275.'^  These  were  all  mendicants,  and  they  bear  witness  to 
the  character  of  the  notions  of  the  time  about  poverty.  It  was  a  mania,  and 
is  fully  expressed  in  the  Romaiint  de  la  Rose.  Perhaps  Francis  did  not  mean 
to  "  found  an  order."  He  wanted  to  live  in  a  certain  way  with  a  few  friends. 
The  spontaneous  and  very  rapid  spread  of  his  order  proves  that  it  was  con- 
cordant with  a  great  popular  taste.  Francis  was  a  dreamer  and  enthusiast, 
not  a  politician  or  organizer  at  all.  In  his  testament  he  says :  "  After  the 
Lord  had  given  me  care  of  the  brethren,  no  one  showed  me  what  I  ought  to 
do,  but  the  Highest  Himself  revealed  to  me  that  I  ought  to  live  according 
to  the  mode  of  the  Holy  Gospel."  He  was  not  thwarted  and  subjugated  by 
the  curia  during  his  life,  but  his  ideals  were  not  maintained  by  the  men  in  the 
order.  The  man  who  was  later  pope  Gregory  IX  aided  him  to  organize 
the  order  and  to  make  it  practically  efhcient,  that  is,  to  take  the  enthusiasm 
out  of  it  and  make  it  practical.*  The  popes  of  the  thirteenth  century 
approved.  There  was  in  the  principles  of  the  order  an  antagonism  to  the 
church  as  it  was,  and  also  an  antagonism  to  common  sense.  The  church 
authorities  wanted  to  bring  the  order  into  practical  use,  and  suspected  it  of 
the  heresies  of  Florus.  It  therefore  split  into  "  conventuals,"  who  conformed 
to  the  methods  of  conventual  life,  and  the  "  spirituals,"  who  clung  to  the 
doctrines  and  rules  of  the  founder.  The  latter  became  "  observantines  "  ( 1 368) 
and  "  recollects  "  (1487).''^  The  two  branches  hated  each  other  and  fought  on 
all  occasions.     In  1275  the  spirituals  were  treated  as  heretics,  imprisoned  in 

1  Carmichael,  In  Tuscany.,  224. 

2  See  the  Fioretti  de  Fra7icisco. 

3  Michael,  Gesch.  d.  Deutschen  Volkes,  II,  97. 
*  Goetz,  in  Hist.  Vierteljahrschrift.,  VI,  19. 

5  Lea,  laqicis..  Ill,  172,  179. 


SOCIETAL  SELECTION  217 

chains,  and  forbidden  the  sacrament. ^  John  XXI I  condemned  their  doctrine  as 
heretical.  This  put  the  observantines  in  the  same  position  as  other  heretical 
sects.  They  must  be  rebels  and  heretics  or  give  up  ideas  which  seemed  to 
them  the  sum  of  all  truth  and  wisdom.  Generally  they  clung  to  their  ideas 
like  the  heretics.^  One  of  their  heroes  was  Bernard  Delicieux  (f  1320),  who 
is  celebrated  as  the  only  man  who  ever  dared  to  resist  the  Inquisition.  He 
was  tortured  twice,  and  condemned  to  imprisonment  in  chains  on  bread  and 
water.  He  lived  only  a  few  months  under  this  punishment.^  Out  of  admira- 
tion immense  sums  were  given  to  the  mendicants,  and  they  became  notorious 
for  avarice  and  worldly  self-seeking. ■*  As  early  as  1257  Bonaventura,  the 
head  of  the  order,  reproached  them  with  these  faults.^  "  Some  of  the  venom- 
ous hatred  expressed  by  the  Italian  satirists  for  the  two  great  orders  of  St. 
Francis  and  St.  Dominic  may  perhaps  be  due  to  an  ancient  grudge  against 
them  as  a  papal  police  founded  in  the  interests  of  orthodoxy,  but  the  chief 
point  aimed  at  is  the  mixture  of  hypocrisy  with  immorality,  which  rendered 
them  odious  to  all  classes  of  society."  ^  "  In  general  the  Franciscans  seem  to 
us  far  less  orthodox  than  the  Dominicans.  They  issued  from  a  popular  move- 
ment which  was  irregular,  unecclesiastical.  very  little  conformed  to  the  ideas 
of  the  hierarchy  about  discipline."  "  The  followers  of  St.  Francis  continued 
to  contain  ardent-minded  men  who  maintained  that  the  Franciscan  reform 
had  not  produced  all  its  due  results ;  that  that  reform  was  superior  to  popes 
and  to  the  dispensations  issued  at  Rome  ;  that  the  appearance  of  the  seraphic 
Francis  was  neither  more  nor  less  than  the  advent  of  a  new  Christianity  and 
a  new  Christ,  like  in  all  respects  to  the  first,  but  superior  to  it  by  poverty. 
Therefore  all  the  democratic  and  communistic  movements  of  later  times, — 
the  third  order  of  St.  Francis,  the  Beghards,  Lollards,  Bisocs,  Fraticelli,  Spirit- 
ual Brethren,  Humiliati,  and  Poor  Men  of  Lyons  [Waldenses],  who  were 
exterminated  by  the  state  and  the  prisons  of  the  Dominicans,  have  their 
origin  in  the  old  leaven  of  Katharism,  Joachimism,  and  the  eternal  gospel."  ' 

219.  Popular  mania  for  poverty  and  beggary.  The  strength 
of  the  mendicant  orders  was  in  their  popularity.  They  recon- 
qitered  for  the  church  the  respect  of  the  masses.  Then  they 
became  the  inquisitors,  and  the  abusers  of  power  for  their  own 
interests,  and  fell  into  great  disfavor.  Their  history  shows  well 
the  course  of  interaction  between  the  masses  and  the  rulers,  and 
the  course  of  institutions  born  in  popular  mores  but  abused  to 
serve   private  interests.    The   mendicant   orders   furnished    the 

1  Lea,  Inquis.,  Ill,  1^;^.  *  Lea,  Liqnis.,  Ill,  34. 

2  Ibid.,  51,  59.  5  /[,ij_^  29. 

^  Haureau,  Berfiard  Delicieux,  142.  ^  Symonds,  Renaissa7ice,  I,  394. 

"^  Renan,  Aver  roes,  259  ff.  .  _ 


2i8  FOLKWAYS 

army  of  papal  absolutism.  The  Roman  Catholic  writers  say  that 
the  popes  saved  the  world  from  the  despotism  of  emperors.  What 
is  true  is  that  the  pope  and  the  emperor  contended  for  the  mastery, 
and  the  masses  gave  it  to  the  pope.  What  the  popes  did  with  it 
we  know.  That  is  history.  What  the  emperors  would  have  done 
with  it  is  matter  for  conjecture.  It  is  very  probable  that  they 
would  have  abused  the  power  as  badly  as  the  popes  did,  but 
conjectural  history  is  idle. 

220.  Delusions.  Of  popular  delusions  one  of  the  most  striking 
and  recurrent  examples  is  the  belief  that  new  and  despised  reli- 
gious sects,  which  are  forced  to  meet  in  private,  practice  obscene 
and  abominable  orgies.  The  early  Christians  were  accused  of 
such  rites,  and  they  charged  dissenting  sects  with  the  same.^ 
The  Manichaeans,  Waldenses,  Huguenots,  Puritans,  Luciferans, 
Brothers  of  the  Free  Spirit,  and  so  on  through  the  whole  list  of 
heretical  sects,  have  been  so  charged.  Lea,  in  his  History  of  the 
Inquisition,  mentions  over  a  dozen  cases  of  such  charges,  some 
of  which  were  true.  Nowadays  the  same  assertions  are  made 
against  freemasons  by  Roman  Catholics.^  Jews  are  beli&ved  by 
the  peasants  of  eastern  Europe  to  practice  abominable  rites  in 
secret.  The  idea  that  secret  sects  use  the  blood  of  people  not  of 
their  sect,  especially  of  babies,  in  base  rites  is  only  a  variant  of 
the  broad  idea  about  secret  rites.  It  is  sometimes  said  that  the 
charges  were  invented  to  make  sects  unpopular,  but  it  is  more 
probable  that  they  arose  from  the  secrecy  of  the  meetings  only. 
Christians  are  so  charged  now  in  China. -"^  The  story  of  the  dis- 
covery of  such  misbehavior  always  contains  the  same  explana- 
tion —  a  husband  followed  his  wife  to  the  meeting  and  saw  the 
proceedings.* 

221.  Manias  need  suggestion.  Manias  and  delusions  are  like 
fashions  and  fads  in  that  they  always  seem  to  need  a  suggestion 
from  some  outside  source,  and  often  it  is  impossible  to  find  such 
a  source.  A  strong  popular  belief,  like  the  belief  in  Satan  and 
demons,  furnishes  a  ground  for  a  general  disposition  to  hold 
some  other  people  responsible  for  all  the  ills  which  befall  one's 

1  Lecky,  Eiir.  Morals,  I,  414,  417.  ^  A'.  Y.  Times,  January  9,  1S98. 

^  Hansen,  Zaiiberwah7i,  etc.,  227.  *  Lea,  Inquis.,  II,  373. 


SOCIETAL  SELECTION  219 

self.  Then  the  disposition  to  act  cruelly  against  the  suspected 
person  arises  to  a  mental  disease,  and  by  cooperation  of  others 
under  the  same  aberration  makes  a  mania. ^  The  explanation  lies 
in  autosuggestion  or  fixed  ideas  with  the  development  loosely 
ranged  under  hysteria,  which  is  the  contagious  form  of  nervous 
affection.  The  term  "  epidemic  "  can  be  applied  only  figuratively. 
"  Mental  disease  occurs  only  on  the  ground  of  a  specific  constitu- 
tional and  generally  hereditary  predisposition.  It  cannot  there- 
fore be  spread  epidemically,  any  more  than  diabetes  or  gout."  ^ 
The  epidemic  element  is  due  to  hysterical  imitation.  In  like 
manner,  epidemics  or  manias  of  suicide  occur  by  imitation,  e.g. 
amongst  the  Circumcellions,  a  subdivision  of  the  Donatists,  in 
Africa,  in  the  middle  of  the  fourth  century  a.d.^  Cognate  with 
this  was  the  mania  for  martyrdom  which  it  required  all  the 
authority  of  the  church  to  restrain.*  Josephus^  says  of  the  Gali- 
leans, followers  of  Judas  of  Galilee,  that  they  were  famous  for 
their  indifference  to  death.  Convents  were  often  seats  of  fright- 
ful epidemics  of  hysteria.  The  accepted  religious  notions  fur- 
nished a  fruitful  soil  for  it.  To  be  possessed  by  devils  was  a 
distinction,  and  vanity  was  drawn  into  play.^  Autosuggestion 
was  shown  by  actions  which  were,  or  were  supposed  to  be,  the 
actions  proper  for  "possessed"  people.  Ascetic  practices  pre- 
pared the  person  to  fall  a  victim  to  the  contagion  of  hysteria. 
The  predisposition  was  also  cultivated  by  the  religious  ecstasies, 
the  miracle  and  wonder  faiths,  and  the  current  superstitions. 
Then  there  was  the  fact  which  nearly  any  one  may  have  experi- 
enced, that  an  old  and  familiar  story  becomes  mixed  with  memory, 
so  that  he  thinks  that  what  he  heard  of  happened  to  himself. 
Untrained  people  also  form  strong  convictions  from  notions 
which  have  been  long  and  firmly  held  without  evidence,  and  they 
offer  to  others  the  firmness  of  their  own  convictions  as  grounds 
for  accepting  the  same  faith  without  proof.  Ritual  acts  and 
ascetic  observances  which  others  can  see,  also  conduct  and  zeal 

^  Friedmann,   WaJniideen  im  Vdlkerleben,  207. 

"^  Ibid.,  209.  ■*  Lecky,  Eiir.  Morals,  I,  391. 

3  Gibbon,  Chap.  XXI.  5  Autiq.,  XVIII,  i. 

*•  Regnard,  Sorcelle7-ie,  etc. 


2  20  FOLKWAYS 

in  prayer  or  singing,  and  the  odors  of  incense,  help  this  transfer 
of  faith  without  or  against  proof.  These  appeals  to  suggestibility 
all  come  under  the  head  of  drama.  Nowadays  the  novels  with  a 
tendency  operate  the  same  suggestion.  A  favorite  field  for  it  is 
sociological  doctrine.  In  this  field  it  is  a  favorite  process  to  pro- 
ceed by  ideals,  but  ideals,  as  above  shown  (sees.  203,  204),  are 
fantastic  and  easily  degenerate  into  manias  when  they  become 
mass  phenomena.  Mariolatry,  the  near  end  of  the  world,  the 
coming  of  the  Paraclete,  are  subjects  of  repeated  manias,  espe- 
cially for  minds  unsettled  by  excessive  ascetic  observances.  It 
follows  from  all  these  cases  of  mental  aberration  that  the  minds 
of  the  masses  of  a  society  cannot  be  acted  on  by  deliberation 
and  critical  investigation,  or  by  the  weight  of  sound  reasoning. 
There  is  a  mysticism  of  democracy  and  a  transcendentalism  of 
political  philosophy  in  the  masses  to-day,  which  can  be  operated 
on  by  the  old  methods  of  suggestion.  The  stock  exchange  shows 
the  possibility  of  suggestion.  What  one  ought  to  do  is  to  perceive 
and  hold  fast  to  the  truth,  but  also  to  know  the  delusion  which 
the  mass  are  about  to  adopt ;  but  it  is  only  the  most  exceptional 
men  who  can  hold  to  a  personal  opinion  against  the  opinion  of 
the  surrounding  crowd. 

222.  Power  of  the  crowd  over  the  individual.  The  manias 
and  delusions  therefore  dominate  the  individual  like  the  fashions, 
fads,  and  affectations.  It  is  the  power  of  the  crowd  over  the 
individual  which  is  constant.  The  truth  and  justice  of  the  popular 
opinion  is  of  very  inferior  importance.  The  manias  and  delusions 
also  operate  selection,  but  not  always  in  the  same  way,  or  in  any 
way  which  can  be  defined.  He  who  resists  a  mania  may  be  trodden 
under  foot  like  any  other  heretic.  There  occur  cases,  however,  in 
which  he  wins  by  dissent.  If  he  can  outlive  the  mania,  he  will 
probably  gain  at  a  later  time,  when  its  folly  is  proved  to  all. 

223.  Discipline  by  pain.  He  who  wants  to  make  another  do 
something,  or  to  prevent  him  from  doing  something,  may,  if  the 
former  is  the  stronger,  connect  act  or  omission  with  the  infliction 
of  pain.  This  is  only  an  imitation  of  nature,  in  which  pain  is  a 
sanction  and  a  deterrent.  Family  and  school  discipline  have 
always  rested  on  this  artificial  use  of  pain.    It  is,  apparently,  the 


SOCIETAL  SELECTION  221 

most  primary  application  of  force  or  coercion.  It  combines 
directly  with  vengeance,  which  is  a  primary  passion  of  human 
nature.  Punishment  is  of  this  philosophy,  for  by  punishment  we 
furnish,  or  add,  a  painful  consequence  to  acts  which  we  desire  to 
restrain,  in  the  hope  that  the  consequence  will  cause  reflection 
and  make  the  victim  desist.  The  punishment  may  be  imprison- 
ment (i.e.  temporary  exclusion  from  the  society),  or  fine,  or 
scourging,  or  other  painful  treatment.  The  sense  of  punishment 
is  the  same  whether  the  punishment  be  physical  pain  or  other 
disagreeable  experience.  Although  we  have  come  to  adopt 
modern  ideas  about  the  infliction  of  physical  pain  in  punishment, 
we  cannot  depart  far  from  its  fundamental  theory  and  motive. 
In  the  past,  physical  pain  has  been  employed  also,  in  lynching 
and  in  regular  proceedings,  to  enforce  conformity,  and  to  suppress 
dissent  from  the  current  mores  of  the  society.  The  physical 
proceedings  are  measures  to  produce  conformity  which  differ 
from  boycotting  and  other  methods  of  manifesting  disapproval 
and  inflicting  unpopularity  in  that  they  are  positive  and  physical. 
Then  the  selection  is  positive  and  is  pursued  by  external  and 
physical  sanctions. 

224.  The  mediaeval  church  operated  societal  selection.  It  is 
evident  that  the  mediaeval  church  was  a  machine  to  exert  societal 
selection.  The  great  reason  for  its  strength  as  such  is  that  it 
never  made  the  mores  of  the  age  ;  it  proceeded  out  of  them.  It 
contributed,  through  a  thousand  previous  years,  phantasms  about 
the  other  world  and  dogmas  about  the  relation  of  this  world  to 
that  one.  These  dogmas  became  mixed  with  all  the  experience 
of  life  in  the  days  of  civic  decline  and  misery,  and  produced  the 
mores  of  the  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries.  All  the  great  doctrines 
then  took  on  the  form  of  manias  or  delusions.  In  the  early  cen- 
turies of  the  Christian  era  "catholic  "  meant  Christendom  in  its 
entirety,  in  contrast  with  the  separate  congregations,  so  that  the 
concepts  "all  congregations"  and  the  "universal  church"  are 
identical.  However,  the  church  over  the  whole  world  was  thought 
to  have  been  founded  by  the  apostles,  so  that  that  only  could  be 
true  which  was  found  everywhere  in  Christendom.  So  "  catholic  " 
came  to  have  a  pregnant  meaning,  and  got  dogmatic  and  political 


2  22  FOLKWAYS 

connotations.^  In  the  eleventh  century  all  Christendom  was  re- 
duced to  civic  fragments  in  which  tyranny,  oppression,  and  strife 
prevailed.  It  was  not  strange  that  "  catholicity"  was  revived  as  an 
idea  of  a  peace  pact  by  means  of  which  the  church  might  unite 
Christendom  into  a  peace  group  for  the  welfare  of  mankind 
(sec.  14).  This  was  a  grand  idea.  If  the  Christian  church  had 
devoted  itself  to  the  realization  of  it,  by  forms  of  constitutional 
liberty,  the  history  of  the  world  would  have  been  different.  The 
church,  however,  used  "  catholicity  "  as  a  name  for  universal  sub- 
mission to  the  bishop  of  Rome  and  for  hierarchical  discipline, 
and  used  all  means  to  try  to  realize  that  conception.  By  the 
Inquisition  and  other  apparatus  it  attempted  to  enforce  conformity 
to  this  idea,  and  exercised  a  societal  selection  against  all  dissenters 
from  it.  The  ecclesiastics  of  Cluny,  in  the  eleventh  century,  gave 
form  to  this  high-church  doctrine,  and  they  combined  with  it  a 
rational  effort  to  raise  the  clergy  to  honor  for  learning  and  piety, 
as  a  necessary  step  for  the  success  of  their  church  policy.  The 
circumstances  and  ideas  of  the  time  gave  to  these  efforts  the 
form  of  a  struggle  for  a  monarchical  constitution  of  the  church. 
In  the  thirteenth  century  this  monarchy  came  into  collision  with 
the  empire  as  the  other  aspirant  to  the  rule  of  Christendom. 
Already  the  papacy  was  losing  moral  hold  on  its  subjects.  The 
clergy  were  criticised  for  worldliness,  arrogance,  and  tyranny, 
and  the  antagonism  of  the  dynastic  states,  so  far  as  they  existed, 
found  expression  in  popular  literature.  Walter  von  der  Vogel- 
weide  is  regarded  as  a  forerunner  of  the  Reformation  on  account 
of  his  bitter  criticisms  of  the  hierarchy .^  It  is,  however,  very 
noteworthy  that,  in  spite  of  the  popular  language  of  the  writers 
and  their  appeals  to  common  experience,  they  did  not  break  the 
people  away  from  their  ecclesiastical  allegiance,  and  also  that 
the  church  authorities  paid  little  heed  to  the  criticisms  of  these 
persons.  The  miracle  and  moral  plays  were  in  the  taste  of  the 
age  entirely.  Besides  being  gross,  they  were  irreligious  and 
blasphemous.     Ecclesiastics  tolerated  them  nevertheless. ^    The 

1  Harnack,  Dogmengesch.  (3d  ed.),  I,  319. 

2  Jastrow  and  Winter,  Gesck.  d.  Hohenstaufen,  II,  241. 
"^  Scherr,  Deictsche  Ktdtur  tind  Sittengesch..,  183. 


SOCIETAL  SELECTION 


223 


authorities  moved  only  when  "  the  faith  "  was  brought  in  question. 
''The  faith,"  therefore,  acquired  a  technical  signification  of  great 
importance.  It  was  elevated  to  the  domain  of  sentiment  and 
duty  and  surrounded  with  pathos  (sec.  178),  while  its  meaning 
was  undefined.  In  time  it  came  to  mean  obedience  to  papal 
authority.  Thus  all  the  circumstances  and  streams  of  faith  and 
sentiment  of  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries  concentrated  in 
the  hands  of  the  hierarchy  the  control  of  society,  because  there 
was  no  other  organ  to  accept  the  deposit.  The  Cluny  programme 
was  a  programme  of  reform  in  the  church  such  as  everybody 
wanted.  It  gathered  all  "the  good  men"  in  a  common  will  and 
purpose.  The  ideals  and  the  means  were  selected,  and  the  advo- 
cates of  the  same  became  the  selected  classes  in  society.  They 
remained  such  long  after  the  movement  was  spent  and  lost,  but 
the  notion  remained  that  every  good  man,  or  would-be  good  man, 
ought  to  stand  with  the  church. 

225.  The  mediaeval  church.  In  the  crusades  the  church  went 
to  war  with  Islam,  another  aspirant  to  rule  mankind.  It  undoubt- 
edly drilled  and  disciplined  its  own  adherents  by  the  crusades  and 
thus  confirmed  its  power.  It  is  also  certain  that  the  crusades 
were  popular  and  only  put  into  effect  the  wish  of  the  great  body 
of  Christians.  It  was  the  masses,  therefore,  who  made  the  medi- 
aeval church.  It  possessed  a  corporate  organization  and  hier- 
archy which  was  a  body  of  personal  interests,  in  which  ambition, 
cupidity,  and  love  of  power  were  awakened.  The  church  was 
venal,  sensual,  gross,  and  inhuman,  because  the  mores  of  the 
age  were  such.  How  could  the  church  be  other  than  the  age 
was  ?  Where  was  it  to  find  inspiration  or  illumination  from  with- 
out which  should  make  ecclesiastics  anything  but  men  of  their 
age  .'*  The  men  of  that  age  left  on  record  their  testimony  that 
the  church  was  in  no  way  better  than  the  society.^  From  the 
end  of  the  twelfth  century  man  after  man  and  sect  after  sect 
arose,  whose  inspiration  was  moral  indignation  at  the  vices  and 
abuses  in  the  church.  Wycliffe  denied  transubstantiation  on 
rationalistic  grounds,  but  his  work  all  consisted  in  criticism  of 
hierarchical  abuses  and  of  the  principles  which  made  the  abuses 

1  Mayer,  Oeste^-reich,  I,  156. 


224 


FOLKWAYS 


possible.  The  church  never  was  on  the  level  of  the  better  mores 
of  any  time.  Every  investigation  which  we  make  leads  us  not  to 
the  church  as  the  inspirer  and  leader,  but  to  the  dissenting 
apostles  of  righteousness,  to  the  great  fluctuations  in  the  mores 
(chivalry,  woman  service,  city  growth,  arts,  and  inventions),  to  the 
momentum  of  interests,  to  the  variations  in  the  folkways  which 
travel  (crusades  and  pilgrimages),  commerce,  industrial  arts, 
money,  credit,  gunpowder,  the  printing  press,  etc.,  produced. 

226.  Sacerdotal  celibacy.  The  church  rode  upon  the  tide  and 
tried  to  keep  possession  of  the  social  power  and  use  it  for  the 
interest  of  ecclesiastics.  Asceticism  was  in  the  mores.  Every- 
body accepted  the  ascetic  standard  of  merit  and  holiness  as  correct 
and  just,  whether  he  lived  by  it  or  not.  Sacerdotal  celibacy  was 
a  case  of  asceticism.  Every  one  knew  that  it  had  come  about  in 
church  history  and  was  not  scriptural  or  primitive.  It  was  in  the 
notions  of  the  age  that  there  were  stages  in  righteousness,  and 
that  religious  persons  were  bound  to  live  by  higher  stages  than 
persons  not  technically  religious.  Renunciation  of  sex  was  higher 
righteousness  than  realization  of  sex,  as  is  taught  in  the  seventh 
chapter  of  First  Corinthians.  This  notion  existed  amongst 
heathen  and  pagans.  The  priests  in  the  Melkart  temple  at 
Gades  (Cadiz)  were  bound  to  celibacy .^ 

The  merit  of  celibacy  is  a  very  old  religious  idea  in  Hindostan. 
The  Todas  have  a  celibate  priesthood.^  "  It  is  one  of  the  incon- 
sistencies of  the  Hindu  religion  that  it  enjoins  the  duty  of  mar- 
riage on  all,  yet  honors  celibacy  as  a  condition  of  great  sanctity, 
and  a  means  of  acquiring  extraordinary  religious  merit  and 
influence."  ^  "  All  the  ascetic  sects  of  the  Saivas  are  celibates."  * 
Lamas  at  Shang  (98°  E.  36°  N.)  are  allowed  to  marry,  but  not  in 
Tibet  .^  The  Christian  notion  of  the  third  century  was  that  clerics 
ought  to  come  up  to  the  higher  standard.  This  was  the  purest 
and  highest  reason  for  celibacy.  It  had  been  a  standard  of  per- 
fection in  the   Christian  church  for  six  hundred  years   before 

1  Fietschin2Lnn,  P/iodJih/er,  223  note. 

2  Hopkins,  Religions  of  India,  537. 

3  Monier-Williams,  Brahma^iism  and  Hinduism,  55. 
*  Wilkins,  Modern  Hinduism,  90. 

fi  Rockhillj  Through  Mongolia  and  Tibet,  135. 


SOCIETAL  SELECTION  225 

Hildebrand.  Whatever  motives  of  policy  or  ecclesiastical  ambi- 
tion may  have  been  mixed  with  it  in  the  eleventh  century,  it  had 
the  merit  of  bringing  doctrine  and  practice  into  accord. 

227.  The  masses  wanted  clerical  celibacy.  It  is  to  be  noticed 
that  clerical  celibacy  was  a  demand  of  the  masses  amongst  church 
members,  and  that  the  demand  came  directly  out  of  Christian 
mores.  In  the  fourth  century  this  doctrine  was  derived  from 
sacramentarianism.  The  notion  became  fixed  that  there  was  an 
inherent  and  necessary  incongruity  between  marriage  and  the 
celebration  of  the  sacrament  of  the  mass.  "  In  the  course  of  the 
fourth  century  it  was  a  recognized  principle  that  clerical  marriages 
were  criminal.  They  were  celebrated,  however,  habitually,  and 
usually  with  the  greatest  openness."  ^  That  means  that  they  were 
in  antagonism  with  church  opinion  and  its  tendency  at  that  time. 
Sacerdotalism  triumphed  in  the  fifth  century.  "  Throughout  the 
struggle  the  papacy  had  a  most  efficient  ally  in  the  people." 
Preachers  exhorted  the  people  to  holiness,  and  the  people  required 
this  of  the  clergy,  and  enforced  it  by  riots  and  mob  violence. 
Cases  are  cited  which  "bring  before  us  the  popular  tendencies 
and  modes  of  thought,  and  show  us  how  powerful  an  instru- 
ment the  passions  of  the  people  became,  when  skilfully  aroused 
and  directed  by  those  in  authority."  ^  The  fundamental  notion 
which  underlies  all  asceticism  was  here  at  work,  viz.,  that  virtue 
has  stages,  that  a  man  can  be  more  than  good,  or  worse  than 
bad.  The  council  of  Constantinople,  in  680,  made  new  rules 
against  the  marriage  of  the  clergy,  because  the  old  ones  were 
neglected  and  forgotten.  The  motive  stated  was  the  welfare  of 
the  people,  who  regarded  such  marriages  as  scandalous.  The 
excess  in  temper  and  doctrine  was  a  mark  of  the  period.  The 
learned  would  have  held  the  doctrine  as  a  metaphysical  truth 
only,  but  the  masses  turned  it  into  a  practical  rule.  The  share  of 
the  masses  in  the  establishment  of  the  rule  is  a  very  important 
fact.  Lea  thinks  that  they  were  manipulated  by  the  ecclesiastics.^ 
In  the  religious  revival  of  the  eleventh  century  the  marriage  of 
the  clergy  was   "popularly  regarded  as  a  heresy  and  a  scandal." 

1  Lecky,  Eur.  Morals,  II,  329.  2  Lea,  Sacerd.  Celibacy,  81. 

3  Ibid. 


2  26  FOLKWAYS 

There  was  no  defense  of  it.^  It  was  an  undisputed  fact  that 
cehbacy  was  not  scriptural  or  primitive.^  At  that  time  "  all  orders, 
from  bishops  down,  without  shame  or  concealment,  were  publicly 
married  and  lived  with  their  wives  as  laymen,  leaving  their  chil- 
dren fully  provided  for  in  their  wills.  .  .  .  This  laxity  prevailed 
throughout  the  whole  of  Latin  Christendom,  sacerdotal  marriage 
being  everywhere  so  common  that  it  was  no  longer  punished  as 
unlawful  and  scarcely  even  reprehended."^  "Not  a  thought  of 
the  worldly  advantages  consequent  on  the  reform  appears  to  have 
crossed  the  mind  of  Damiani.  To  him  it  was  simply  a  matter  of 
conscience  that  the  ministers  of  Christ  should  be  adorned  with 
the  austere  purity  through  which  alone  lay  the  path  to  salvation. 
Accordingly,  the  arguments  which  he  employs  in  his  endless  dis- 
putations carefully  avoid  the  practical  reasons  which  were  the 
principal  motive  for  enforcing  celibacy.  His  main  reliance  was 
on  the  assumption  that,  as  Christ  was  born  of  a  virgin,  so  he 
should  be  served  and  the  eucharist  be  handled  only  by  virgins."  * 
This  took  up  again  the  fifth-century  doctrine  in  its  popular  form, 
but  it  evidently  led  directly  up  to  the  heresy  that  the  validity  or 
benefit  of  the  sacrament  depended  on  the  purity  of  the  priest. 
In  his  zeal  for  celibacy  Hildebrand  fell  into  this  heresy,  although 
a  man  was  burned  for  it  at  Cambrai  in  lO'j'jP  Hildebrand  also 
gave  civil  authorities  power  over  ecclesiastics  in  order  to  carry  out 
his  reform.^  In  the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century  the  "reform"  was 
directed  against  the  women  (wives),  for  fear  of  the  resistance  of  the 
men.  In  Rome  the  women  were  enslaved  and  given  to  the  church 
of  the  Lateran.  All  bishops  were  ordered  to  seize  the  women  for 
the  benefit  of  their  churches.''  In  1095  the  sacrament  of  mar- 
riage was  declared  by  the  lateran  council  less  potent  than  the  reli- 
gious vow,  although  the  contrary  had  been  the  church  doctrine.^ 
Thus  what  came  out  of  the  popular  mores  underwent  the  growth 

1  Sac.  Celib.,  250,  252. 

^  Canon  Law,  can.  XIII,  dist.  Ivi.  ;  Aquinas,  Sum.,  II,  2,  qu.  186,  art.  4,  .sec.  3. 

3  Lea,  Sac.  Celib.,  187. 

*  Ibid.,  213.    This  is  a  good  example  of  the  change  in  notions  of  good  argu- 
ments (sec.  194).  5  Ibid.,  244,  249. 

«  Ibid.,  235.  7  /^^v/.^  igs. 

*  Ibid.,  326;   Cajioft  Laiv,  Gratian's  Com.  on  can.  I,  dist.  xxvii. 


SOCIETAL  SELECTION  227 

of  formulated  dogma  and  deduction.  In  the  thirteenth  century- 
marriage  of  the  clergy  ceased,  but  concubinage  continued,  con- 
cubines being  a  legitimate  but  inferior  order  of  wives,  whose 
existence  was  tolerated  on  payment  of  a  fee  known  as  cullagimn} 
"  Scarcely  had  the  efforts  of  Nicholas  and  Gregory  put  an  end 
to  sacerdotal  marriage  at  Rome  when  the  morals  of  the  Roman 
clergy  became  a  disgrace  to  Christendom."^  "Those  women 
[clerical  concubines]  came  to  be  invested  with  a  quasi-ecclesiastical 
character,  and  to  enjoy  the  dearly  prized  immunities  attached  to 
that  position."  ^  Gerson  (i  363-1429)  paid  admiration  to  virginity 
and  celibacy,  but  he  "  saw  and  appreciated  its  practical  evils,  and 
had  no  scruple  in  recommending  concubinage  as  a  preventive, 
which,  though  scandalous  in  itself,  might  serve  to  prevent  greater 
scandals."  In  districts  it  became  customary  to  require  a  new 
parish  priest  to  take  a  concubine.^  "  This  was  the  inversion  which 
the  popular  opinion  had  undergone  in  four  centuries."^  "The 
principles  of  the  church  led  irrevocably  to  the  conclusion,  para- 
doxical as  it  may  seem,  that  he  who  was  guilty  of  immorality, 
knowing  it  to  be  wrong,  was  far  less  criminal  than  he  who 
married,  believing  it  to  be  right."  ^  At  Avignon,  when  it  was 
the  seat  of  the  papacy,  sex  license  and  vice  became  proverbial.  A 
speech  of  the  most  shameless  cynicism  is  attributed  to  Cardinal 
Hugo,  in  which  he  described  the  effect,  in  125 1,  of  the  residence 
of  the  papal  court  there  for  eight  years.  In  the  fourteenth  century 
that  city  became  the  most  wicked,  and  especially  the  most  licen- 
tious, in  Christendom.'  The  first  case  of  the  presence  of  women 
at  a  feast  in  the  Vatican  is  said  to  have  been  at  the  marriage  of 
Teodorina,  daughter  of  Innocent  VIII,  in  1488.  Comedies  were 
played  before  the  mixed  company.^ 

228.  Abelard.  A  cleric  who  married  flinched  from  the  stand- 
ard of  his  calling,  in  the  view  of  the  church.  Hildebrand's  decrees 
were  like  the  other  crowning  acts  of  great  men,  —  they  came  at 
the  culmination  of  a  great  movement  in  the  mores.  They  accorded 

1  Lea,  Sac.  Celib.,  271.  6  Ibid.,  416. 

2  Ibid.,  356.  6  Ibid.,  209. 

3  Ibid.,  350.  7  JbiJ_^  336  ff. 

*  Ibid.,  355.  8  D'Ancona,  Orig.  del  teatro  Ital.,  II,  73. 


2  28  FOLKWAYS 

with  the  will  and  wish  of  the  masses.  In  all  ages  acts  are  due 
to  mixed  motives,  but  in  the  Middle  Ages  the  good  motives  were 
kept  for  show  and  the  bad  ones  controlled.  Clerics  did  not  cease 
to  have  concubines  until  after  the  Council  of  Trent,  and  the  dif- 
ference between  law  and  practice  (bridged  over  by  pecuniary 
penalties)  called  for  special  ethics  and  casuistry.  The  case  of 
Abelard  (1079-1142)  shows  what  tragedies  were  caused.  He 
claimed  to  be,  and  to  some  extent  he  was,  a  champion  of  reason 
and  common  sense,  and  he  was  a  skeptic  as  to  the  current  phi- 
losophy. He  was  vain,  weak,  and  ambitious.  He  selected  the 
loveliest  woman  he  knew,  and  won  her  love,  which  he  used  to 
persuade  her  to  be  his  concubine,  that  she  might  not  hinder  him 
in  his  career.!  f  j-^g  treatment  accorded  to  Heloise  shows  that  a 
woman  could  be  a  concubine  of  an  ecclesiastic,  but  not  his  wife, 
without  condemnation.  That  was  the  allowance  for  human  de- 
spair under  the  ecclesiastical  rules. ^  Thus  the  church  first  sug- 
gested views  of  life  and  dogmas  of  religion,  with  which  the  masses 
combined  their  mores  and  returned  them  to  the  church  as  a  gift 
of  societal  power.  The  church  then  formulated  the  mores  and 
created  disciplinary  systems  to  use  the  power  and  make  it  insti- 
tutional and  perpetual.  Then  the  mores  revolted  against  the 
authority  and  the  religion,  and  the  ethics  which  it  taught.  A 
Roman  Catholic  writer  says  that  a  study  of  the  Middle  Ages 
will  produce  this  result :  "  We  shall  have  recognized  in  the  church 
the  professional  peacemaker  between  states  and  factions,  as  well 
as  between  man  and  man,  the  equitable  mediator  between  rulers 
and  their  subjects,  the  consistent  champion  of  constitutional 
liberty,  the  alleviator  of  the  inequalities  of  birth,  the  uninterested 
and  industrious  disseminator  of  letters,  the  refiner  of  habits  and 
manners,  the  well-meaning  guardian  of  the  national  wealth,  health, 
and  intellect,  and  the  fearless  censor  of  public  and  private  moral- 
ity." ^  These  are,  indeed,  the  functions  which  the  church  ought 
to  have  fulfilled,  and  about  which  ecclesiastics  said  something 
from  time  to  time.    Also,  the  church  did  do  something  for  these 

1  Deutsch,  Abela7-d,  44,  106,  iii. 

2  Hausrath,  Abelard,  28,  32. 

3  Hall,  Elizabethaft  Age,  103. 


SOCIETAL  SELECTION  229 

interests  when  no  great  interest  of  the  church  was  at  stake  on 
the  other  side.  No  unbiased  student  of  the  Middle  Ages  has 
been  convinced  that,  in  truth  and  justice,  the  work  of  the  medi- 
aeval church  could  be  thus  summed  up.  The  one  consistent  effort 
of  the  church  was  to  establish  papal  authority.  Its  greatest  crime 
was  obscurantism,  which  was  war  on  knowledge  and  civilization. 
This  nothing  can  palliate  or  offset. 

229.  The  English  church  and  the  mores.  The  church,  however, 
from  1000  A.D.  on  was  a  machine  of  societal  selection,  and  it 
pursued  its  work,  suggesting  and  administering  a  work  of  that 
kind,  grand  results  of  which  have  come  down  to  us  in  the  civili- 
zation we  have  inherited.  Our  work  largely  consists  in  rational 
efforts  to  eliminate  the  elements  which  the  church  introduced. 
In  some  respects  the  history  of  clerical  celibacy  in  England  best 
illustrates  the  mores.  In  the  sixteenth  century  the  rule  and 
usage  of  the  church  had  inculcated,  as  a  deep  popular  prejudice, 
the  notion  that  a  priest  could  not  be  married.  Cranmer,  in  order- 
ing a  visitation,  directed  investigation  "  whether  any  do  contemn 
married  priests,  and  for  that  they  be  married  will  not  receive  the 
communion  or  other  sacrament  at  their  hands."  ^  This  prejudice 
very  slowly  died  out,  but  it  did  die  out  and  the  popular  judgment 
favored  and  required  clerical  marriage.  In  the  nineteenth  century 
popular  judgment  rose  in  condemnation  of  fox-hunting  parsons, 
and  also  of  pluralists,  and  it  has  caused  reforms  and  the  disap- 
pearance of  those  classes. 

230.  The  selection  of  sacerdotal  celibacy.  If  it  had  not  been 
for  sacerdotal  celibacy,  there  would  have  been  ecclesiastical  feudal- 
ization  and  the  ecclesiastical  benefices  would  have  become  heredi- 
tary. The  children  of  priests  inherited  benefices  and  intermarried 
so  long  as  the  marriage  of  priests  was  allowed.  There  would 
have  been  a  priestly  caste. ^  The  church  as  an  institution  would 
have  been  greatly  modified.  The  consequences  we  cannot  imagine. 
If  Hildebrand  and  the  other  eleventh-century  leaders  foresaw  the 
effect,  it  was  statesmanship  on  their  part  to  establish  the  celibacy 
of  the  clergy.  That  institution  has  molded  the  priesthood  and 
the  mores  of  all  who  have  adhered  to  the  mediaeval  church.    The 

1  Lea,  S,!c.  CcUb.,  4S8.  2  //,/,/.^  j^q. 


230  FOLKWAYS 

Latin  people  of  southern  Europe  are  now  horrified  at  the  notion 
of  a  married  priest.  The  concubine  of  a  priest  is  a  wicked  woman, 
but  she  is  not  a  social  abomination.  All  protest  and  resistance 
seems  to  have  passed  away  and,  since  the  sixteenth  century, 
sacerdotal  celibacy  has  been  accepted  as  a  feature  of  the  Romish 
Church,  which  all  its  members  are  expected  to  accept.  It  is  a 
grand  triumph  of  social  selection. 

231.  How  the  church  operated  selection.  The  church  was  a 
great  hierarchical  organization  for  social  power  and  control,  which 
inherited  part  of  the  intense  integration  of  the  Roman  empire. 
Fra  Paolo  Sarpi  said  of  it,  in  the  seventeenth  century :  "  The 
interests  of  Rome  demand  that  there  shall  be  no  change  by  which 
the  power  of  the  pontiff  would  be  diminished,  or  by  which  the 
curia  would  lose  any  of  the  profits  which  it  wins  from  the  states, 
but  the  novelties  by  which  the  profits  of  the  curia  would  be 
increased,  or  by  which  the  authority  of  the  states  would  be  dimin- 
ished and  that  of  the  curia  increased,  are  not  abhorred,  but  are 
favored.  This  we  see  every  day."  ^  The  church  decided  all 
recognition  and  promotion,  and  disposed  of  all  rewards  of  ambi- 
tion. The  monarchical  and  autocratic  tendency  in  it  was  the 
correct  process  for  attaining  the  purposes  by  which  it  was 
animated.  Its  legitimacy  as  an  organization  for  realizing  faiths 
and  desires  which  prevailed  in  society  is  beyond  question.  It 
drew  towards  itself  all  the  talent  of  the  age  except  what  was 
military.  It  crushed  all  dissenters  and  silenced  all  critics  for 
centuries.  Its  enginery  was  all  planned  for  selection.  It  dis- 
posed of  the  greatest  prizes  and  the  most  dreadful  penalties. 
All  its  methods  were  positive  and  realistic,  and  whatever  can  be 
accomplished  by  authority,  tyranny,  penalty,  and  repression  it 
accomplished.  In  modern  times  political  parties  offer  the  nearest 
parallels.  They  are  organizations  for  societal  control,  which  dis- 
tribute rewards  and  penalties  and  coerce  dissenters.  The  history 
of  the  papacy  in  the  fifteenth  century  reminds  one  of  the  history 
of  Tammany  Hall  in  the  nineteenth  century.  The  strength  of 
Tammany  is  due  to  the  fact  that  it  fits  the  tastes  and  needs  of 
a  great  modern  city  under  democracy.    When  Tammany  won  an 

1  Delia  Iiiquisiziotie  di  I'cjtezia,  Opere  IV,  51. 


SOCIETAL  SELECTION 


231 


election  it  was  said  that  the  people  had  put  the  city  in  their  hands 
and  that  they  ought  to  profit  by  it.  When  Leo  X  was  elected  pope 
he  said,  ''God  has  given  us  the  papacy;  now  let  us  enjoy  it."  ^ 
232.  Mores  and  morals  ;  social  code.  For  every  one  the  mores 
give  the  notion  of  what  ought  to  be.  This  includes  the  notion 
of  what  ought  to  be  done,  for  all  should  cooperate  to  bring  to 
pass,  in  the  order  of  life,  what  ought  to  be.  All  notions  of 
propriety,  decency,  chastity,  politeness,  order,  duty,  right, 
rights,  discipline,  respect,  reverence,  cooperation,  and  fellowship, 
especially  all  things  in  regard  to  which  good  and  ill  depend 
entirely  on  the  point  at  which  the  line  is  drawn,  are  in  the 
mores.  The  mores  can  make  things  seem  right  and  good  to  one 
group  or  one  age  which  to  another  seem  antagonistic  to  every 
instinct  of  human  nature.  The  thirteenth  century  bred  in  every 
heart  such  a  sentiment  in  regard  to  heretics  that  inciuisitors  had 
no  more  misgivings  in  their  proceedings  than  men  would  have 
now  if  they  should  attempt  to  exterminate  rattlesnakes.  The 
sixteenth  century  gave  to  all  such  notions  about  witches  that 
witch  persecutors  thought  they  were  waging  war  on  enemies  of 
God  and  man.  Of  course  the  inquisitors  and  witch  persecutors 
constantly  developed  the  notions  of  heretics  and  witches.  They 
exaggerated  the  notions  and  then  gave  them  back  again  to  the 
mores,  in  their  expanded  form,  to  inflame  the  hearts  of  men  with 
terror  and  hate  and  to  become,  in  the  next  stage,  so  much  more 
fantastic  and  ferocious  motives..  Such  is  the  reaction  between 
the  mores  and  the  acts  of  the  living  generation.  The  world 
philosophy  of  the  age  is  never  anything  but  the  reflection  on  the 
mental  horizon,  which  is  formed  out  of  the  mores,  of  the  ruling 
ideas  which  are  in  the  mores  themselves.  It  is  from  a  failure  to 
recognize  the  to  and  fro  in  this  reaction  that  ihe  current  notion 
arises,  that  mores  are  produced  by  doctrines.  The  "morals"  of 
an  age  are  never  anything  but  the  consonance  between  what  is 
done  and  what  the  mores  of  the  age  require.  The  whole  revolves 
on  itself,  in  the  relation  of  the  specific  to  the  general,  within 
the  horizon  formed  by  the  mores.  Every  attempt  to  win  an  out- 
side standpoint  from  which  to  reduce  the  whole  to  an  absolute 

1  Symonds,  I^enaissance,  I,  372. 


232 


FOLKWAYS 


philosophy  of  truth  and  right,  based  on  an  unalterable  principle,  is 
a  delusion.  New  elements  are  brought  in  only  by  new  conquests 
of  nature  through  science  and  art.  The  new  conquests  change 
the  conditions  of  life  and  the  interests  of  the  members  of  the 
society.  Then  the  mores  change  by  adaptation  to  new  conditions 
and  interests.  The  philosophy  and  ethics  then  follow  to  account 
for  and  justify  the  changes  in  the  mores  ;  often,  also,  to  claim 
that  they  have  caused  the  changes.  They  never  do  anything  but 
draw  new  lines  of  bearing  between  the  parts  of  the  mores  and 
the  horizon  of  thought  within  which  they  are  inclosed,  and  which 
is  a  deduction  from  the  mores.  The  horizon  is  widened  by  more 
knowledge,  but  for  one  age  it  is  just  as  much  a  generalization 
from  the  mores  as  for  another.  It  is  always  unreal.  It  is  only  a 
product  of  thought.  The  ethical  philosophers  select  points  on 
this  horizon  from  which  to  take  their  bearings,  and  they  think 
that  they  have  won  some  authority  for  their  systems  when  they 
travel  back  again  from  the  generalization  to  the  specific  custom 
out  of  which  it  was  deduced.  The  cases  of  the  inquisitors  and 
witch  persecutors  who  toiled  arduously  and  continually  for  their 
chosen  ends,  for  little  or  no  reward,  show  us  the  relation  between 
mores  on  the  one  side  and  philosophy,  ethics,  and  religion  on 
the  other.    (See  Chapters  IX,  XIV,  and  XV.) 

233.  Orthodoxy  in  the  mores.  Treatment  of  dissent.  Selec- 
tion by  torture.  It  has  been  observed  above  (sec.  lOo)  that  the 
masses  always  enforce  conformity  to  the  mores.  Primitive  taboos 
are  absolute.  There  is  no  right  of  private  judgment.  Renegades, 
apostates,  deserters,  rebels,  traitors,  and  heretics  are  but  varieties 
of  dissenters  who  are  all  subject  to  disapproval,  hatred,  banish- 
ment, and  death.  In  higher  stages  of  civilization  this  popular 
temper  becomes  a  societal  force  which  combines  with  civil 
arrangements,  religious  observances,  literature,  education,  and 
philosophy.  Toleration  is  no  sentiment  of  the  masses  for  anything 
which  they  care  about.  What  they  believe  they  believe,  and 
they  want  it  accepted  and  respected.  Illustrations  are  furnished 
by  zeal  for  political  parties  and  for  accepted  political  philosophy. 
The  first  punishment  for  dissent  less  than  death  is  extrusion  from 
the  society.    Next  come  bodily  pains  and  penalties,  that  is,  torture. 


SOCIETAL  SELECTION  233 

Torture  is  also  applied  in  connection  with  the  death  penalty,  or 
modes  of  death  are  devised  which  are  as  painful  as  they  can 
be  made.  The  motive  is  to  deter  any  one  from  the  class  of  acts 
which  is  especially  abominated.  In  the  cases  above  cited  (sec.  211), 
under  criminal  law,  it  will  be  observed  that  death  by  burning 
was  applied  in  the  case  of  incest,  or  other  very  abominable  crime, 
in  the  laws  of  Hammurabi  and  other  ancient  codes  (sec.  234). 
Such  extreme  penalties  are  first  devised  to  satisfy  public  temper. 
The  ruler  is  sure  of  popularity  if  he  shows  rigor  and  ferocity. 
His  act  will  be  regarded  as  just.  It  is  now  the  popular  temper, 
when  any  one  commits  a  crime  which  is  regarded  as  very  horrible, 
to  think  and  say  what  frightful  punishment  he  deserves.  It  is  a 
primary  outpouring  of  savage  vengeance.  When  precedents  have 
been  established  for  frightful  punishments,  the  rulers  apply  the 
same  in  cases  of  disobedience  against  themselves  or  their  author- 
ity. Now  torture  and  ferocious  penalties  have  reached  another 
stage.  They  were  invented  by  the  masses,  or  in  order  to  appeal 
to  the  masses.  They  have  now  become  the  means  of  authority 
and  discipline.  The  history  of  torture  is  a  long  development  of 
knowledge  of  pain,  and  of  devices  to  cause  it.  Then  it  becomes 
a  means  which  is  at  the  disposal  of  those  who  have  the  power. 
The  Dominican  Izarn,  in  a  chant  of  triumph  over  the  Albigenses,, 
represents  himself  as  arguing  with  one  of  them  to  whom  he  says, 
"  Believe  as  we  do  or  thou  shalt  be  burned."  ^  This  is  the  voice 
of  a  victorious  party.  It  is  the  enforcement  of  uniformity  against 
dissent.  Systematic  and  legal  torture  then  becomes  an  engine  of 
uniformity  and  it  acts  selectively  as  it  crushes  out  originality  and 
independent  suggestion.  It  is  at  the  disposal  of  any  party  in 
power.  Like  every  other  system  of  policy  it  loses  its  effect  on 
the  imagination  by  familiarity,  and  that  effect  can  be  regained 
only  by  intensifying  it.  Therefore  where  torture  has  been  long 
applied  we  find  that  it  is  developed  to  grades  of  incredible  horror. 
234.  Execution  by  burning.  In  the  ancient  world  execution 
by  burning  was  applied  only  when  some  religious  abomination 
was  included  in  the  crime,  or  when  it  seemed  politically  out- 
rageous.   In  the  laws  of  Hammurabi  an  hierodule  who  opened 

1  Lenient,  La  satire  an  M.  A.,  41. 


2  34 


FOLKWAYS 


a  dramshop  or  entered  one  to  get  a  drink  was  to  be  burned.^ 
One  who  committed  incest  with  his  mother  was  to  meet  the 
same  punishment,^  also  one  who  married  a  mother  and  her 
daughter  at  the  same  time/^  In  Levit.  xx.  14  if  a  man  marries 
a  mother  and  her  daughter  together,  all  are  to  be  burned,  and  in 
Levit.  xxi.  9  the  daughter  of  a  priest,  if  she  becomes  a  harlot,  is 
to  be  burned  At  the  end  of  the  seventh  century  B.C.  some 
priestly  families  connected  with  the  temple  of  Anion  at  Napata, 
Egypt,  by  way  of  reform,  introduced  the  custom  of  eating  the 
meat  of  sacrifices  uncooked.  They  were  burned  for  heresy.*  In 
the  year  5  B.C.,  upon  a  rumor  of  the  death  of  Herod  I,  some  Jews 
tore  down  the  Roman  eagle  from  the  gate  of  the  temple.  Herod 
caused  forty -two  of  them  to  be  burned.^  Caligula  caused  an 
atellan  composer  to  be  burned  in  the  arena  for  a  sarcasm  on 
the  emperor.^  Constantine  ordered  that  if  a  free  woman  had 
intercourse  with  a  slave  man,  the  man  should  be  burned.'''  In  all 
the  ancient  and  classical  period,  burning  was  reserved  as  a  most 
painful  form  of  death  for  the  most  abominable  criminals  and 
the  most  extravagant  and  rare  crimes.  By  another  law  of  Con- 
stantine it  was  ordered  that  if  Jews  and  heaven  worshipers  should 
stone  those  who  were  converted  from  their  sects  to  the  Catholic 
faith,  they  should  be  burned.^  In  the  Theodosian  Code,  also,  any 
slave  who  accused  his  master  of  any  crime  except  high  treason 
was  to  be  burned  alive  without  investigation.^  Thus  burning 
becafne  the  penalty  for  criminals  of  a  despised  class  or  race. 

235.  Burning  in  North  American  colonies.  In  the  colonial 
laws  of  Massachusetts,  New  Jersey,  New  York,  South  Carolina, 
and  Virginia  it  was  provided  that  negroes  should  be  executed  by 
burning.  Here  vv^e  have  a  recrudescence  of  the  idea  that  great 
penalties  are  deterrent.  Modern  penologists  do  not  believe  that 
that  is  true.  It  is,  however,  the  belief  of  the  masses,  which  they 
have  recently  shown  in  methods  of  lynching.  It  might  have 
been  believed  ten  years  ago  that  it  would  be  impossible  to  get  a 

1  Winckler,  Gesetze  Hammitrabis^  19.  ^  Suetonius,  Caligtda,  27. 

2  Ibid.,  26.  7  Cod.   Tkeod.,  IX,  9. 

3  Miiller,  Hainmtirabi,  131.  8  Cod.  Justin.,  I,  9. 

4  Maspero,  Peuples  de  V Orient,  III,  666.  ^  Cod.  Theod.,  VI,  2. 
^Jewish  E?icyc.,  VI,  s.v.  "  Herod  I." 


SOCIETAL  SELECTION 


235 


crowd  of  Americans  to  burn  a  man  at  the  stake,  but  there  have 
been  many  cases  of  it.^ 

236.  Solidarity   of    group   in    penalty   incurred   by   one.    In 

prmiitive  society  any  one  who  departed  from  the  ways  of  ancestors 
was  supposed  to  offend  their  ghosts  ;  furthermore,  he  was  sup- 
posed to  bring  down  their  avenging  wratli  on  the  wliole  group  of 
wliich  he  was  a  member.  This  idea  has  prevailed  until  modern 
times.  It  aroused  the  sentiment  of  vengeance  against  the  dis- 
senter, and  united  all  the  rest  in  a  common  interest  against  him. 
Especially,  if  any  misfortune  befell  the  group,  they  turned  against 
any  one  who  had  broken  the  taboos.  Thus  goblinism  was  united 
to  the  other  reasons  for  disliking  dissenters  and  gave  it  definite 
direction  and  motive.  At  Rome,  "  in  the  days  of  the  republic, 
every  famine,  pestilence,  or  drought  was  followed  by  a  searching 
investigation  of  the  sacred  rites,  to  ascertain  what  irregularity 
or  neglect  had  caused  the  divine  anger,  and  two  instances  are 
recorded  in  which  vestal  virgins  were  put  to  death  because  their 
unchastity  was  believed  to  have  provoked  a  national  calamity."^ 
In  the  Roman  law  is  found  a  proposition  which  was  often  quoted 
in  the  Middle  Ages  :  "That  which  is  done  against  divine  religion 
is  done  to  the  harm  of  all."  ^  Hale  *  explains  the  tortures  inflicted 
by  the  Iroquois,  by  their  desire  to  mark  some  kinds  of  Indian 
warfare  as  very  abominable,  and  so  to  drive  them  out  of  use. 
Torture  always  flatters  vanity.  He  who  inflicts  it  has  power. 
To  reduce,  plunder,  and  torment  an  enemy  is  a  great  luxury. 
The  lust  of  blood  is  a  frightful  demon  when  once  it  is  aroused. 
A  Hungarian  woman  of  noble  birth,  at  the  beginning  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  tortured  to  death  thirty  or  forty  of  her 
maidservants.  She  began  by  inflicting  severe  punishments  and 
developed  a  fiendish  passion  for  the  sight  of  suffering  and  blood. ^ 
It  is  the  combinations  of  the  other  elements,  religion,  ambition, 
sex,  vanity,  and  the  lust  of  blood,  with  the  dislike  of  dissenters, 

1  In  1S99  a  German  officer  was  condemned  to  death  by  a  court  martial  for 
killing  a  half-breed  subordinate  with  great  torture.  The  emperor  reduced  the 
punishment  to  fifteen  years'  imprisonment,  and  in  May,  1902,  granted  the  prisoner 
a  full  pardon.  —  Assoc.  P^-ess,  December  24,  1899;  A^.  Y.  Times,  May  24,  1903. 

2  Lecky,  Alorals,  I,  407.  *  h'oquois  Book  of  Rites,  97. 

2  Cod.  Justin.,  I,  5,  sec.  4.  ^  Elsberg,  Elizabeth  Bathory. 


236  FOLKWAYS 

which  has  caused  the  most  frightful  developments  of  torture  and 
persecution.  This  brings  us  to  the  case  of  the  mediaeval  inquisi- 
tion. It  is  not  to  be  expected  that  a  phenomenon  of  high  civili- 
zation will  be  simple  and  uniform.  So  the  motives  of  Christian 
persecution  to  enforce  conformity  are  numerous  and  mixed.  It  was 
directly  against  some  of  the  leading  principles  of  Christianity,  but 
there  are  texts  in  the  New  Testament  which  were  used  to  justify  it.^ 

237.  Torture  in  ancient  states.  The  Egyptians  used  torture 
in  all  ordinary  investigations  to  find  out  the  facts.^  The  Greeks 
had  used  torture.  It  was  common  in  the  Periclean  age  in 
the  courts  of  Athens.  The  accused  gave  his  slaves  to  be  tor- 
tured "to  challenge  evidence  against  himself."^  Plutarch*  tells 
of  a  barber  who  heard  of  the  defeat  of  Nicias  in  Sicily  and  ran 
to  tell  the  magistrates.  They  tortured  him  as  a  maker  of  trouble 
by  disseminating  false  news,  until  the  story  was  confirmed. 
Philotas  was  charged  with  planning  to  kill  Alexander.  He  was 
tortured  and  the  desired  proof  was  obtained.^  Eusebius,^  describ- 
ing the  persecution  under  Nerva,  says  that  Simeon,  Bishop  of 
Jerusalem,  being  one  hundred  and  twenty  years  old,  was  tortured 
for  several  days  and  then  crucified.  Torture  underwent  a  special 
development  in  the  Euphrates  valley.  The  Assyrian  stones 
show  frightful  tortures  which  kings  sometimes  inflicted  with 
their  own  hands.  Maiming,  flaying,  impaling,  blinding,  and 
smothering  in  hot  ashes  became  usual  forms  in  Persia.  They 
passed  to  the  Turks,  and  the  stories  of  torture  and  death  inflicted 
in  southeastern  Europe,  or  in  modern  Persia,  show  knowledge 
and  inventive  skill  far  beyond  what  the  same  peoples  have  other- 
wise shown.  The  motives  have  been  religious  contempt,  heredi- 
tary animosity,  and  vengeance,  as  well  as  political  and  warlike 
antagonism. 

238.  Torture  in  the  Roman  empire.  The  Roman  emperors 
lived  in  a  great  fear  of  supernatural  attack.    There  was  a  very 

1  I  Cor.  V.  I  ;   I  Tim.  i.  20 ;  Gal.  i.  8. 

^  Maspero,  Peuples  de  POrient,  II,  539. 

3  Mahaffy,  Soc.  Life  in  Greece,  226. 

*  Nicias,  ad  fin. 

^  Quint.  Curt.  Rufus,  Alexander,  VI,  11. 

6  Hist.  Eccles.,  III. 


SOCIETAL  SELECTION  237 

great  interest  for  many  people  in  the  question  :  When  will  the 
emperor  die  ?  Many,  no  doubt,  made  use  of  any  apparatus  of 
astrology  or  sorcery  to  find  out.  To  the  emperor  and  his  adher- 
ents this  seemed  to  prove  a  desire  that  he  should  die,  and  was 
interpreted  as  treasonable.  The  Christians  helped  to  develop 
demonism.  They  regarded  all  the  heathen  gods  as  demons.  As 
they  gained  power  in  society  this  notion  spread,  and  there  was  a 
great  revival  of  popular  demonism.  By  the  lex  Julia  de  Ulajestate 
torture  might  be  applied  to  persons  charged  with  treason,  and  the 
definition  of  treason  was  greatly  enlarged.  Torture  was  used  to 
great  excess  under  Tiberius  and  Nero.  In  the  fourth  century, 
after  the  emperors  became  Christians,  it  was  feared  that  persons 
who  hated  them  would  work  them  ill  by  sorcery  with  the  aid  of 
the  demons,  formerly  heathen  gods.  Sorcery  and  treason  were 
combined  and  strengthened  by  a  great  tide  of  superstition  which 
overspread  the  Roman  world. ^  The  first  capital  punishment  for 
heresy  in  the  Christian  church  seems  to  have  been  the  torture 
and  burning  of  Priscillian,  a  Manichaean,  at  Treves,  in  385,  with 
six  of  his  adherents,  by  the  Emperor  Maximus.  This  act  caused 
a  sensation  of  truly  Christian  horror.  Of  the  two  bishops  w^ho 
were  responsible,  one  was  expelled  from  his  see ;  the  other 
resigned.^  In  579  King  Chilperic  caused  ecclesiastics  to  be  tor- 
tured for  disloyal  behavior.  About  580  the  same  king,  having 
married  a  servant  maid,  an  act  which  caused  family  and  political 
trouble,  upon  the  death  of  two  of  her  children,  caused  a  woman 
to  be  tortured  who  was  charged  with  murdering  the  children  in 
the  interest  of  their  stepbrother.  She  confessed,  revoked  her 
confession,  and  was  burned.  Three  years  later  another  child  of 
the  queen  died,  and  several  women  were  tortured  and  burned  or 
broken  on  the  wheel  for  causing  the  death  by  sorcery.^  Pope 
Nicholas  I,  in  866,  opposed  the  use  of  torture  as  barbaric, 
and  the  pseudo-Isidorian  Decretals  take  the  same  position  in 
regard  to  it.  Indeed,  that  was  the  orthodox  Christian  view  in 
the  dark  ages. 

1  Gibbon,  Chap.  XVII ;   Hansen,  Zaitberivahn,  etc.,  108. 

^  Heyer,  Priesterschaft  und  Inquis.,  i6— 18;    Lea,  Inqiiis.,  I,  Chap.  V. 

^  Hansen,  Zaiiberivahii,  Ijtquisitton,  uttd  Hexenprocess  im  M.A.,  no,  113. 


238  FOLKWAYS 

239.  Such  was  the  course  of  descent  by  which  torture  came 
to  the  Middle  Ages.  It  was  in  connection  with  the  revival  of  the 
eleventh  century  that  the  Roman  law  of  treason  was  made  to 
apply  to  heresy  by  construing  it  as  treason  to  God/  It  is,  how- 
ever, of  the  first  importance  to  notice  that  it  was  the  masses 
which  first  applied  death  by  burning  to  heretics.  The  mob 
lynched  heretics  long  before  the  church  began  to  persecute.^  (See, 
further,  sec.  253.) 

240.  Jewish  and  Christian  universality.  Who  persecutes 
whom?  The  Jews  held  that  their  God  was  the  only  real  God. 
The  gods  of  other  nations  were  "vanity,"  that  is,  nulhty.  They 
held  that  their  religion  was  the  only  true  one.  When  about  the 
time  of  the  birth  of  Christ  they  stepped  before  the  Greco- 
Roman  world  with  this  claim,  it  cost  them  great  hatred  and 
abuse.  In  the  history  of  religion  it  counts  as  a  great  fact  of 
advance  in  religious  conceptions.  Christianity  inherited  the  idea 
and  applied  it  to  itself.  It  has  always  claimed  to  be  absolutely 
and  alone  true  as  a  religious  system.  Every  other  religion  is 
an  invader  of  its  domain.  It  was  this  attitude  which  gave  a  defini- 
tion to  heresy.  Under  paganism  "  speculation  was  untrammeled. 
The  notion  of  there  being  any  necessary  guilt  in  erroneous 
opinion  was  unknown."  ^  When  once  this  notion  found  acceptance 
it  produced  a  great  number  of  deductions  and  corollaries  and 
gave  form  to  a  great  number  of  customs,  such  as  they  had  never 
had  before.  The  effect  on  the  selection  of  articles  of  faith  out  of 
the  doctrines  of  warring  sects  and  philosophies  is  obvious,  also 
the  effect  on  methods  of  controversy.  The  effects  are  important 
in  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries,  and  the  notion  became  one  of 
the  postulates  of  all  thinking.  This  is  the  ultimate  reason  for 
the  wickedness  of  heresy  and  for  the  abomination  of  all  heretics. 
Certainly  Christianity  did  not,  in  this  matter,  improve  on  the 
philosophy  of  paganism.  It  was  this  attitude  of  Christianity  and 
its  neglect  of  the  existing  political  authority  which  drew  upon  it 
the  contempt,  derision,  and  hatred  of  the  heathen.  The  persecu- 
tion of  Christians  was  popular.  It  expressed  the  popular  feeling, 
which  was  more  constantly  expressed  in  the  popular  comedy  and 

1  Lea,  Im/tits.,  I,  421.  -  Ibid.,  308.  ^  Lecky,  Morals,  II,  190. 


SOCIETAL  SELECTION 


239 


the  improvised  popular  play.^  The  persecution  in  Nerva's  time 
was  more  popular  than  political  .^  In  the  following  century  the 
Christians  denounced  heathenism  as  a  worship  of  demons.  "  It  is 
not  surprising  that  the  populace  should  have  been  firmly  con- 
vinced that  every  great  catastrophe  that  occurred  was  due  to 
the  presence  of  the  enemies  of  the  gods."  ^  "The  history  of  the 
period  of  the  Antonines  continually  manifests  the  desire  of  the 
populace  to  persecute,  restrained  by  the  humanity  of  the  rulers."  ^ 
In  the  third  century  the  Decian  persecution  was  largely  due  to 
the  "popular  fanaticism  caused  by  great  calamities,  which  were 
ascribed  to  the  anger  of  the  gods  at  the  neglect  of  their  worship."  ^ 
"The  most  horrible  recorded  instances  of  torture  were  usually 
inflicted,  either  by  the  populace,  or  in  their  presence,  in  the 
arena."  ^  Frightful  tortures  were  inflicted  in  the  attempt  to 
make  Christians  sacrifice  to  the  heathen  gods.  This  effort  was 
due  to  the  popular  apprehension  of  solidarity  in  responsibility 
for  the  neglect  by  the  Christians  of  the  state  gods,  to  the  decline 
of  all  social  welfare  and  the  implied  insult  to  the  state.  In  the 
fourth  century  Christianity  became  the  religion  of  the  state  and 
took  up  the  task  of  persecuting  the  heathen.  "  The  only  question 
is  :  In  whose  hands  is  the  power  to  persecute  ?  "  That  question 
alone  determines  who  shall  persecute  whom.  Literature  was 
produced  which  uttered  savage  hatred  against  all  who  were  not 
fully  orthodox,  and  the  sects  practiced  violence  and  cruelty 
against  each  other  to  the  full  extent  for  which  they  found  oppor- 
tunity. "  Never,  perhaps,  was  the  infliction  of  mutilation,  and 
prolonged  and  agonizing  forms  of  death,  more  common  "  than  in 
the  seventh  and  eighth  centuries.'  "  Great  numbers  were  deprived 
of  their  ears  and  noses,  tortured  through  several  days,  and  at 
last  burned  alive  or  broken  slowly  on  the  wheel."  ^  At  Byzantium, 
in  the  ninth  century,  a  prefect  of  the  palace  was  burned  in  the 
circus  for  appropriating  the  property  of  a  wadow.  It  became  the 
custom  that  capital  punishments  were  executed  in  the  circus.^ 

1  Reich,  Der  Mhnus,  I,  90-96.  ^  Ibid.,  466. 

2  Lecky,  Morals,  I,  437.  ''  Ibid.,  TI,  238. 

3  Ibid.,  408.  8  Ibid. 

*  Ibid.,  436.  5  Ibid.,  455.  ^  Reich,  Der  Mimus,  I,  192. 


240  FOLKWAYS 

All  this  course  of  things  was  due  to  popular  tastes  and  desires, 
and  it  was  a  course  of  popular  education  of  the  masses  in  cruelty, 
love  of  bloodshed,  and  gratification  of  low  hatred  and  other  base 
passions.  All  the  laws,  the  exhortations  of  the  clergy,  and  the 
public  acts  of  torture  and  execution  held  out  the  suggestion  that 
heresy  was  a  thing  deserving  the  extremest  horror  and  abomina- 
tion. What  was  heresy  ?  No  one  knew  unless  he  was  an  edu- 
cated theologian,  and  such  were  rare.  The  vagueness  of  heresy 
made  it  more  terrible.  "The  long-continued  teaching  of  the 
church,  that  persistent  heresy  was  the  one  crime  for  which  there 
could  be  no  pardon  or  excuse,  seemed  to  deprive  even  the  wisest 
and  purest  of  all  power  of  reasoning  where  it  was  concerned."  ^ 

241.  The  ordeal.  The  doctrines  and  sentiments  of  this  early 
age  were  seed  planted  to  produce  an  immeasurable  crop  in  the 
eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries,  when  they  were  brought  forth 
again  and  quoted  with  tjie  authority  of  the  church  fathers.  The 
ordeal  is  a  question  addressed  to  the  superior  powers  in  order  to 
learn  the  truth.  The  question  is  always  categorical :  Is  this  man 
guilty  or  not  ?  The  irrationality  is  that  there  is  a  third  possi- 
bility which  cannot  be  tested  ;  the  superior  powers  may  not 
answer  at  all.  In  the  early  Middle  Ages  the  ordeal  was  in  common 
use  in  all  civil  and  ecclesiastical  trials.  Experience  proved  the  fal- 
lacy of  it.  We  are  led  to  believe  that  the  people  of  the  dark  ages, 
not  yet  being  locked  in  dogmatism,  although  stupid  and  ignorant, 
were  better  able  to  learn  from  experience  than  those  of  later 
times.  Innocent  III,  in  12 12,  forbade  the  use  of  the  ordeal,  the 
occasion  being  its  use  by  the  Bishop  of  Strasburg  against  heretics.^ 
The  Lateran  Council  of  1 2 1 5  forbade  ecclesiastics  to  take  any 
part  in  ordeals.  It  is  perhaps  true  that  torture  was  introduced 
from  the  Roman  law  after  the  ordeal  was  ruled  out.'^ 

242.  Irrationality  of  torture.  Torture  was  far  more  irrational 
than  the  ordeal.  The  Roman  authorities  had  recorded  warnings 
of  its  fallacy."*  Torture  destroys  nerve  power,  will,  and  conscious- 
ness. There  comes  a  point  at  which  the  victim  will  assent  to 
anything  to   escape   pain,    or   to   get   a   quick  and   easy   death. 

1  Lea,  Inqtiis.^  II,  493.  3  /^/^.^  421. 

2  Ibid.,  I,  306.  *  Digest,  XLVII,  iS,  espec.  sec.  23. 


SOCIETAL  SELECTION  241 

Therefore  "confessions  "  under  torture  are  of  no  value.  Ulpian  said 
of  it,  '^Rfs  est  fragilis  et  pcriciilosa  et  quae  veritatevi  fallatr  ^ 
One  of  the  templars  said  that  if  he  was  tortured  further  he  would 
confess  that  he  had  murdered  the  Saviour.  Another  said  that  he 
would  confess  anything  if  he  was  tortured  further,  although 
he  was  ready  to  suffer  any  death  for  the  Order  of  Templars.  He 
would  confess  that  he  had  killed  the  mother  of  God.^  A  heretic 
under  torture  cried  out  that  Christ,  if  so  treated,  would  be  proved 
a  heretic.'^  Bernard  Delicieux  declared  before  King  Philip  that 
Peter  and  Paul  could  be  convicted  of  heresy  by  the  methods  of 
the  inquisitors."^  Count  Frederick  von  Spec,  a  Jesuit  who  opposed 
the  witch  persecutions,  is  quoted  as  saying,  in  163 1,  "Treat  the 
heads  of  the  church,  the  judges,  or  me,  as  you  treat  those  unhappy 
ones  [accused  of  witchcraft],  subject  any  of  us  to  the  same  tor- 
tures, and  you  will  discover  that  we  are  all  sorcerers."  ^  He 
quoted  an  inquisitor  who  boasted  that  if  he  could  get  the  pope 
on  the  rack  he  would  prove  him  a  sorcerer.^  In  the  thirteenth 
century  "judges  were  well  convinced  of  the  failure  of  the  pro- 
cedure with  its  secret  and  subjective  elements,  but  they  could 
not  in  any  other  way  cope  with  crim.e."  ' 

This  micans,  of  course,  that  by  long  and  manifold  suggestion 
certain  selected  forms  of  crime  had  been  stigmatized  until  the 
masses  regarded  them  with  horror.  Then  the  apparatus  of  the 
administration  of  justice 'was  brought  to  bear  to  exterminate  all 
who  could  be  charged  with  them,  and  when  the  process  was  ob- 
jected to  as  horrible,  it  was  defended  on  grounds  of  necessity 
to  meet  the  horrible  crime.  By  this  action  and  reaction  a  great 
body  of  interests  was  enveloped  in  a  special  atmosphere,  within 
which  any  excess  of  savagery  was  possible.  The  societal  selec- 
tion was  prosecuted  by  murder  of  all  dissenters. 

243.  Inquisitorial  procedure  from  Roman  law.  The  Roman 
criminal  procedure  was,  in  part,  inquisitorial.^    In  the  later  period 

1  Digest,  XLVII,  18,  espec.  sec.  23. 

-  Schotmiiller,  Untergang  der  Templer,  141,  311,  352. 

3  Flade,  Inqiiisitionsverfahren  in  DeutschlaiiJ,  84. 

*  Lea,  Impiis.,  II,  87.  ^  Scherr,  Kiiltiii-gesch.,  383. 

6  Janssen,  Gesch.  d.  Deiitscheii  Volkes,  VIII,  541. 

'^  Hansen,  Zatibe7-wahti,  no.  ^  Mommsen,  Rii/n.  Strafrecht,  349. 


242  FOLKWAYS 

of  the  republic  a  private  accuser,  who  must  be  an  injured  party, 
started  and  conducted  the  prosecution,  but  the  magistrates  could 
proceed  on  their  own  motion,  upon  denunciation,  or  by  inquisi- 
torial process.  The  last  method  became  the  custom  under  the 
empire.  Prosecutions  for  treason  were  thus  carried  on,  and  by 
the  end  of  the  empire  sorcerers  and  heretics,  as  Jiostcs  publici, 
like  traitors,  were  thus  tried.  All  citizens  were  bound  to  denounce 
such  criminals.  This  procedure  was  taken  up  into  the  canon  law, 
so  that  the  Christian  church  inherited  a  system  of  procedure  as 
well  as  the  doctrines  above  stated.^ 

244.  Bishops  as  inquisitors.  In  the  Carolingian  period  bishops 
were  instructed  to  seek  out  heretics  and  to  secure  their  conver- 
sion, but  they  rarely  distinguished  themselves  by  zeal  in  this 
matter.  The  procedure  was  that  of  a  grand  jury  set  in  motion 
by  common  report.  Lucius  III  and  Barbarossa,  acting  together 
in  1 1 84,  prepared  a  decretal  in  which  the  duty  of  bishops  was 
reaffirmed  and  an  attempt  was  made  to  give  sharper  method  to 
their  proceedings.  They  were  to  seek  out  heretics,  holders  of 
secret  conventicles,  or  any  who  "  in  any  way  differed,  in  mode  of 
life,  from  the  faithful  in  general."  Those  who  refused  to  be  dis- 
ciplined and  to  conform  were  to  be  abandoned  to  the  secular  arm 
for  fitting  punishment.  All  civil  officers  were  to  swear  to  enforce 
laws  against  heretics.  Here  we  find  the  fundamental  notions  of 
the  later  Inquisition,  but  zealous  executioners  were  u-anting.  If 
the  decretal  had  been  "  obeyed  strictly  and  energetically,  it  would 
have  established  an  episcopal  instead  of  a  papal  Inquisition." 

245.  Definition  of  heretic.  The  definition  of  a  heretic  just 
quoted  occurs  often  and  is  the  only  one  which  could  be  formu- 
lated. A  person  was  as  liable  to  be  charged  with  heresy  if  better 
than  the  crowd  as  if  worse.  "  In  fact,  amid  the  license  of  the 
Middle  Ages  ascetic  virtue  was  apt  to  be  regarded  as  a  sign  of 
heresy.  About  1220  a  clerk  of  Spire,  whose  austerity  subse- 
quently led  him  to  join  the  Franciscans,  was  only  saved  by  the 
interposition  of  Conrad,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Hildesheim,  from 
being  burned  as  a  heretic,  because  his  preaching  led  certain 
women  to  lay  aside  their  vanities  of  apparel  and  behave  with 

1  Hansen,  Zanberivahn^  etc.,  loo  ;  Lea,  Inqiiis.,  I,  311. 


SOCIETAL  SELECTION 


243 


humility.  ...  I  have  met  with  a  case,  in  1320,  in  which  a  poor 
old  woman  at  Pamiers  submitted  to  the  dreadful  sentence  for 
heresy  simply  because  she  would  not  take  an  oath.  She  answered 
all  interrogations  on  points  of  faith  in  orthodox  fashion,  but 
though  offered  her  life  if  she  would  swear  on  the  gospels,  she 
refused  to  burden  her  soul  with  the  sin,  and  for  this  she  was 
condemned  as  a  heretic."  ^  "  Heretics  who  were  admitted  to  be 
patterns  of  virtue  were  ruthlessly  exterminated  in  the  name  of 
Christ,  while  in  the  same  holy  name  the  orthodox  could  purchase 
absolution  for  the  vilest  of  crimes  for  a  few  coins."  ^  There 
could  be  no  definition  of  a  heretic  but  one  who  differed  in  life  and 
conversation  from  the  masses  around  him.  This  might  mean 
strange  language,  dress,  manners,  or  greater  restraint  in  conduct. 
Pallor  of  countenance  was  a  mark  of  a  heretic  from  the  fourth 
century  to  the  twelfth.^  In  the  thirteenth  century  Franciscans 
were  preeminently  orthodox,  but  when  John  XXII  stigmatized  as 
heretical  the  assertion  that  Christ  and  his  Apostles  never  had 
any  property,  they  became  criminals  whom  civil  officers  were 
bound  to  send  to  the  stake.*  John  was  himself  a  heretic  as  to 
the  "  beatific  vision."  He  thought  that  the  dead  would  not  enter 
the  presence  of  God  until  the  judgment  day.^  The  Franciscans 
held  that  the  blood  shed  by  Christ  in  the  Passion  lost  its  divinity, 
was  separated  from  the  Logos,  and  remained  on  earth.  This  was 
heresy.^  The  Dominicans,  with  Thomas  Aquinas,  were  heretics 
as  to  the  immaculate  conception.^  All  the  disputants  on  all  sides 
of  these  questions  went  into  the  dispute  at  the  risk  of  burning  or 
being  burned,  as  the  tide  should  run. 

246.  The  Albigenses.  For  some  reason  which  is  not  easy  to 
vmderstand,  the  Manichaean  doctrine  took  deep  root  in  the  Chris- 
tian church  from  the  fourth  century  on.  To  us  the  doctrine 
seems  ethically  bad,  but  that  only  shows  how  little  religious  dog- 
mas make  ethics.  The  enemies  of  the  Albigenses  recognized  their 
high  purity  of  life.*^  They  called  themselves  kathari,  or  puritans. 
Popular  fanaticism  commenced  persecution  against  them  in  the 

1  Lea,  /nquis.,  I,  87.  "^  Ibid.,  Ill,  641.  ^  Ibid.,  I,  no,  371. 

'^  Ibid.,  IA,\.  5 //vV/.,  Ill,  454,  594.  ^  Ibid.,\\,\-]\. 

'  Ibid.,  Ill,  596.  8  Ibid.,  I,  loi. 


244  FOLKWAYS 

eleventh  century.  They  were  in  antagonism  to  the  hierarchy 
and  the  Catholic  system,  especially  to  papal  autocracy.  "  Even 
with  those  abhorred  sectaries,  the  church  was  wonderfully  slow 
to  proceed  to  extremities.  It  hesitated  before  the  unaccustomed 
task.  It  shrank  from  contradicting  its  teachings  of  charity,  and 
was  driven  forward  by  popular  fanaticism.  The  persecution  of 
Orleans,  in  1017,  was  the  work  of  King  Robert,  the  Pious.  The 
burning  at  Milan,  soon  after,  was  done  by  the  people  against  the 
will  of  the  archbishop.  .  .  .  Even  as  late  as  1 144,  the  church  of 
Liege  congratulated  itself  on  having,  by  the  mercy  of  God,  saved 
the  greater  part  of  a  number  of  confessed  and  convicted  kathari 
from  the  turbulent  mob  which  strove  to  burn  them.  ...  In 
1 145  the  zealous  populace  seized  the  kathari  and  burned  them, 
despite  the  resistance  of  the  ecclesiastical  authorities."  ^  These 
cases  of  lynching  are  the  first  cases,  in  the  Middle  Ages,  of 
burning  heretics.  They  show  that  the  masses  in  the  Christian 
church  thought  that  the  proper  treatment  of  enemies  of  God, 
the  church,  and  all  men. 

247.  Persecution  popular.  Innocent  III  began  war  on  the 
Albigenses  at  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century,  as  rebels 
and  heretics.  All  Catholics  approved  what  he  did,  and  thought  that 
the  Albigenses  richly  deserved  all  the  treatment  they  received. 
The  age  was  not  religious,  but  it  had  intense  religiosity,  and  the 
whole  religiosity  was  heated  to  a  high  pitch  by  the  contest  with 
the  Albigenses.  The  pride,  ambition,  and  arrogance  of  the  hier- 
archy and  the  basest  greed  and  love  of  plunder  of  the  masses 
were  enlisted  against  them.  Lea's  statement  is  therefore  fully 
justified  that  "the  Inquisition  was  not  an  organization  arbitrarily 
devised  and  imposed  upon  the  judicial  system  of  Christendom  by 
the  ambition  or  fanaticism  of  the  church.  It  was  rather  a  natural 
— -  one  may  almost  say  an  inevitable  —  evolution  of  the  forces  at 
work  in  the  thirteenth  century,  and  no  one  can  rightly  appreciate 
the  process  of  its  development  and  the  results  of  its  activity 
without  a  somewhat  minute  consideration  of  the  factors  control- 
ling the  minds  and  souls  of  men  during  the  ages  which  laid  the 
foundation   of   modern  civilization."  ^    In  the  mind  of  the  age 

1  Lea,  Inquis.,  I,  218.  ^  Ibid.,  iii. 


SOCIETAL  SELECTION  245 

"  there  was  a  universal  consensus  of  opinion  that  there  was  noth- 
ing to  do  with  a  heretic  but  to  burn  him."  This  was  one  of  those 
wide  and  popular  notions  upon  which  mores  grow,  because  the 
folkways  are  adjusted  to  it  in  all  departments  of  life  as  a  rule  of 
welfare.  The  courts  of  Toulouse  at  first,  not  recognizing  the 
forces  against  the  Albigenses,  tried  to  protect  their  subjects, 
but  "to  the  public  law  of  the  period  [Raymond  II  of  Toulouse] 
was  an  outlaw,  without  even  the  right  of  self-defense  against  the 
first-comer,  for  his  very  self-defense  was  rated  among  his  crimes. 
In  the  popular  faith  of  the  age  he  was  an  accursed  thing,  with- 
out hope,  here  or  hereafter.  The  only  way  of  readmission  into 
human  fellowship,  the  only  hope  of  salvation,  lay  in  reconcilia- 
tion with  the  church  through  the  removal  of  the  awful  ban  which 
had  formed  half  of  his  inheritance.  To  obtain  this  he  had  repeat- 
edly offered  to  sacrifice  his  honor  and  his  subjects,  and  the  offer 
had  been  contemptuously  spurned.  .  .  .  The  battle  of  toleration 
against  persecution  had  been  fought  and  lost  ;  nor,  with  such  a 
warning  as  the  fate  of  the  two  Raymonds,  was  there  risk  that 
other  potentates  would  disregard  the  public  opinion  of  Christen- 
dom by  ill-advised  mercy  to  the  heretic."  ^ 

248.  An  annalist  of  Worms  is  quoted  about  Dorso's  operations 
on  the  upper  Rhine  in  1231.  Dorso  burned  many  persons  of 
the  peasant  class.  The  annalist  adds,  "The  people,  when  they 
saw  this,  were  favorable  to  the  inquisitors  and  helped  them  ;  and 
rightly,  since  those  heretics  deserved  death.  Confident  in  the 
approval  of  the  masses,  they  went  on  to  make  arrests  in  towns 
and  villages,  as  they  pleased,  and  then  they  said  to  the  judges, 
without  further  evidence,  'These  are  heretics.  We  withdraw 
our  hands  from  them.'  The  judges  were  thus  compelled  to 
burn  many.  That  was  not  according  to  the  sense  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  and  the  ecclesiastics  everywhere  were  greatly  troubled. 
Since,  however,  the  people  took  sides  with  the  unjust  judges, 
their  will  was  executed  everywhere."  "The  pitiless  and  incom- 
petent judges  later  saw  that  they  could  not  maintain  their  con- 
duct without  the  help  of  great  men,  whom  they  won  by  saying 
that  they  would  burn  rich  people,  whose  goods  the  great  men 

^  Lea,  /nqiiis.,  I,  207. 


246  FOLKWAYS 

should  have."  "That  pleased  the  great  men,  who  helped  them, 
and  called  them  to  their  cities  and  towns."  "  The  people,  when 
they  saw  this,  asked  the  reason,  to  which  the  persecutors 
answered,  '  We  would  burn  a  hundred  innocent  if  there  was 
one  guilty  amongst  them.'  "  ^ 

249.  It  was  also  true  of  the  persecutions  of  the  philosophers 
in  Mohammedan  Spain  that  they  were  popular.  "  The  best  edu- 
cated princes  allowed  themselves  to  be  driven  to  persecute,  in 
spite  of  their  personal  preferences,  as  a  means  of  winning  popu- 
larity." ^ 

250.  Theory  of  persecution.  The  public  opinion  of  the  ruling 
classes  of  Europe  demanded  that  heresy  should  be  exterminated 
at  whatever  cost,  and  yet  with  the  suppression  of  open  resistance 
the  desired  end  seemed  as  far  off  as  ever.  .  .  .  Trained  experts  were 
needed,  whose  sole  business  it  should  be  to  unearth  the  offenders 
and  extort  a  confession  of  their  guilt.  .  .  .  Thus  to  the  public  of 
the  thirteenth  century  the  organization  of  the  Inquisition  and  its 
commitment  to  the  children  of  Saint  Dominic  and  Saint  Francis 
appeared  a  perfectly  natural  or  rather  inevitable  development 
arising  from  the  admitted  necessities  of  the  time  and  the  instru- 
mentalities at  hand. 3 

251.  Duties  laid  on  the  civil  authority.  The  secular  authority 
accepted  the  functions  allotted  to  it  out  of  the  spirit  of  the  age. 
To  fall  into  disfavor  at  Rome  was,  for  a  prince,  to  risk  the  loyalty 
of  his  subjects,  with  whom  it  was  a  point  of  high  importance  to 
belong  to  a  "Christian"  state,  that  is,  one  on  good  terms  with 
the  church.  "We  are  not  to  imagine,  however,  from  these 
reduplicated  commands  that  the  secular  power,  as  a  rule,  showed 
itself  in  the  slightest  degree  disinclined  to  perform  the  duty. 
The  teachings  of  the  church  had  made  too  profound  an  impres- 
sion for  any  doubt  in  the  premises  to  exist.  As  has  been  seen 
above,  the  laws  of  all  the  states  of  Europe  prescribed  concrema- 
tion  as  the  appropriate  penalty  for  heresy,  and  even  the  free 
commonwealths  of  Italy  recognized  the  Inquisition  as  the  judge 
whose  sentences  were  to  be  blindly  executed."* 

1  Michael,  Gesch.  d.  Deidschen  Volkes,  II,  326.  ^  Lea,  Inqiiis.,  I,  537. 

2  Renan,  Averroes,  35.  *  //'/(/.,  537. 


SOCIETAL  SELECTION  247 

252,  "The  practice  of  burning  the  heretic  alive  was  thus  not 
the  creature  of  positive  law,  but  arose  generally  and  spontane- 
ously, and  its  adoption  by  the  legislator  was  only  the  recognition 
of  a  popular  custom."  ^  "  Confession  of  heresy  became  a  matter 
of  vital  importance,  and  no  effort  was  deemed  too  great,  no  means 
too  repulsive,  to  secure  it.  This  became  the  center  of  the  inquis- 
itorial process,  and  it  is  deserving  of  detailed  consideration,  not 
only  because  it  formed  the  basis  of  procedure  in  the  Holy  Office, 
but  also  because  of  the  vast  and  deplorable  influence  which  it 
exercised  for  five  centuries  on  the  whole  judicial  system  of  con- 
tinental Europe."  2  In  the  second  half  of  the  twelfth  century 
burning  had  become,  by  custom,  the  usual  punishment  for  here- 
tics. The  purpose  was  universally  regarded  as  right  and  pious, 
and  the  means  was  thought  wise  and  correct.  Therefore  the 
whole  procedure  went  forward  on  a  course  of  direct  and  consist- 
ent development.^  It  was  first  decreed  in  positive  law  in  the 
code  of  Pedro  II,  of  Aragon,  in  1 197.  In  the  laws  of  Frederick 
II,  in  1224,  the  punishment  was  death  by  burning  or  loss  of  the 
tongue.  In  123 1,  in  Sicily,  burning  was  made  absolute.  In 
1238  the  stake  was  made  the  law  of  the  empire  against  heresy. 
In  1270  Louis  IX  made  it  the  law  of  France.*  "Dominic  and 
Francis,  Bonaventura  and  Thomas  Aquinas,  Innocent  III  and 
St.  Louis,  were  types,  in  their  several  ways,  of  which  humanity, 
in  any  age,  might  well  feel  proud,  and  yet  they  were  as  unspar- 
ing of  the  heretic  as  Ezzelino  da  Romano  was  of  his  enemies. 
With  such  men  it  was  not  hope  of  gain  or  lust  of  blood  or  pride 
of  opinion  or  wanton  exercise  of  power,  but  sense  of  duty,  and 
they  but  represented  public  opinion  from  the  thirteenth  to  the 
seventeenth  century."^  That  is  to  say,  that  the  virtues  of  the 
individuals  were  overruled  by  the  vices  of  the  mores  of  the  age. 

253.  The  shares  of  the  church  and  the  masses.  The  steps  of 
the  process  by  which  the  Christian  church  was  made  an  organi- 
zation to  enforce  uniformity  of  confession  by  bodily  pain,  that  is, 

1  Lea,  Inqtiis.,  I,  222.  ^  Ibid.,  410. 

3  Hansen,  Zauberwahn,  etc.,  223. 

*  Lea,  IiKpds.,  I,  220;   Hansen,  Zaiibej-iuahn,  etc.,  223. 
^  Lea,  Iiiqnis.,  I,  234. 


248  FOLKWAYS 

in  fact,  by  murder,  demand  careful  attention.  Back  of  all  the 
popular  demands  for  persecution  there  was  the  teaching  of  the 
church  in  antecedent  periods  and  a  crude  popular  logic  of  detes- 
tation and  destruction.  Then  the  outbreak  of  persecution  appears 
as  a  popular  act  with  lynching  executions.  At  this  point  the  church, 
by  virtue  of  its  teaching  and  leading  functions,  ought  to  have  re- 
pressed excessive  zeal  and  guided  the  popular  frenzy.  It  did  not 
do  so.  It  took  the  lead  of  the  popular  movement  and  encouraged 
it.  This  was  its  greatest  crime,  but  it  must  be  fairly  understood 
that  it  acted  with  public  opinion  and  was  fully  supported  by  the 
masses  and  by  the  culture  classes.  The  Inquisition  was  not  unpop- 
ular and  was  not  disapproved.  It  was  thought  to  be  the  proper 
and  necessary  means  to  deal  with  heresy,  just  as  we  now  think 
police  courts  necessary  to  deal  with  petty  crimes  (see  sec.  247). 
The  system  of  persecution  went  on  to  extravagances.  The  masses 
disapproved.  They  could  not  be  held  to  any  responsibility.  They 
turned  against  the  ecclesiastical  authorities  and  threw  all  the 
blame  on  them. 

254.  The  church  uses  the  power  for  selfish  aggrandizement. 
Things  now  advanced,  therefore,  to  the  second  stage.  The 
church  authorities  accepted  the  executive  duty  in  respect  to  the 
defense  of  the  church  and  society  against  heresy.  The  popular 
idea  was  that  heresy  would  bring  down  the  wrath  of  God  on  all 
Christendom,  or  on  the  whole  of  the  small  group  in  which  it 
occurred.^  The  church  authorities  formulated  doctrines,  planned 
programmes,  and  appointed  administrative  officers.  To  them  the 
commission  laid  upon  them  meant  more  social  power,  and  they 
turned  it  into  a  measure  of  selfish  aggrandizement.  This  alien- 
ated first  all  competent  judges,  and  at  last  the  masses. 

255.  The  Inquisition  took  shape  slowly.  The  Inquisition  took 
shape  very  gradually  through  the  first  half  of  the  thirteenth 
century.  "  In  the  proceedings  of  this  period  the  rudimentary 
character  of  the  Inquisition  is  evident."  The  mendicant  orders 
furnished  the  first  agents.  They  were  admired  and  honored  by 
the  masses.    Gregory  IX,  in  his  first  bulls  (1233),  making  the 

1  Lea  disputes  this  as  to  the  educated  clergy,  while  admitting  it  as  to  the 
masses,  which  is  the  essential  point  here  (Lea,  I/iquis.,  I,  237). 


SOCIETAL  SELECTION 


249 


Dominicans  the  official  inquisitors,  seemed  to  be  uncertain  as  to 
the  probable  attitude  which  the  bishops  would  adopt  to  this  inva- 
sion of  their  jurisdiction,  "  while  the  character  of  his  instructions 
shows  that  he  had  no  conception  of  what  the  innovation  was  to 
lead  to."  "As  yet  there  was  no  idea  of  superseding  the  episco- 
pal functions."  In  fact,  the  mendicant  orders  supplanted  the 
military  orders  as  papal  militia,  just  as  they  were  later  supplanted 
by  the  Jesuits,  and  they  very  greatly  assisted  the  reorganization 
of  the  church  into  an  absolute  monarchy  under  the  pope.^  Fred- 
erick 11  died  in  1250.  He  was  the  first  modern  man  on  a  throne. 
He  had  aimed  to  rule  all  Christendom  by  despotic  methods  which 
he  perhaps  learned  from  the  Mohammedans.  He  would  have 
made  a  monarchy  if  he  had  succeeded,  which  would  have  antici- 
pated that  of  Charles  V  or  Philip  H  by  three  hundred  years.^  It 
was  the  mores  of  the  age  which  decided  between  him  and  the 
pope.  His  court  was  a  center  of  Arabic  culture  and  of  religious 
indifference.  There  were  eunuchs,  a  harem,  astrologers  from 
Bagdad,  and  Jews  richly  pensioned  by  the  emperor  to  translate 
Arabic  works.  "All  these  things  were  transmuted,  in  popular 
belief,  into  relations  with  Ashtaroth  and  Beelzebub."  ^  The  say- 
ing that  there  had  been  three  great  impostors  —  Moses,  Jesus, 
and  Mohammed  —  was  attributed  to  him,  and  it  appears  that  his 
contemporaries  generally  believed  that  he  first  used  the  statement. 
The  only  thing  which  he  left  behind  was  the  code  of  laws  which  he 
had  made,  by  way  of  concession  and  attempt  to  buy  peace  from 
the  popes,  by  which  all  civil  authorities  were  made  constables  and 
hangmen  of  the  church,  to  which  all  dissenters  were  sacrificed. 

256.  Formative  legislation.  In  1252  Innocent  IV  issued  a 
bull  "  which  should  establish  machinery  for  systematic  persecu- 
tion as  an  integral  part  of  the  social  edifice  in  every  city  and 
every  state."  He  authorized  the  torture  of  witnesses.  "These 
provisions  are  not  the  wild  imaginings  of  a  nightmare,  but  sober, 
matter-of-fact  legislation,  shrewdly  and  carefully  devised  to  accom- 
plish a  settled  policy,  and  it  affords  us  a  valuable  insight  into 

1  Burckhardt,  Renaissance,  3. 

2  Jastrow  and  Winter,  Hoheiistaufen,  II,  298. 

3  Renan,  Averroes,  288. 


250  .  FOLKWAYS 

the  public  opinion  of  the  day  to  find  that  there  was  no  effective 
resistance  to  its  acceptance."  There  is  evidence,  twenty  years 
later,  that  the  Inquisition  "  had  not  been  universally  accepted 
with  alacrity,  but  the  few  instances  which  we  find  recorded  of 
refusal  show  how  generally  it  was  submitted  to."  The  institu- 
tion was  in  full  vigor  in  Italy,  but  not  beyond  the  Alps,  "  yet  this 
was  scarce  necessary  so  long  as  public  law  and  the  conservative 
spirit  of  the  ruling  class  everywhere  rendered  it  the  highest  duty 
of  the  citizen  of  every  degree  to  aid  in  every  way  the  business 
of  the  inquisitor,  and  pious  monarchs  hastened  to  enforce  the 
obligations  of  their  subjects."  "  It  was  not  the  fault  of  the 
church  if  a  bold  monarch  like  Philip  the  Fair  occasionally  ven- 
tured to  incur  divine  vengeance  by  protecting  his  subjects."  ^ 

257.  Dungeons.  It  is  evident  that  the  lust  of  blood  was  edu- 
cated into  the  mores  by  public  executions  with  torture,  by 
obscene  adjuncts,  by  inhuman  sports,  and  by  public  shows. 
Cruelty  and  inhumanity  in  civil  cases  were  as  great  as  under  the 
Inquisition.  A  person  apprehended  on  any  charge  was  imprisoned 
in  a  frightful  dungeon,  clamp,  infested  by  rats  and  vermin,  gener- 
ally in  chains,  and  he  was  often  forced  to  lie  in  a  constrained 
position.  This  was  a  part  of  the  policy  which  prevailed  in  the 
administration  of  justice.  It  was  intended  to  break  the  spirit 
and  courage  of  the  accused.  Confinement  was  solitary,  and 
various  circumstances  besides  pain  and  hunger  were  brought  to 
bear  on  the  imagination.  It  was  the  rule  that  every  accused 
person  must  fast  for  eight  or  ten  hours  before  torture.  The 
dungeons  were  often  ingenious  means  of  torture.  There  was 
one  in  the  Bastille  at  Paris,  the  floor  of  which  was  conical,  with 
the  point  downwards  so  that  it  was  impossible  to  sit,  or  lie,  or 
stand  in  it.  In  another,  in  the  Chatelet,  the  floor  was  all  the 
time  covered  by  water,  in  which  the  prisoners  must  stand  .^ 

258.  The  yellow  crosses.  One  of  the  penalties  inflicted  by 
the  Inquisition  causes  astonishment  and  at  the  same  time  shows 
how  thoroughly  the  mass  of  the  population  were  on  the  side  of 
the  Inquisition  until  the  fifteenth  century.     Persons  convicted  of 

1  Lea,  Inqiiis.,  I,  224,  309-313,  322,  327-330,  337-342. 

2  Lacroix,  Middle  Ages,  I,  407  ;   Flade,  Inqitisitionsverfahreii,  S6. 


SOCIETAL  SELECTION 


251 


heresy,  but  coerced  to  penitence,  were  forced  to  wear  crosses  of 
cloth,  generahy  yellow,  three  spans  long  and  two  wide,  sewed  on 
their  garments.  Thus  the  symbol  of  Christian  devotion  was 
turned  into  a  badge  of  shame. ^  It  pointed  out  the  wearer  as  an 
outcast.  However,  it  depended  on  the  mass  of  the  population  to 
say  what  it  should  mean.  How  did  they  treat  persons  thus 
marked  ?  They  toycotted  them.  The  wearers  of  crosses  could 
not  find  employment,  or  human  intercourse,  or  husbands,  or  wives. 
They  were  actually  unable  to  get  the  relations  with  other  men 
and  women  which  are  essential  to  existence.^  If  the  people  had 
pitied  them,  or  sympathized  with  them,  they  would  have  shown 
it  by  kindness,  in  spite  of  ecclesiastical  orders.  In  fact,  the  cross 
was  a  badge  of  infamy  and  was  enforced  as  such  by  public  action. 
"The  unfortunate  penitent  was  exposed  to  the  ridicule  and 
derision  of  all  whom  he  met,  and  was  heavily  handicapped  in 
every  effort  to  earn  a  livelihood."  ^  It  is  evident  that  the  way  in 
which  the  general  public  treated  the  cross-wearers  can  alone 
account  for  the  weight  which  those  under  this  penalty  attached 
to  it.  "  It  was  always  considered  very  shameful."  At  Augsburg, 
in  1393,  for  seventy  gold  gulden,  the  wearing  of  crosses  could 
be  escaped.* 

259.  Confiscation.  Another  penalty  of  frightful  effect  was 
confiscation.  As  soon  as  a  man  was  arrested  for  heresy,  his 
property  was  sequestrated  and  inventoried.  His  family  was 
thrown  on  the  street.  It  was  out  of  the  Roman  law  that  "pope 
and  king  drew  the  weapons  which  rendered  the  pursuit  of  heresy 
attractive  and  profitable."  "The  church  cannot  escape  the 
responsibility  of  naturalizing  this  penalty  in  European  law  as  a 
punishment  for  spiritual  transgressions."  ^  "  It  would  be  difficult 
to  estimate  the  amount  of  human  misery  arising  from  this  source 
alone."  "The  threats  of  coercion  which  at  first  were  necessary 
to  induce  the  temporal  princes  to  confiscate  the  property  of  their 
heretical  subjects  soon  became  superfluous,  and  history  has  few 
displays  of  man's  eagerness  to  profit  by  his  fellow's  misfortunes 
more  deplorable  than  that  of  the  vultures  which  followed  in  the 

1  Lea,  Inqiiis.,  I,  467.  ^  /^;,/.,  464,  467-470.  ^  Lea,  Inqiiis.,  I,  501. 

2  Ibid.,  470.  •*  Flade,  Iiiqiiisitionsverfahreii,  iii. 


252  FOLKWAYS 

wake  of  the  Inquisition  to  batten  on  the  ruin  which  it  wrought." 
In  Italy  the  confiscated  property  was  divided  into  three  parts  by 
the  pope's  order.  One  part  went  to  the  Inquisition  for  its  ex- 
penses, one  part  to  the  papal  camera,  and  one  part  to  the  civil 
authority.  Later,  the  civil  authority  generally  got  nothing. 
About  1335  a  Franciscan  bishop  of  Silva  "reproached  those  of 
his  brethren  who  act  as  inquisitors  with  their  abuse  of  the  funds 
accruing  to  the  Holy  Office.  .  .  .  The  inquisitors  monopolized 
the  whole,  spent  it  on  themselves,  or  enriched  their  kindred  at 
their  pleasure."  "Avarice  joined  hands  with  fanaticism,  and 
between  them  they  supplied  motive  power  for  a  hundred  years 
of  fierce,  unremitting,  unrelenting  persecution  which,  in  the  end, 
accomplished  its  main  purpose."  The  confiscations  did  not  con- 
cern the  populace.  They  furnished  the  motive  of  the  great  to 
support  the  administration  of  the  Inquisition. ^  "  Persecution,  as  a 
steady  and  continuous  policy,  rested,  after  all,  upon  confiscation. 
It  was  this  which  supplied  the  fuel  to  keep  up  the  fires  of  zeal, 
and  when  it  was  lacking  the  business  of  defending  the  faith 
languished  lamentably.  When  katharism  disappeared  under  the 
brilliant  aggressiveness  of  Bernard  Gui,  the  culminating  point  of 
the  Inquisition  was  passed,  and  thenceforth  it  steadily  declined, 
although  still  there  were  occasional  confiscated  estates  over  which 
king,  prelate,  and  noble  quarreled  for  some  years  to  come."  ^  "  The 
earnest  endeavors  of  the  inquisitors  were  directed  much  more  to 
obtaining  conversions  with  confiscations  and  betrayal  of  friends 
than  to  provoking  martyrdoms.  .  .  .  The  really  effective  weapons 
of  the  Holy  Office,  the  real  curses  with  which  it  afflicted  the 
people,  can  be  looked  for  in  its  dungeons  and  its  confiscations,  in 
the  humiliating  penances  of  the  saffron  crosses,  and  in  the  invisi- 
ble police  with  which  it  benumbed  the  heart  and  soul  of  every 
man  who  had  once  fallen  into  its  hands. "^  It  is  evident  that  these 
means  of  tormenting  and  coercing  dissenters  went  much  further 
to  cause  them  to  disappear  than  autos-de-fe  and  other  executions. 
The  selection  of  those  who  submitted,  or  played  the  hypocrite, 
was  accomplished  in  the  fifteenth  century. 

1  Lea,  Inqiiis.,  I,  511-513,  519-521,  533- 

2  Ibid.,  529.  3  Ibid.,  551 


SOCIETAL  SELECTION  253 

260.  Operation  of  the  Inquisition.  The  Inquisition  acted  effect- 
ively. It  kept  detailed  records  and  pursued  its  victims  to  the 
third  generation.^  It  covered  Europe  with  a  network  of  reports 
which  would  rival  the  most  developed  modern  police  systems, 
"  putting  the  authorities  on  the  alert  to  search  for  every  stranger 
who  wore  the  air  of  one  differing  in  Ufe  and  conversation  from 
the  ordinary  run  of  the  faithful."  "To  human  apprehension, 
the  papal  Inquisition  was  well-nigh  ubiquitous,  omniscient,  and 
omnipotent."  Inquisitors  were  set  free  from  all  rules  which  had 
been  found  necessary  to  save  judges  from  judicial  error,2and  the 
formularies  to  guide  inquisitors  inculcated  chicane,  terrorism,  decep- 
tion, and  brow-beating,  and  an  art  of  entangling  the  accused  in 
casuistry  and  dialectics.  A  new  crime  was  invented  for  the  cases 
in  which  confession  could  not  be  obtained  :  suspicion  of  heresy, 
which  had  three  degrees,  "light,"  "vehement,"  and  "violent." 
Even  papal  decretals  which  restrained  the  effort  to  destroy  the 
accused  could  be  set  aside. ^  Thus  the  Inquisition  cooperated  with 
the  criminal  law.  It  operated  on  the  society  of  Christendom  for 
ten  or  twelve  generations  a  selection  of  those  who  would  submit 
and  obey,  and  an  elimination  of  those  who  dissented. 

261.  Success  of  the  Inquisition.  That  the  Inquisition  succeeded 
in  its  purpose  is  certain.  It  forced  at  least  external  conformity 
and  silence,  especially  of  the  masses.  The  heterodoxy  of  the 
Middle  Ages  "  is  divisible  into  two  currents,  of  which  one,  called 
the  'eternal  gospel,'  includes  the  mystical  and  communistic 
sects  which,  starting  from  Joachim  de  Florus,  after  having  filled 
the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries  .  .  .  u^as  carried  on,  in  the 
fourteenth,  by  the  German  mystics  ;  the  other,  summed  up  in  the 
blasphemy  that  there  had  been  three  great  impostors  [Moses, 
Jesus,  and  Mohammed],  represents  materialistic  infidelity,  due  to 
a  study  of  the  Arabs,  and  skulking  under  the  name  of  Averroes."  * 
Of  these  two  schools  of  heretics  the  former  was  the  more  popular 
and  tenacious.  It  is  not  to  be  understood  that  the  masses  ever 
recognized  their  own  handiwork  in  the  Inquisition,  or  the  popes  of 
the  fifteenth  century.    On  the  contrary,  the  sequence  goes  on  to 

1  Lea,  Inqiiis.,  I,  366.  ^  Ibid.,  364-366,  405,  433,  493;  II,  96. 

2  Ibid.,  405.  *  Renan,  Averroes,  292. 


254  FOLKWAYS 

the  fourth  stage  in  which  the  masses,  seeing  the  operation  of 
ambition,  venahty,  and  despotism  in  the  officers  of  the  institution 
created  to  meet  a  popular  demand,  denounce  it  and  turn  against 
it  to  destroy  it. 

262.  Torture  in  civil  and  ecclesiastical  trials.  (See  sec.  237  £f.)  In  the 
course  of  its  work  the  Inquisition  had  introduced  torture  into  the  administra- 
tion of  Christian  justice  and  into  the  mores.  The  jurists  were  all  corrupted 
by  it.  They  supposed  that,  without  torture,  no  crimes  could  be  detected  or 
punished,  and  this  opinion  ruled  the  administration  of  justice  on  the  conti- 
nent until  the  eighteenth  century.^  Lea  finds  the  earliest  instances  of  legal 
torture  in  the  Veronese  Code  of  1228,  and  in  the  Sicilian  Constitutions  of 
1 23 1  ;  —  work  of  the  rationalist  emperor,  Frederick  1 1,  but  it  was  "  sparingly 
and  hesitatingly  employed."  Innocent  IV  adopted  it  in  1252,  but  only 
secular  authorities  were  to  use  it.  This  was  to  save  the  sanctity  of  ecclesia.s- 
tics.  In  1256  Alexander  IV,  "with  characteristic  indirection,"  authorized 
inquisitors  and  their  associates  to  absolve  each  other,  and  grant  dispensa- 
tions for  irregularities.  This  gave  them  absolute  liberty,  and  they  could 
inflict  or  supervise  torture.^  There  were  other  "  poses,"  such  as  the  prohibi- 
tion to  shed  blood,  i.e.  to  break  the  skin,  and  the  rule  to  ask  the  civil  power, 
when  surrendering  the  victim  to  it,  not  to  proceed  to  extremes,  although  it  was 
bound  to  burn  the  victim.  As  the  system  continued  in  practice  its  methods, 
were  refined  and  its  experts  were  trained.  Any  one  who  was  charged  must 
be  convicted  if  possible.  The  torture  produced  permanent  crippling  or 
maiming.  It  would  not  do  to  release  any  one  so  marked  with  the  investiga- 
tion and  then  acquitted.  Hence  more  and  more  frightful  measures  became 
necessary.  Nevertheless  cases  occurred  in  which  the  accused  held  out  beyond 
the  power  of  the  persecutors.^  At  Bamberg,  in  161 4,  a  woman  seventy- four 
years  old  endured  torture  up  to  the  third  grade.  After  three  quarters  of  an 
hour  on  the  "  Bock  "  she  fell  dead.  The  verdict  was  that  she  had  cleared 
herself,  by  enduring  the  torture,  of  the  "  evidence  "  against  her,  and  would 
have  been  freed  if  she  had  lived.  She  was  to  have  Christian  burial,  and  a 
document  attesting  this  finding  was  to  be  given  to  her  husband  and  children. 
Some  jurists  of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  were  led  to  doubt 
about  torture,  but  they  almost  all  agreed  that  it  was  necessary  "  in  some 
cases."  These  were  the  reformers  who  were  careful  not  to  be  extremists. 
We  are  told  that  Peter  of  Ravenna,  in  151 1,  urged  the  abolition  of  torture, 
and  that  Louis  Vivez,  a  Spaniard,  took  the  same  position  a  little  later. 
Neither  won  any  attention.*  In  the  Carolina,  Charles  V's  law  book  of  1532, 
which  was  in  general  savage  in  its  penalties,  torture  was  to  be  applied  only 

1  Lea,  Inqiiis.,  I,  560.  ^  Ibid.,  421. 

3  Cases  given  by  Janssen,  Gesch.  d.  Deutscheii  Volkes,  VIII,  629. 
*  Janssen,  VIII,  467. 


SOCIETAL  SELECTION 


255 


in  cases  punishable  by  death  or  life  imprisonment,  and  only  on  strong  prima 
facie  evidence  of  guilt.  Confession  under  torture  was  to  have  no  weight 
unless  conlirmed  after  an  interval.  These  restrictions  were  not  observed  in 
practice.^  There  are  very  many  cases  on  record  in  which  it  was  afterwards 
proved  that  many  persons  had  suffered  torture  and  cruel  execution,  upon  con- 
fession, who  were  innocent  of  all  crime. ^ 

263.  The  selection  accomplished.  Thus  the  apparatus  and 
devices  for  putting  down  dissent  and  enforcing  submission  to 
such  authority  as  the  great  number  were  wilhng  to  recognize 
had  attained  a  superficial  success.  Opposition  was  silenced. 
Dissent  was  made  so  dangerous  that  no  one  dared  express  it, 
except  here  and  there  a  hero,  and  outward  conformity  to  church 
discipline  was  almost  universal.  The  mores  also  underwent  influ- 
ence from  a  societal  power  which  was  great  and  pervading. 
The  external  and  artificial  character  of  the  conformity  was  so  well 
known  that  a  name  was  given  to  it,  —  imp licita  fides,  —  and  this 
was  discussed  as  to  its  nature  and  value.  The  mores  are  gravely 
affected  by  imp  licita  fides  when  it  is  held  by  a  great  number  of 
persons.^  The  selection  which  had  destroyed  honest  thinkers 
and  sincere  churchmen  had  cultivated  a  class  of  smooth  hypo- 
crites and  submissive  cowards.  In  the  fifteenth  century  the 
whole  of  Christendom  had  accepted  the  church  system  with  its 
concepts  of  welfare  and  its  dictates  of  duty,  and  had  adopted 
the  ritual  means  of  holiness  and  salvation  which  it  prescribed. 
In  fact,  at  no  other  time  were  men  ever  so  busy  as  then  with 
"good  works,"  or  so  fussy  about  church  ritual.  Everybody  was 
anxious  not  to  be  a  heretic.  At  the  same  time  the  whole  medi- 
aeval system  was  falling  to  pieces,  and  the  inventions  and  dis- 
coveries were  disproving  all  received  and  approved  ideas  about 
the  world  and  welfare  in  it.  Gross  sensuality  and  carnal  lust  got 
possession  of  society,  and  the  church  system  was  an  independent 
system  of  balancing  accounts  with  the  other  world.  The  theater 
declined  into  obscenity  and  coarseness,  and  the  popular  pulpit 
was  hardly  better.*    The  learned  world  was  returning  to  classical 

^  Scherr,  Kultiirgesch.  Deiitschlands,  624  ;  Janssen,  Gesch.  d.  Deutschen  Volkes, 
VIII,  467.  2  Janssen,  VIII,  467. 

3  Hamack,  Dogmengesch.,  Ill,  453. 
*  Lenient,  La  Satire  en  France,  309,  315. 


256  FOLKWAYS 

paganism.  The  popes  had  their  children  in  the  Vatican  and 
publicly  married  them  there.  Under  Sextus  IV  the  courtesans 
at  Rome  paid  a  tax  which  produced  20,000  ducats  per  annum. 
Prelates  owned  brothels.  Innocent  VIII  tried  to  stop  the  scandal. 
In  1490  his  vicar  published  an  edict  against  all  concubinage,  but 
the  pope  forced  him  to  recall  it  because  all  ecclesiastics  had  con- 
cubines. There  were  6800  public  meretrices  at  Rome  besides 
private  ones  and  concubines.  Concubinage  was  really  tolerated, 
subject  to  the  payment  of  an  amercement.^  The  proceedings 
under  Alexander  VI  were  only  the  culmination  of  the  license 
taken  by  men  who  were  irresponsible  masters  of  the  w^orld,  and 
who  showed  the  insanity  of  despotism  just  as  the  Roman  emperors 
did.^  The  church  had  broken  down  under  the  reaction  of  its 
own  efforts  to  rule  the  world.  It  had  made  moral  hypocrisy  and 
religious  humbug  characteristic  of  Christians,  for  he  who  indulges 
in  sensual  vice  and  balances  it  off  by  ritual  devices  is  morally 
subject  to  the  deepest  corruption  of  character.  The  church 
system  had  corrupted  the  mores  by  adding  casuistry  and  dialectic 
smartness  to  the  devices  for  regulating  conduct  and  satisfying 
interests.  The  men  of  the  Renaissance,  especially  in  Italy,  acted 
always  from  passionate  motives  and  went  to  great  excess.  Their 
only  system  of  conduct  was  success  in  what  they  wanted  to  do, 
and  so  they  were  often  heroes  of  crime.  Yet  they  all  conformed 
to  church  ritual  and  discipline. 

264.  A  great  undertaking  like  the  suppression  of  dissent  by 
force  and  cruelty  cannot  be  carried  out  in  a  great  group  of 
states  without  local  differentiation  and  variation.  To  close  the 
story,  it  is  worth  while  to  notice  these  variations  in  England, 
Spain,  and  Venice. 

265.  Torture  in  England.  The  Inquisition  cannot  be  said  to  have  existed 
in  the  British  Islands  or  Scandinavia.  The  laws  of  Frederick  II  had  no 
authority  there.  In  England,  in  1400,  the  death  penalty  for  heresy  was 
introduced  by  the  statute  de  her-eiico  coi/iburendo.  In  1414  a  mixed  tribunal 
of  ecclesiastics  and  laymen  was  established  to  search  out  heretics  and  punish 
them.    It  was  employed  to  suppress  Lollardry.    Under  Edward  VI  these 

1  Burchard,  Diarium,  II,  442. 

2  See  Burchard,  III,  167,  227. 


SOCIETAL  SELECTION  257 

laws  were  repealed  ;  under  Mary  they  were  renewed.  In  the  first  Parliament 
of  Elizabeth  they  were  repealed  again,  except  the  statute  of  1400,  which  was 
repealed  in  1676,  when  Charles  II  wanted  toleration  for  Roman  Catholics. 
Then  the  ecclesiastical  courts  were  restricted  to  ecclesiastical  penalties.^ 
Torture  was  never  legal  in  England.  The  use  of  it  was  pushed  to  the  great- 
est extreme  when  Clement  V  and  Philip  the  Fair  were  seeking  evidence 
against  the  templars.  Then  the  pope  wrote  a  fatherly  letter  of  expostulation 
to  Edward  of  England,  because  of  the  lack  of  this  engine  in  his  dominions.'^ 
Cases  of  torture  no  doubt  occurred.  The  star  chamber  had  an  inquisitorial 
process  in  which  the  rack  seems  to  have  been  used.  Barbaro,  a  Venetian 
ambassador  in  the  sixteenth  century,  reported  the  non-use  of  torture  as  an 
interesting  fact  in  English  mores.  He  says  the  English  think  that  it  often 
forces  untrue  confession,  that  it  "  spoils  the  body  and  an  innocent  life  ;  think- 
ing, moreover,  that  it  is  better  to  release  a  criminal  than  to  punish  an  innocent 
man."  ^  From  the  thirteenth  century  it  was  forbidden  to  keep  a  prisoner  in 
chains.  In  other  countries  this  was  the  rule,  and  ingenuity  was  expended  to 
fasten  the  prisoner  in  a  most  uncomfortable  position.*  The  last  case  of  the 
rack  in  the  star  chamber  was  that  of  Peacham,  in  1614.*  The  last  execution 
for  heresy  in  the  British  Islands  was  that  of  a  medical  student  at  Edinburgh, 
eighteen  years  of  age,  named  Aikenhead,  in  1696.^  The  greatest  cruelty  in 
England  was  "  pressing  "  prisoners  to  compel  them  to  plead  because,  if  they 
did  not  plead,  the  trial  could  not  go  on. 

It  follows  that  the  repressive  system  of  the  mediaeval  church  did  not  pro- 
duce effects  on  the  mores  in  England. 

266.  The  Spanish  Inquisition.  The  Spanish  Inquisition  is  an  offshoot 
and  development  of  that  of  the  mediaeval  church.  The  latter  was  started  in 
Aragon  and  Navarre  in  1238.''  In  the  latter  half  of  the  fourteenth  century 
Eymerich  (author  of  the  Directoriutii  Jnqnisitorum')  conducted  an  inquisition 
in  Aragon  against  Jews  and  Moors.  In  Castile,  in  1400,  an  inquisition  was 
in  activity.'^  None  of  these  efforts  produced  a  permanent  establishment.  In 
the  reign  of  Isabella,  Cardinal  Mendoza  organized  the  Inquisition  as  a  state 
institution  to  establish  the  throne.**  The  king  named  the  inquisitors,  who  need 
not  be  ecclesiastics.  The  confiscated  property  of  "  heretics  "  fell  to  the  state. 
Ecclesiastics  were  subject  to  the  tribunal.  The  church  long  withheld  approval 
from  this  inquisition,  because  it  was  political  in  origin  and  purpose,  and  was 
created  outside  the  church  organization  and  without  church  authorization. 
The  populace  also  opposed  it.  This  union  of  church  and  populace  forced 
the   grandees   to   support   it.^"    The  punishments   "  implied   confiscation  of 

^  Lea,  Inqtiis.,  I,  352. 

2  Ibid.,  Ill,  300  ;   Schotmiiller,  Untergaiig  det-  Templer,  I,  388. 

3  Venetian  Atnbass.,  I,  11,  233.  "^  Hansen,  Zaiiberwahn,  etc.,  338. 
*  Lea,  Inqnis.,  I,  488.  8  /^/a'.,  33S. 

5  Inderwick,  The  King's  Peace,  172.  ^  Lea,  Inqtiis.  in  Spain,  158. 

6  Lea,  Inquis.,  I,  352.  10  Heyer,  Priesie?-scha/t  and  Inquis.,  42. 


258  FOLKWAYS 

property.  Thus  whole  families  were  orphaned  and  consigned  to  penury. 
Penitence  in  public  carried  with  it  social  infamy,  loss  of  civil  rights  and 
honors,  intolerable  conditions  of  ecclesiastical  surveillance,  and  heavy 
pecuniary  fines.  Penitents  who  had  been  reconciled  returned  to  society  in 
a  far  more  degraded  condition  than  convicts  released  on  ticket  of  leave. 
The  stigma  attached  in  perpetuity  to  the  posterity  of  the  condemned,  whose 
names  were  conspicuously  emblazoned  upon  church  walls  as  foemen  to 
Christ  and  to  the  state."  ^  When  "  the  Spanish  viceroys  tried  to  introduce 
the  Spanish  Inquisition  at  Naples  and  Milan,  the  rebellious  people  received 
protection  and  support  from  the  papacy,  and  the  Holy  Office,  as  remodeled 
in  Rome,  became  a  far  less  awful  engine  of  oppression  than  that  of  Seville."  ^ 
The  Spanish  Inquisition  went  on  to  a  new  form,  free  from  papal  and  royal 
control  and  possessing  a  "  specific  organization."  ^  "  Like  the  ancient 
councils  of  the  time  of  the  Goths,  the  Inquisition  is  an  arm  which  serves,  in 
the  hands  of  the  monarch,  to  finish  the  subjugation  of  the  numerous  semi- 
feudal  nobles  created  by  the  conquest,  because  before  the  faith  there  are  no 
privileged  persons,  and  no  one  is  sheltered  from  the  ire  of  the  terrible  tribu- 
nal. Its  intervention  is  so  absolute,  and  its  dedication  to  its  function  so 
extravagant,  that,  rendering  itself  more  Catholic  than  the  pope,  it  usurps  his 
authority  and  revolts  against  the  orders  of  the  pontiff,  giving  to  the  peninsular 
church  the  character  of  a  national  church,  with  the  king  at  the  head  as 
pontiff,  and  the  inquisitor  by  his  side  as  chief  prelate."  *  The  peculiar  char- 
acter of  the  Spanish  Inquisition  as  a  state  institution  and  a  civil  engine 
should  never  be  forgotten.  It  was  very  different  from  the  papal  Inquisition. 
The  creature  also  ruled  its  creator,  for  it  controlled  the  state  in  the  direction 
of  its  own  institutional  character  and  purposes.  The  Spanish  Inquisition, 
therefore,  offers  us  the  extreme  development  of  the  movement  which  started 
in  the  popular  tastes,  ideas,  and  wishes  of  the  twelfth  century,  when  it  was 
employed  for  the  selfish  purposes  of  rulers.  It  presents  the  extreme  case  of 
a  positive  institution,  born  from  the  mores  and  winning  independent 
power  and  authority  over  all  interests.  It  very  deeply  affected  Spanish 
mores.    It  had  no  great  effect  of  societal  selection. 

267.  Inquisition  in  Venice.  The  Inquisition  in  Venice  took  on  a  form 
which  was  to  some  extent  peculiar.  The  Venetian  political  system  was 
secret,  suspicious,  and  despotic.  It  would  not  admit  any  interference  from 
outside.  Venice  always  pretended  to  hold  off  church  authority.  In  fact,  how- 
ever, she  could  not  maintain  this  attitude.  The  Inquisition  won  control  of 
many  subjects  beyond  heresy  or  only  constructively  heresy.^  Fra  Paolo  Sarpi  ^ 
made  a  collection  of  Venetian  laws  which  show  the  jealousy  of  ecclesiastical 
interference,  or  which  nullified  the  ordinances  made  in  Rome.  "  The  position 
of  the  republic  was  indefensible  under  the  public  law  of  the  period.    It  was 

1  Symonds,  Catholic  Reaction,  I,  185.  ^  /bid,^  igg.  8  Jbici.,  179. 

*  Oliveira  Martins,  Civilisaifao  Iberica,  268. 

^  Symonds,  Catholic  Reaction,  I,  205.  ^  Opere,  IV,  7  ff. 


SOCIETAL  SELECTION  259 

so  administering  its  own  laws  as  to  afford  an  asylum  to  a  class  universally 
proscribed,  and  refusing  to  allow  the  church  to  apply  the  only  remedy 
deemed  appropriate  to  this  crying  evil.  It  therefore  yielded  to  the  inevitable, 
but  in  a  manner  to  preserve  its  own  autonomy  and  independence."  '^  "  The 
truth  is  that,  in  regard  both  to  the  Holy  Office  and  the  index,  Venice  was 
never  strong  enough  to  maintain  the  independence  which  she  voted."  ^  In 
1573  Paolo  Veronese  was  summoned  by  the  Holy  Office  to  explain  and  justify 
his  picture  of  the  Supper,  now  in  the  Louvre.  He  had  put  in  a  man  at  arms, 
a  greyhound,  and  other  figures  which  the  inquisitors  thought  irrelevant  and 
unlit.  He  was  ordered  to  change  the  picture  within  three  months.  He  put 
Magdalen  in  the  place  of  the  greyhound.^  It  is  impossible  to  make  a  definite 
statement  of  the  results  of  the  Venetian  effort  to  resist  the  church  system, 
but  that  such  an  effort  was  made  in  Italy  is  an  important  historical  fact. 

268.  Use  of  the  Inquisition  for  political  and  personal  purposes.  In  spite 
of  the  religiosity  of  the  age  there  were  princes  and  factions  which  cared  more 
for  political  power  than  for  theological  questions.  When  the  power  of  the 
Inquisition  was  established  many  ecclesiastical  and  civil  persons  desired  to 
employ  its  agency  for  their  personal  or  party  ends.  Boniface  VIII,  in  the 
bull  Unatn  Sanctam,  laid  down  in  full  force  the  doctrine  of  papal  supremacy 
and  independence.  Any  one  who  resisted  the  power  lodged  by  God  in  the 
church  resisted  God,  unless,  like  the  Manich^eans,  he  believed  in  two  princi- 
ples, in  which  case  he  was  a  heretic.  If  the  pope  errs,  he  can  be  judged  by 
God  alone.  There  is  no  earthly  appeal.  "  We  say,  declare,  define,  and  pro- 
nounce, that  it  is  necessary  to  salvation  that  every  human  creature  be  sub- 
jected to  the  Roman  pontiff."  "  It  was  soon  perceived  that  an  accusation  of 
heresy  was  a  peculiarly  easy  and  efficient  method  of  attacking  a  political 
enemy."*  John  XXII,  in  his  quarrel  with  Visconti,  trumped  up  charges  of 
heresy  which  won  public  opinion  away  from  Visconti,  disassociated  his 
friends,  and  ruined  him.  Heresy  and  damnation  were  used  to  and  fro,  as 
interest  dictated,  and  only  for  policy.^  This  is  the  extreme  development  of 
the  action  against  dissenters  in  its  third  stage,  the  abuse  of  power  for  selfish 
purposes.  "  Heretic "  became  an  epithet  of  immense  power  in  factional 
quarrels,  and  the  Inquisition  was  a  weapon  which  any  one  could  use  who 
could  seize  it.  Hence  effects  on  the  mores  were  produced  in  an  age  when 
factions  were  numerous  and  their  quarrels  constant.  In  these  cases,  however, 
the  selectional  effect  was  only  against  the  personal  enemies  of  the  powerful, 
and  was  not  a  societal  effect  at  all. 

269.  We  have  distinguished  four  stages  in  the  story  of  the 
attempt  to  establish  rehgious  uniformity  under  papal  control  in 

1  Lea,  Inqiiis.,  II,  250.  '  Yriarte,  Patricien  de  Venise,  162,  439. 

2  Symonds,  Catholic  Reactio7i,  I,  207.       *  Lea,  Inquis.,  Ill,  1 91-192,  238. 

5  Ibid.,  198.  Collected  cases  in  Fra  Paolo  Sarpi,  Delia  Inquis.  de  Venezia,  Opere, 
IV,  24. 


26o  FOLKWAYS 

the  Middle  Ages.  I.  The  church  taught  doctrines  and  alleged 
facts  about  the  wickedness  of  aberrant  opinions.  II.  The  masses, 
accepting  these  teachings,  built  deductions  upon  them,  and  drew 
inferences  as  to  the  proper  treatment  of  dissenters.  They  put 
the  inferences  in  effect  by  lynching  acts.  III.  The  leaders  of 
society  accepted  the  leadership  of  these  popular  movements,  and 
the  church  went  on  to  teach  hatred  of  dissenters  and  extreme 
abuse  of  them.  It  elevated  persecution  to  a  theory  of  social  wel- 
fare by  the  extermination  of  dissenters,  reduced  the  views  and 
notions  of  the  masses  to  dogmas,  and  led  in  selection  by  murder. 
IV.  These  ideas  and  practices  were  then  vulgarized  by  the 
masses  again.  Trial  by  torture,  bloody  executions,  and  finally 
witchcraft  persecutions  were  the  results  in  the  next  stage. 
Witchcraft  persecutions  were  not  selective.  They  are  well  worth 
study  as  the  greatest  illustration  of  the  degree  of  aberration 
which  the  mores  may  undergo,  but  they  lie  aside  from  the  pres- 
ent topic.  In  savage  life  alleged  witchcraft  is  punished  with 
great  torture  and  a  painful  death,^  but  nothing  of  the  kind  is 
found  in  any  of  the  great  religions  except  Latin  Christianity. 

1  Fritsch,  Eingeb.  Sild-Afr.,  99. 


CHAPTER  VI 

SLAVERY 

Origin  and  motives.  —  Slavery  taught  steady  labor.  —  Servitude  of  group 
to  group.  —  Slavery  and  polygamy.  —  Some  men  serve  others.  —  Freedom  and 
equality.  —  Figurative  use  of  "  slave."  —  Ethnography  of  slavery. . — •  Family 
slavery.  —  Slavery  amongst  North  American  savages.  —  Slavery  in  South 
America.  —  Slavery  in  Polynesia  and  Melanesia.  —  Slavery  in  the  East 
Indies.  —  Slavery  in  Asia.  —  Slavery  in  Japan.  —  Slavery  in  higher  civiliza- 
tion. —  Slavery  amongst  Jews.  —  Slavery  in  the  classical  states.  —  Slavery 
at  Rome.  —  Slave  revolts.  —  Later  Roman  slavery .  —  Slaves  in  the  civil  wars  ; 
clientage.  —  Manumission.  Natural  liberty.  —  Slavery  as  represented  in  the 
inscriptions.  —  Rise  of  freedom  in  industry.  —  Freedmen  in  the  state.  — 
Philosophers  opponents  of  slavery. —  The  industrial  colleges.  —  Laws  changed 
in  favor  of  slaves.  —  Christianity  and  slavery.  —  The  colonate.  —  Depopula- 
tion.—  Summary  view  of  Roman  slavery.  —  The  Therapeuts.  —  Slavery 
amongst  the  Germanic  nations.  —  The  sale  of  children.  —  Slavery  and  the 
state.  —  Slavery  in  Europe.     Italy  in  the  Middle  Ages.  —  Slavery  in  France. 

—  Slavery  in  Islam.  —  Review  of  slavery  in  Islam.  —  Slavery  in  England. 

—  Slavery  in  America.  —  Colonial  slaver)^  — Slavery  preferred  by  slaves.  — 
The  future  of  slavery.  —  Relation  of  slavery  to  the  mores  and  to  ethics. 

270.  Origin  and  motives.  Slavery  is  a  thing  in  the  mores 
which  is  not  well  covered  by  our  definition.  Slavery  does  not 
arise  in  the  folkways  from  the  unconscious  experimentation  of 
individuals  who  have  the  same  need  which  they  desire  to  satisfy, 
and  who  try  in  separate  acts  to  do  it  as  well  as  they  can.  It  is 
rather  due  to  ill  feeling  towards  members  of  an  out-group,  to 
desire  to  get  something  for  nothing,  to  the  love  of  dominion 
which  belongs  to  vanity,  and  to  hatred  of  labor.  "The  simple 
wish  to  use  the  bodily  powers  of  another  person,  as  a  means  of 
ministering  to  one's  own  ease  or  pleasure,  is  doubtless  the  foun- 
dation of  slavery,  and  as  old  as  human  nature."  ^  "There  is  an 
extraordinary  power  of  tyranny  invested  in  the  chiefs  of  tribes 
and  nations  of  men  that  so  vastly  outweighs  the  analogous 
power  possessed  by  the  leaders  of  animal  herds  as  to  rank  as  a 

1  Maine,  Anc.  Law,  164. 
261 


262  FOLKWAYS 

special  attribute  of  human  society,  eminently  conducive  to  slav- 
ishness."  ^  The  desire  to  get  ease  or  other  good  by  the  labor  of 
another,  and  the  incidental  gratification  to  vanity,  seem  to  be  the 
fundamental  principles  in  slavery,  when  philosophically  regarded, 
after  the  rule  of  one  man  over  others  has  become  established. 
The  whole  group,  however,  must  approve  of  the  custom  and 
must  enforce  it ;  otherwise  it  cannot  exist.  It  appears  that  slav- 
ery began  historically  with  the  war  captive,  if  he  or  she  was  not 
put  to  death,  as  he  was  liable  to  be  by  the  laws  of  war.  Those 
laws  put  the  defeated,  with  his  wife,  children,  and  property,  at 
the  mercy  of  the  victors.  The  defeated  might  be  tortured  to 
death,  as  was  done  amongst  the  North  American  Indians,  or 
they  might  be  saved  from  death  by  the  women.  Then  they  were 
put  to  help  the  women  and  were  rated  as  women.  Slavery, 
therefore,  in  its  origin,  was  a  humanitarian  improvement  in  the 
laws  of  war,  and  an  alleviation  of  the  status  of  women.  It  seems 
to  be  established  that  it  began  where  the  economic  system  was 
such  that  there  was  a  gain  in  making  a  slave  of  a  war  captive 
instead  of  killing  him.  It  follows  that  slavery,  wherever  it  has 
existed,  has  affected  all  the  mores  of  the  society.  It  promised 
great  results  gratis.  It  will  appear  below  that  it  has  been 
a  terrible  afrit,  a  demon  which  promised  service  but  which 
became  a  master.  When  adopted  into  the  folkways  it  has  dom- 
inated and  given  tone  and  color  to  them  all.  That  is  the  reason 
for  giving  it  a  place  here. 

271.  Slavery  taught  steady  labor.  It  seems  to  be  also  right 
to  understand  that  slavery  proved  to  be  a  great  schoolmaster  to 
teach  men  steady  work.  If  that  view  is  correct,  we  must  under- 
stand that  no  men  would  do  any  hard,  persistent  work  if  they 
could  help  it.  The  defeated  were  forced  to  it,  and  learned  to 
submit  to  it.  Then  they  helped  the  whole  society  up  to  a  higher 
status,  in  which  they  also  shared.^  Von  Gotzen  gives  some 
proof  of  this  when  he  states  that  he  and  his  troop  of  carriers  sat 
by  the  camp  fire  evenings  and  that  one  after  another  told  his 
life.  "  Nearly  all  had  been,  as  children,  brought  from  the  inner 
country  to  the  coast  by  slave  dealers.    Now  they  were  proud  of 

1  Galton,  Hutnan  Faculty^  79.  .  2  Gumplowicz,  Soziologie,  121. 


SLAVERY  263 

this  slavery,  proud  of  belonging  to  the  *  cultivated  '  and  of  not 
being  any  longer  '  wild  '  men."  ^  In  that  view  slavery  is  a  part 
of  the  discipline  by  which  the  human  race  has  learned  how  to 
carry  on  the  industrial  organization.  There  are  some  tasks  which 
have  been  very  hard  and  very  disagreeable.  Comrades  in  an 
in-group  have  never  forced  these  on  each  other.  It  seemed  to  be 
good  fun,  as  well  as  wise  policy,  to  make  members  of  a  rival  out- 
group  do  these  tasks,  after  defeating  them  in  war.  For  women  the 
grinding  of  seeds  (grain)  always  was  a  heavy  burden  until  modern 
machinery  brought  natural  powers  to  do  it.  For  men  the  rowing 
of  boats  (galleys)  has  been  a  very  hard  kind  of  work.^  After 
slavery  came  to  exist  it  was  extended  to  other  cases,  even  to 
some  classes  of  cases  in  the  in-group.  Of  these  cases  the  first  was 
that  of  debt.  Amongst  the  Eveans  a  debtor  who  cannot  pay  is 
put  to  death.  This,  however,  is  a  very  exceptional  rule.^  The 
course  of  thought  is,  that  a  debtor  has  used  another  man's  prod- 
uct and  is  bound  to  replace  it.  He  therefore  falls  into  servi- 
tude to  his  creditor  in  fact,  whether  it  is  so  expressed  or  not. 
He  must  live  on  and  work  for  the  creditor.  Another  case  in 
which  slavery  was  introduced  was  that  of  crime.  The  criminal 
fell  under  obligations  of  restitution  of  value  to  an  individual  or 
to  the  whole  (chief).  Other  cases  of  extension  of  slavery  will 
appear  below.  We  have  many  cases  of  groups  exploited  by  other 
groups.  The  former  are  then  inferior  and  despised  groups  who 
are  tyrannized  over  by  others  who  have  beaten  them  in  war  or 
easily  could  do  so. 

272.  Servitude  of  group  to  group.  Agriculture  is  a  peaceful  occupation, 
the  pursuit  of  which  breeds  out  the  physical  strength  of  nomadism.  The 
cases  in  which  nomads  rule  over  tillers  belong,  in  general,  under  this  head, 
more  especially  because  such  a  difference  in  the  economy  of  life  produces 
mutual  contempt  and  hatred.    The  Israelites  entered  Canaan  as  nomads, 

1  Durch  Afrika,  207. 

2  Gumplowicz  {Soziol.,  iiS)  quotes  a  seventeenth-century  author  who  said  that 
high  wages  could  get  soldiers  and  sailors  for  a  galley,  but  not  oarsmen,  who 
would  allow  themselves  to  be  bound  by  a  chain,  bastinadoed,  etc.  Gumplowicz 
explains  that  if  the  galley  was  to  manceuver  with  exactitude,  chains,  the  bastinado, 
etc.,  must  be  used  to  regulate  the  service. 

^  Ratzel,  Volkerkunde,  I,  Introd.,  83. 


264  FOLKWAYS 

and  their  relation  to  the  Canaanites  was  that  which  is  here  described. 
Another  case  is  presented  by  the  smiths,  who  generally  appear  as  the  ear- 
liest handicraftsmen,  but  are  regarded  with  doubt  and  suspicion.  They 
are  not  slaves,  but  they  are  treated  as  outcasts.  Very  often,  in  case  of  con- 
quest by  an  invading  tribe,  the  smiths  remain  under  the  invaders  as  a  sub- 
ject and  despised  caste.  The  Masarva  are  descendants  of  Betchuanas  and 
Bushmen.  They  stand  in  a  relation  of  slaves  to  the  Betchuanas,  Matabele, 
and  Marutse,  in  whose  land  they  dwell,  except  that  they  may  not  be  sold.^ 
The  Vaganda  are  subject  to  the  Vahuma.^  The  latter  keep  out  of  sight, 
being  inferior  in  civilization  but  greater  in  power.  Von  Gotzen  also  met 
with  the  Vahuma  as  rulers  over  the  Vahuta,i.e.  "belongers,"  as  they  called 
them.'^  The  Arabs  hold  the  negroes  of  Borku  in  subjection  and  rob  them 
of  the  date  harvest.*  In  other  parts  of  the  same  district  a  nomad  section 
rules  over  a  settled  section  of  the  same  population.^  Nomads  hold  them- 
selves to  be  the  proper  ones  to  rule.**  The  Hyksos's  invasion  of  Egypt  is 
a  case  of  the  subjection  of  tillers  by  nomads,  attended  by  all  the  contempt 
of  men  on  one  grade  of  civilized  effort  for  those  on  another.''  The  com- 
bination of  the  two,  the  nomads  forming  the  ruling  caste  of  military  nobles, 
forms  a  strong  state. ^  The  Tuaregs  of  the  Sahara  do  not  allow  the  inhab- 
itants of  Kauar  to  raise  vegetables  or  grains,  but  force  them  to  buy  the  same 
of  them  (the  Tuaregs),  which  they  bring  to  them  from  the  Sudan  to  buy 
salt,  which  the  Kauar  dwellers  must  have  ready. ^  The  Akarnanians,  in  1350, 
sold  themselves  to  the  barbarians,  in  a  body,  in  order  to  escape  want.^°  The 
Masai  are  another  group  of  warriors  and  raiders.  The  Varombutta  do  their 
hunting  and  tilling  for  them.^^  The  Makololo  hold  the  Makalaka  in  similar 
serfdom,  but  the  subjection  is  easy  and  the  servitude  light,  because  the  sub- 
ject individuals  can  easily  run  away.^'-  The  Hupa  of  California  hold  their 
neighbors  in  similar  subjection  and  in  tributary  servitude. ■'^^  Other  cases 
are  furnished  by  the  Vanyambo,  west  of  the  Victoria  Nyassa,^*  and  the 
Djur,  who  long  served  the  Nubians  as  smiths. ^^  It  gives  us  pleasure  to 
learn  that,  about  sixty  years  ago,  the  inferior  tribes  on  Uvea  (Tai),  of  the 
Loyalty  group,  revolted  against  the  dominant  tribe  and  nearly  exter- 
minated it.^'' 

1  Holub,  Mascliukalinnbe,  I,  477  ;  JAI,  X,  9.  .  ^  Ibid.,  104. 

2  Ratzel,  I,  477,  481.  ^  Ibid.,  I,  315. 

3  Diirch  Afrika,  162.  "^  Ratzel,  III,  91. 
*  Nachtigall,  Sahara  luid  Sicdaft,  II,  no.                                 ^  Ibid.,  7. 

9  Rohlfs,  Fete7-fnann's  Alittlgn,  Erg.  heft,  XXV,  23. 
1''  Cantacuzene,  Hist.,  IV,  20. 

11  JAI,  XXI,  380. 

12  Livingston,   Travels  in  South  Afi'ica,  I,  204. 

13  Synithson.  Rep.,  1886,  Part  I,  207. 
1*  Stuhlmann,  Mit  Etnin  Pascha,  242, 
15  Ratzel,  III,  143. 

IS  Austral.  Assoc.  Adv.  Sci.  1892,  634. 


SLAVERY  265 

273.  Slavery  and  polygamy.  Such  instances  show  us  the 
existence  in  human  nature  of  a  tendency  of  stronger  groups  to 
exploit  weaker  ones  in  the  struggle  for  existence ;  in  other 
words,  slavery  or  forced  labor  is  one  way  in  which,  in  elemen- 
tary civilization,  the  survival  of  the  fittest  group  is  brought 
about.  The  slavery  of  individuals  has  not  the  same  definite 
result  on  the  competition  of  life.  "  We  find  polygamy  and  slav- 
ery continually  at  work  dissolving  the  cohesion  of  old  political 
institutions  in  the  old  civilized  races  of  Asia  and  Africa.  In  an 
uncivilized  society,  like  that  of  Zululand,  they  prevent  such  cohe- 
sion ever  taking  place.  They  help  to  keep  the  Kaffir  tribes  in 
perpetual  unrest  and  barbarism,  by  destroying  the  germs  of  civil- 
ization and  preventing  its  growth."  ^  That  the  two  have  this 
effect  in  common  may  very  probably  be  true,  but  in  many  re- 
spects they  are  antagonistic  to  each  other.  Slavery  meets  the 
necessity  for  many  laborers  which  may  otherwise  be  a  cause  for 
polygamy.  Wherever  slavery  exists  it  affords  striking  illustra- 
tions of  the  tendency  of  the  mores  towards  consistency  with  each 
other,  and  that  means,  of  course,  their  tendency  to  cluster  around 
some  one  or  two  leading  ones.  Africa  now  furnishes  the  leading 
proofs  of  this.  The  negro  society  is  one  in  which  physical  force 
is  the  chief  deciding  element.  The  negroes  have  enslaved  each 
other  for  thousands  of  years.  Very  few  of  them  have  ever  become 
slaves  to  whites  without  having  been  previously  slaves  to  other 
riegroes.  In  1875  it  was  reckoned  that  twenty  thousand  persons, 
chiefly  women  and  children  whose  male  relatives  had  generally 
been  killed,  were  taken  into  slavery  from  around  Lake  Nyassa. 
The  difificulties  and  expense  of  the  slave  trade  in  that  region 
became  so  great  that  it  could  not  be  carried  on  except  by  alli- 
ance with  one  tribe  which  defeated  and  enslaved  another  and 
sold  the  survivors.  The  Arabs  opened  paths  for  ivory  hunting. 
The  slave  dealers  used  these  means  of  communication.  They 
established  garrisons  in  order  to  exploit  the  territory,  and  ended 
by  depopulating  it.^  Junker  argues  earnestly  against  the  impres- 
sion which  has  been  established  in  Europe  that  Arabs  are 
chiefly  to  blame  for  slavery.    "  There  are  places  in  Africa  where 

1  JAI,  XII,  266.  2  Ratzel,  I,  404  ;  III,  145  ff. 


266  FOLKWAYS 

three  men  cannot  be  sent  on  a  journey  together  for  fear  two  of 
them  may  combme  and  sell  the  third."  ^ 

274.  Some  men  serving  others.  Freedom  and  equality.  Fig- 
urative use  of  <<  slavery."  Must  we  infer,  then,  that  there  is  a 
social  necessity  that  some  men  must  serve  others  ?  In  the  New 
Testament  it  is  taught  that  willing  and  voluntary  service  of 
others  is  the  highest  duty  and  glory  of  human  life.  If  one  man's 
strength  is  spent  on  another  man's  struggle  for  existence,  the 
survival  of  the  former  in  the  competition  of  life  is  impaired. 
The  men  of  talent  are  constantly  forced  to  serve  the  rest.  They 
make  the  discoveries  and  inventions,  order  the  battles,  write  the 
books,  and  produce  the  works  of  art.  The  benefit  and  enjoyment 
go  to  the  whole.  There  are  those  who  joyfully  order  their  own 
lives  so  that  they  may  serve  the  welfare  of  mankind.  The  whole 
problem  of  mutual  service  is  the  great  problem  of  societal  organ- 
ization. Is  it  a  dream,  then,  that  all  men  should  ever  be  free 
and  equal  ?  It  is  at  least  evident  that  here  ethical  notions  have 
been  interjected  into  social  relations,  with  the  result  that  we 
have  been  taught  to  think  of  free  and  equal  units  willingly  serv- 
ing each  other.  That,  at  least,  is  an  idealistic  dream.  Yet  it  no 
more  follows  from  the  fact  that  slavery  has  done  good  work  in 
the  history  of  civilization  that  slavery  should  forever  endure 
than  it  follows  from  the  fact  that  war  has  done  good  work  in 
the  history  of  civilization  that  war  is,  in  itself,  a  good  thing. 
Slavery  alleviated  the  status  of  women  ;  the  domestication  of 
beasts  of  draft  and  burden  alleviated  the  status  of  slaves  ;  we 
shall  see  below  that  serfs  got  freedom  when  wind,  falling  water, 
and  steam  were  loaded  with  the  heavy  tasks.  Just  now  the 
heavy  burdens  are  borne  by  steam  ;  electricity  is  just  coming 
into  use  to  help  bear  them.  Steam  and  electricity  at  last  mean 
coal,  and  the  amount  of  coal  in  the  globe  is  an  arithmetical  fact. 
When  the  coal  is  used  up  will  slavery  once  more  begin  ?  One 
thing  only  can  be  affirmed  with  confidence  ;  that  is,  that  as  no 
philosophical  dogmas  caused  slavery  to  be  abolished,  so  no  phil- 
osophical dogmas  can  prevent  its  reintroduction  if  economic 
changes  should  make  it  fit  and  suitable  again.    As  steam  has  had 

1  JAI,  XXII,  103;  Junker,  J/nhi,  II,  462,  477. 


SLAVERY  267 

put  upon  it  the  hard  work  of  Hfe  during  the  last  two  hundred 
years,  the  men  have  been  emancipated  from  ancient  hard  condi- 
tions and  burdens,  and  the  generahties  of  the  philosophers  about 
liberty  have  easily  won  greater  and  greater  faith  and  currency. 
However,  the  mass  of  mankind,  taught  to  believe  that  they  ought 
to  have  easy  and  pleasant  times  here,  begin  to  complain  again 
about  "wages  slavery,"  "debt  slavery,"  "rent  slavery,"  "sin 
slavery,"  "war  slavery,"  "marriage  slavery,"  etc.  What  men  do 
not  like  they  call  "slavery,"  and  so  prove  that  it  ought  not  to  be. 
It  appears  to  be  still  in  their  experience  that  a  free  man  is 
oppressed  by  contracts  of  wages,  debt,  rent,  and  marriage,  and 
that  the  cost  of  making  ready  for  war  and  of  warding  off  sin  are 
very  heavy.  Political  institutions  readjust  and  redistribute  the 
burdens  of  life  over  a  population,  and  they  change  the  form  of 
the  same  perhaps,  but  the  burdens  are  in  the  conditions  of  human 
life.  They  are  always  present,  and  political  institutions  never 
can  do  away  with  them  at  all.  Therefore  slavery,  if  we  mean  by 
it  subjection  to  the  conditions  of  human  life,  never  can  be  abol- 
ished. 

275.  Ethnographical  illustrations  of  slavery.  In  Togo  male  slaves  work 
in  the  fields  where  yams  are  cultivated.  Each  carries  a  basket  in  which 
he  has  a  chicken,  which  will  live  on  worms  and  insects  in  the  field.  The 
slave  is  soon  married.  He  has  two  days  in  the  week  to  work  for  himself. 
One  of  his  grown  boys  can  replace  him  on  the  other  four.  He  can  buy  a 
slave  to  replace  him.  Thus  they  often  attain  to  wealth,  freedom,  and 
power.  A  female  slave,  if  married  to  a  free  man,  becomes  free.  This 
form  of  slavery  is  only  a  mode  of  service.  The  slave  lives  with  the  family, 
and  enjoys  domestic  consideration.  There  is  also  debt  slavery,  the  whole 
family  being  responsible  for  the  debt  of  a  member.^  Klose,  however, 
describes  the  ruin  wrought  by  slave  raids.  "  Murder  and  incendiarism  are 
the  orders  in  this  business.  Great  villages  and  districts  are  made  deserts 
and  are  depopulated  by  the  raids."  "  It  is  not  in  negro  nature  to  subject 
one's  self  voluntarily  to  labor.  The  negro  wants  to  be  compelled  to  work." 
The  fetich  priest  gives  him  a  harmless  drink,  which  is  to  be  fatal  to  him 
if  he  tries  to  run  away.^  The  Ngumba  in  south  Kamerun  hold  their  slaves 
in  huts  near  their  own  houses.  A  mishandled  slave  can  leave  his  master 
and  demand  the  protection  of  another.  A  debtor  who  cannot  pay  becomes 
slave  of  his  creditor  until  the  debt  is  paid  in  value,  but  this  does  not  free 

1  Globus,  LXXXIII,  314.  2  Klose,  Togo,  383. 


268  FOLKWAYS 

him.  He  can  pay  also  by  his  wife  or  daughter.'  Amongst  the  Ewe- 
speaking  tribes  a  woman  who  is  condemned  to  a  fine  may  sell  or  pawn  her 
children,  if  her  husband  will  not  give  her  the  amount  to  be  paid.  The 
husbands  often  hold  back  until  the  women  pawn  the  children  to  them, 
whereby  they  obtain  complete  control  of  the  children.^  Their  slaves  are 
criminals  and  debtors,  or,  if  foreigners,  are  victims  of  war  or  of  kidnap- 
ping. They  are  not  regarded  with  contempt,  are  well  treated,  do  not  have 
as  hard  a  lot  as  an  English  agricultural  laborer,  and  often  attain  to  wealth 
and  honor.  The  master-owner  may  not  kill  a  slave. ^  In  Bornu  the  women 
slaves  find  favor  in  the  eyes  of  their  masters,  and  by  amiability  win  affec- 
tion. If  they  have  children  they  win  a  firm  position,  "  for  only  the  most 
stringent  circumstances  could  compel  a  Moslem,  whose  ideas  are  reasonably 
correct,  to  sell  the  mother  of  his  children."  ^  The  Somal  and  Afar  do  not 
deal  much  in  slaves.  They  use  women  and  a  pariah  class.  A  Somal  is 
never  slave  to  a  Somal,  and  war  captives  are  not  made  slaves.  Also 
amongst  the  Galla  it  appears  that  debtor  slavery  does  not  exist.  Criminal 
slavery  does,  however,  exist,  and  is  used  by  the  chiefs.  It  is  honorable  to 
treat  slaves  well.  In  Kaffa  the  slaves  are  lazy  and  pretentious,  because 
they  know  that  their  owners  do  not  look  to  them  for  labor,  but  speculate 
on  their  children,  whom  they  will  sell.^  In  general,  in  East  Africa,  the 
master-owner  has  not  the  power  of  life  and  death,  and  the  slave  has  a 
right  of  property.  "  A  headman  (of  a  village)  in  debt  sells  first  his  slaves, 
then  his  sisters,  then  his  mother,  and  lastly  his  free  wives,  after  which  he 
has  nothing  left."  ^  Stuhlmann ''  says  that  slaves  in  Uganda  are  well 
treated,  as  members  of  the  family.  Brunache*^  says  the  same  of  the  Congo 
tribes  so  far  as  they  have  not  been  contaminated  by  contact  with  whites. 
This  may  be  regarded  as  characteristic  of  African  slavery.  The  Vanika 
of  eastern  Africa  are  herding  nomads.  They  cannot  use  slaves,  and  make 
war  only  to  steal  cattle.'*  Bushmen  love  liberty.  They  submit  to  no 
slavery.  They  are  hunters  of  a  low  grade.  They  hate  cattle,  as  the  basis 
of  a  life  which  is  different  from  (higher  than)  their  own.  They  massacre 
cattle  which  they  cannot  steal  or  carry  away.'^  Mungo  Park  described  free 
negroes  reduced  to  slavery  by  famine. '^  In  Ashanti  a  man  and  a  woman  dis- 
covered in  the  act  in  the  bush,  or  in  the  open  air,  are  slaves  of  him  who 
discovered  them,  but  they  are  redeemable  by  their  families. '^  Ashanti 
slavery  is  domestic  and  very  mild.  The  slave  marries  his  master's  daughter 
and  plays  with  the  master.    He  also  eats  from  the  same  dish.'^    Slavery 

1  Globus,  LXXXI,  334.  3  //„v/.,  218,  220. 

2  Ellis,  Ewe-speaking  Peoples,  221.  *  Nachtigall,  Sahara  mid  Sudan,  I,  684  ff. 

^  Paulitschke,  Ethnog.  AWdosi-A/i-.,  I,  260;   II,  139. 
6  JAI,  XXII,  lor.  10  Jbid.,  57. 

■?  Mil  Etnin  Pascha,  186.  .         n  Pinkerion's  Voy.,  XVI,  885. 

«  Cen.  Afr.,  ill.  12  YAXvs,,  Ts/n-speaking  Peoples,  285. 

9  Ratzel,  I,  449.  ,   13  Ibid.,  290. 


SLAVERY  269 

of  this  form  is  never  cruel  or  harsh.  Debt  slavery  is  harder,  for  the  serv- 
ices of  the  pawn  count  for  nothing  on  the  debt.^  The  effect  of  the  aboli- 
tion of  slavery  in  Algeria  was  stupor  amongst  master-owners  and  grief 
amongst  slaves.  The  former  wondered  how  it  could  be  wrong  to  care  for 
persons  who  would  have  been  eaten  by  their  fellow-countrymen  if  they 
had  succumbed  to  the  hard  struggle  for  existence  at  home.  The  latter 
saw  themselves  free  —  really  free  —  in  the  desert,  with  no  supply  of  food, 
clothing,  or  other  supplies,  and  no  human  ties.2  In  all  families  of  well- 
to-do  people  little  negroes  are  found.  The  author  saw  one  who  told  her 
that  the  lady  of  the  house  had  suckled  him.^  It  is  reported  from  eastern 
Borneo  that  a  white  man  could  hire  no  natives  for  wages.  They  thought 
it  degrading  to  work  for  wages,  but  if  he  would  buy  them  they  would 
work  for  him.*  In  spite  of  what  has  been  said  above  about  slavery  on  the  west 
coast  of  Africa  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  the  master-owner  has  the  power 
of  life  and  death  and  that  he  often  uses  it.  If  he  is  condemned  to  death 
for  a  crime,  he  can  give  a  slave  to  be  executed  in  his  place. ^  In  eastern 
Angola,  if  a  woman  dies  in  childbirth,  her  husband  has  to  pay  her  parents. 
If  he  cannot,  he  becomes  their  slave.*^  In  South  Africa  Holub  found  that 
the  fiercest  slave  chasers  were  blacks,  who  had  slaves  at  home  and  treated 
them  worse  than  Mohammedans  ever  did.'  Formerly  a  Kaffir  would  work 
in  the  diamond  mines  for  three  marks  a  day  until  he  got  money  enough  to 
buy  cattle  and  to  buy  a  woman  at  home,  a  European  suit,  a  kettle,  and  a 
rifle.  Then  he  went  home  and  set  up  an  establishment.  Then  he  would 
return  to  earn  more  and  buy  more  wives,  who  would  support  him  to  his 
life's  end.^  The  stronger  Hottentot  tribes  hold  classes  of  their  own  popu- 
lation, or  mountain  Damara  and  Bushmen,  in  servitude,  although  no  law 
defines  a  "slave."  Those  people  hold  the  treatment  they  receive  to  be 
due  to  their  origin.  Amongst  all  South  African  tribes  the  rich  exert  their 
power  to  subjugate  the  poor,  who  hang  upon  them  in  a  kind  of  clientage, 
hoping  to  receive  something.  Cruelty  and  even  murder  are  not  punished 
by  the  judges.^ 

276.  Family  slavery.  The  savage  form  of  slavery  in  Africa 
furnishes  us  one  generahzation  which  may  be  adopted  with  con- 
fidence.   Whenever  slaves  live  in  a  family,  sharing  in  the  family 

1  Ellis,  Tshi-speakhig  Peoples,  294. 

2  Pommerol,  Une  Femme  chez  les  Sahariennes,  194  ;   cf.  Junker,  Afrika,  III,  477. 

3  Ibid.,  201. 

*  Ling  Roth,  Sarawak,  II,  215. 

^  Kingsley,  Travels  in  West  Africa,  497  ;    IVesi  Afr.  Stud.,  479. 

^  Serpa  Pinto,  Como  En  Atravassei  Afr.,  I,  116. 

'  Ms  La7td  der  Maschukalumbe,  I,  536. 

8  Ztsft.f  Et/inol.,  VI,  472. 

^  Fritsch,  Eingeb.  Slid- Afr.,  364. 


270  FOLKWAYS 

life  and  associating  freely  with  the  male  members  of  it  in  work, 
religion,  play,  etc.,  the  slavery  is  of  a  very  light  type  and  implies 
no  hardship  for  the  slave. 

277.  Slavery  in  North  America  among  savages.  Slavery  is  believed  to 
have  existed  amongst  the  Indians  of  Virginia.  "  They  made  war,  not  for 
land  or  goods,  but  for  women  and  children,  whom  they  put  not  to  death, 
but  made  them  do  service."  ^  The  young  men  and  slaves  worked  in  the 
fields  of  the  Mississippi  valley.  The  latter  were  not  overworked.^  The 
Algonquins  made  slaves  of  their  prisoners,  especially  of  the  women  and 
children.^  The  Illinois  are  represented  as  an  intermediate  party  who  got 
slaves  in  the  South  and  sold  them  in  the  West.*  The  Wisconsin  tribes  used 
to  make  captives  of  Pawnees,  Osages,  Missouris,  and  Mandans.  When 
Pawnees  were  such  captives  (slaves)  they  were  treated  with  severity.'^  In 
the  Gulf  region  of  North  America  slavery  was  common  from  the  earliest 
times.  That  slaves  might  not  escape,  a  sinew  in  the  leg  was  cut,  by  the  Six 
Nations.*'  On  the  northwestern  coast  of  North  America  slavery  was  far 
more  developed  than  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  In  Oregon  and  Wash- 
ington slavery  was  interwoven  with  the  social  polity.  Slaves  were  also 
harshly  treated,  as  property,  not  within  the  limits  of  humanity.  For  a  man 
to  kill  a  half  dozen  of  his  own  slaves  was  a  sign  of  generous  magnanimity 
on  his  part.  One  tribe  stole  captives  from  its  weaker  neighbors.  Hence 
the  slave  trade  is  an  important  part  of  the  commerce  of  all  the  tribes  up  to 
Alaska.^  In  1841  it  was  reckoned  that  one  third  of  the  entire  population 
from  northern  British  Columbia  to  southern  Alaska  were  "  slaves  of  the  most 
helpless  and  abject  description."  "  The  great  supply  was  obtained  by  trade 
with  the  southern  Indians,  in  which  the  Tsimshian  acted  as  middlemen. 
They  were  kidnapped  or  captured  by  the  southern  Indians  from  their  own 
adjacent  tribes  and  sold  to  the  Tsimshian,  who  traded  them  to  the  northern 
Thlinkit  and  interior  Tinne  tribes  for  furs."  "  Slaves  did  all  the  drudgery, 
fished  for  their  owner,  strengthened  his  force  in  war,  were  not  allowed  to 
hold  property  or  to  marry,  and  when  old  and  worthless  were  killed.  The 
master's  power  was  unlimited."  The  slave  must  commit  any  crime  at  the 
command  of  the  master.  The  slaves  were  set  free  at  some  ceremonies,  but 
they  were  put  to  death  at  the  funerals  of  chiefs,  or  as  foundation  sacrifices, 
or  in  reparation  for  insults  or  wrongs.  The  northern  Indians  were  more 
warlike  and  would  not  make  good  slaves.  The  Oregon  flatheads  were  docile 
and  industrious.*  The  Chinooks  became  the  wealthiest  tribe  in  the  region 
by  acting  as  middlemen  to  sell  war  captives  taken  inland  as  far  from  home 

1  Smithson.  Rep.,  1891,  524.  Cf.  Hostmann,  De  Beschavingvan  N'egersin  Amer., 
I,  Chap.  IV.  2  Smithson.  Rep.,  1891,  525. 

3  Ibid.,  520.         6  Bur.  Ethnol.,  XIV,  35.  ^  Ibid.,  1887,  Part  II,  331. 

*  Ibid.,  532.         6  Smithson.  Rep.,  1891,  528.  ^  ij_  s.  Nat.  Miis.,  18SS,  252  ff. 


SLAVERY 


271 


as  possible.^  Amongst  the  Thlinkits  slaves  are  forbidden  to  wear  the  labret, 
and  sex  intercourse  with  a  slave  woman  disgraces  a  free  man.^  "  Amongst 
the  early  Central  Americans  the  slave  who  achieved  any  feat  of  valor  in 
war  received  his  liberty  and  was  adopted  by  the  Capulli,  or  clan."  ^  In 
Mexico  there  were  slaves  of  three  classes,  —  criminals,  war  captives,  and  per- 
sons who  had  voluntarily  sold  themselves  or  had  been  sold  by  their  parents. 
The  captor  generally  sacrificed  a  prisoner,  but  might  hold  him  as  a  slave. 
Those  who  sold  themselves  did  so  to  get  a  fund  for  gambling.  There  was  a 
public  slave  mart  at  Azcapuzalco.  The  system  is  described  as  kind,  but 
slaves  miight  lose  their  lives  through  the  act  of  the  master  at  feasts  or 
funerals.'*  "  Actual  slavery  of  the  Indians  in  Mexico  continued  as  late  as 
the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century."  ^  It  is  evident  that  slavery  existed 
all  over  North  and  Central  America,  but  was  more  developed  on  the  Pacific 
coasf  than  in  the  Mississippi  valley.  The  meat  eaters  of  the  buffalo  region 
had  less  opportunity  to  use  the  institution.^ 

278.  Slavery  in  South  America.  In  South  America  we  also  meet  with  at 
least  one  case  of  a  tribe,  or  part  of  a  tribe,  which  is  in  clientage  to  another 
tribe.  This  is  a  subdivision  of  the  third  rank  of  the  Mbaya,  who  voluntarily 
entered  into  a  relation  of  clientage  to  the  Mbaya,  giving  them  service  under 
arms,  and  in  house  and  field,  without  being  their  slaves,  being  protected  in 
return  by  the  powerful  and  feared  tribe.''  The  Guykurus  carry  on  frequent 
wars  to  get  captives,  whom  they  keep  in  stringent  servitude.  "  There  is, 
perhaps,  no  tribe  of  South  American  Indians,  among  whom  the  state  of 
slavery  is  so  distinctly  marked  as  among  them."  Slaves  and  free  do  not 
intermarry,  lest  marriage  be  profaned.  There  is  no  way  in  which  a  slave 
may  become  free.**  The  Guykurus  are  the  strongest  tribe  in  the  valley  of 
the  Paraguay.  They  have  horses  and  were  called  by  the  Portuguese  Caval- 
leiros.^  In  Brazil  it  was  thought  that  the  cultivation  of  the  country  was 
impossible  unless  the  Indians  were  made  slaves.  The  early  laws  and  orders 
of  the  kings  of  Portugal  seem  to  reveal  a  sincere  desire  to  control  greed  and 
cruelty.  In  1570  private  slave  raids  were  forbidden  and  slavery  was  con- 
fined to  those  captured  in  public  and  just  war.  Lisbon,  however,  became  a 
great  slave  mart  by  the  law  that  slaves  passing  from  one  colony  (Africa)  to 
another  (America)  must  pass  through  Lisbon  and  pay  a  tax  there.  Peter 
Martyr  is  quoted  that  slavery  was  necessary  for  Indians  who,  if  they  had  no 
master,  would  go  on  with  their  old  customs  and  idolatry.    Slavery  killed 

1  Strong,   IVakeenah,  126.  ^  Nadaillac,  P^-e/tist.  America,  313. 

2  Bur.  Et/uioL,  III,  81.  *  Bancroft,  Amative  Races,  II,  217-223. 
^  Brinton,  Nagiialism,  28  note. 

^  See  Hamilton,  The  Fanis,  an  Histor.  Outliite  of  Canadian  Indian  Slavery  in 
the  i8th  cent.,  Proc.  Canad.  Instit.,  Toronto,  1897,  N.S.,  I,  19-27. 
"^  Koch,  Die  Gziaikuru-Stdnune,  Globus,  LXXXI,  44. 

^  Koch  (p.  45)  says  that  they  become  free  and  set  up  prosperous  households. 
^  Spix  and  Martius,  Brasil.,  II,  73;  v.  Martius,  Ethnog.  Brasiliens,  71. 


2  72  FOLKWAYS 

them,  however.  It  did  not  make  them  laborers.^  In  general,  in  the  valley  of 
the  Yapura,  in  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century,  slaves  were  war 
captives  who  were  very  unkindly  treated. ^  The  aborigines  began  to  sell 
their  war  captives  to  Europeans  soon  after  the  latter  arrived.  They  wanted 
rosewood  especially,  and  they  took  Indians  to  Africa  as  slaves.^  Boggiani  * 
expresses  the  opinion  in  regard  to  the  savages  of  the  Chaco,  as  the  meadow 
region  on  the  Paraguay  river  is  called,  that  slavery  amongst  a  people  of 
more  civilized  mores,  is,  for  them,  "  an  incalculable  benefit,"  and  that  "  to 
hinder  slavery,  in  such  circumstances,  would  be  a  capital  error."  "  It  is  neces- 
sary to  force  them  to  come  out  of  their  brutelike  condition,  and  to  awaken 
their  intelligence,  which  is  not  wanting,  if  they  receive  practical  and  ener- 
getic direction."  Bridges  ^  says  that  one  Fuegian  is  thrown  into  clientage 
to  another  by  their  mode  of  life.  "  For  a  young  man,  wdth  no  wife  and  few 
relatives,  must  live  with  some  one  who  can  protect  him,  and  with  whom  he 
can  live  in  comfort,  whose  wife  or  wives  can  catch  fish  for  him,  etc." 

279.  Slavery  in  Polynesia  and  Melanesia.  Polynesia,  Melanesia,  and  the 
East  Indies,  especially  the  last,  present  us  pictures  of  a  society  which  is  old 
and  whose  mores  have  been  worn  threadbare,  while  their  stage  of  civilization 
is  still  very  low.  Codrington  ''  says :  "  There  is  no  such  thing  as  slavery, 
properly  so  called.  In  head-hunting  expeditions  prisoners  are  made  for  the 
sake  of  their  heads,  to  be  used  when  occasion  requires,  and  such  persons 
live  with  their  captors  in  a  condition  very  different  from  that  of  freedom, 
but  they  are  not  taken  or  maintained  for  the  purposes  of  slaves."  RatzeH 
says  :  "  Slavery  prevailed  everywhere  in  Melanesia,  originating  either  in  war 
or  debt.  Sometimes  it  was  hard  ;  sometimes  not."  Somerville  says  that 
"  slaves  are  kept  chiefly  for  their  heads,  which  are  demanded  whenever  any 
occasion  necessitates  them,  such  as  the  death  of  the  owner."  He  is  speak- 
ing of  the  Solomon  Islands.^  What  Finsch  says  of  the  Melanesians  may 
be  extended  to  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  South  Sea  islands.'-*  They  will  not 
work  because  they  do  not  need  to.  They  have  few  wants.  Pfeil  wants  to 
make  the  people  of  German  Melanesia  work,  in  order  that  they  may  con- 
tribute to  the  tasks  of  the  human  race.  The  problem  presents  one  of  the 
great  reasons  for  slavery  in  history. 

280.  Slavery  in  the  East  Indies.  The  chief  of  Chittagong^"  wrote  to  the 
English  governor,  in  1774,  that  slavery  in  his  district  was  due  to  the  sale 
of  himself  by  any  person  who  was  destitute,  and  had  no  friends  or  posi- 
tion.   He  and  his  wife  must  serve  the  master  and  his  wife  in  any  desired 

1  Vamhagen,  //tsL  Geral  do  Brasil,  I,  115,  178,  181,  269,  273. 

2  v.  Martius,  72. 

^  Vamhagen,  Hist,  do  Brasil,  I,  431  ;  v.  Martius,  131. 

*  Caduvei,  I,  100.  7  Volkerhmde,  II,  279. 

8  Voice  for  South  Amer.,  XIII,  201.  »  JAI,  XXVI,  400. 

8  Melanesians,  346.  9  Sanioafahrten,  170. 

10  Lewin,  Wild  Races  of  S.  E.  India,  85. 


SLAVERY  273 

way,  including  services  which  a  free  servant  would  not  perform,  "  through 
fear  of  demeaning  himself  and  disgracing  his  family."  Abolition  of  this 
slavery  would  produce  complaints  by  the  masters,  and  would  not  please 
the  servants  who  are  used  to  it.  "  Until  lately  the  universal  custom  pre- 
vailed in  the  hills  of  having  debtor  slaves."  The  debtor  gave  one  of  his 
children  or  a  female  relative  to  serve  as  a  menial  until  the  debt  should  be 
paid.  The  pawned  persons  "  were  treated  as  members  of  the  creditor's 
family  and  never  exposed  to  harsh  usage."  The  effect  of  interference  by 
the  English  was  that  the  wives  and  daughters  of  the  great  men  suddenly 
had  to  do  all  the  housework.  "  Debtor  and  creditor  lost  confidence  in 
each  other."  ^  "  There  is  a  detestable  and  actual  slavery  in  these  hills, 
which  is  now  only  carried  on  by  independent  tribes,  beyond  English  juris- 
diction. This  is  the  captivity  to  the  bow  and  spear,  —  men  and  women 
taken  prisoners  by  force  in  war,  and  sold  from  master  to  master.  The 
origin  of  this  custom  was  the  want  of  women."  ^  In  the  Chin  hills  there 
are  slaves  who  are  war  captives,  or  criminals,  or  debtors,  and  others  who 
are  voluntary  slaves,  or  slaves  by  birth.  The  master  had  full  power  of  life 
and  death,  but,  in  fact,  slaves  were  well  treated.  The  people  made  raids 
on  the  Burmese  lowlands  and  seized  captives  who  were  held  for  ransom.  A 
slave  man  cohabits  with  a  slave  woman  and  brings  up  his  children  with 
affection  "in  the  same  humble,  but  not  necessarily  unhappy,  position  as 
his  own."  ^  In  Ceylon  there  were  slave  persons  of  all  ranks.  Those  of 
royal  rank  were  princes  who  were  prisoners  or  criminals.  Any  one  might 
obtain  slaves  by  purchase,  or  accept  voluntary  slaves  who  looked  to  him 
for  good  support.'*  A  Malay  will  bu)^  of  a  chief  a  number  of  war  captives 
whom  he  takes  to  an  island.  Then  he  goes  to  a  Chinaman  and  tells  him  that 
the  slaves  want  to  work  on  that  island,  but  still  owe  the  speaker  the  cost  of 
transportation.  The  Chinaman  pays  this  and  gives  to  the  slaves,  on  credit, 
clothes,  etc.,  including  money  with  which  to  gamble.  Wages  are  low  and 
interest  high.  They  never  can  pay  their  debts  and  get  their  freedom  again. 
This  kind  of  slave  trade  has  depopulated  northern  Nias.^  On  Sumatra, 
when  a  debtor  is  called  upon  to  pay  and  cannot,  or  when  he  dies  and  does 
not  leave  enough  property  to  pay  his  debts,  his  children  fall  into  semi- 
slavery.  They  can  perhaps  persuade  some  one  to  pay  their  debts  and  accept 
their  services.  If  their  master  formally  three  times  demands  payment  of 
them  which  they  cannot  give,  they  fall  into  full  slavery.  Slavery  exists  in 
the  Malay  seaport  towns,  but  not  in  the  rural  districts,  where  life  is  too 
simple.''  In  times  of  famine  and  want  parents  sell  their  children  into  slavery 
for  a  little  rice.  Children,  especially  daughters,  constitute  a  large  part  of 
the  fortune  of  a  house  father.'^ 

1  Lewin,  Wild  Races  of  S.  E.  India,  86.  *  Schmidt,  Ceylofi,  273. 

2  Ibid.,  91.  s  Raap  in  Globus,  LXXXIII,  174. 
8  Carey  and  Tuck,  The  Chin  Hills,  I,  203  ff.  «  Marsden,  Sumatra,  252. 

^  Wilken  in  Bijdragen  tot  T.  I.  en  V.-ktmde,  XL,  175. 


2  74  FOLKWAYS 

At  Koetei,  on  the  Mahakkam  in  Borneo,  all  well-to-do  people  have 
debtors  in  pawn,  v/hose  position  is  somewhat  better  than  that  of  slaves. 
The  debtors  seem  content  and  submissive.  Captives  taken  on  head-hunt- 
ing expeditions  are  held  as  slaves  until  human  sacrifices  are  wanted.^  The 
souls  of  all  those  who  are  put  to  death  at  the  death  of  a  Dyak  rajah 
become  his  servants  in  the  other  world.  In  this  world  the  killer  can  com- 
mand, as  his  fetich,  the  soul  of  the  killed.  On  the  death  of  a  great  man 
his  debtor  slaves  are  bound  to  the  carved  village  post,  which  indicates  the 
glory  of  head-hunting,  and  are  tortured  to  death. ^  "  Slavery  is  greatly 
practiced "  on  Timorlaut.  A  thief,  debtor,  slanderer,  or  defamer  may 
become  the  slave  of  the  one  he  has  wronged.  The  slave  trade  is  also 
active  between  the  islands. ^  The  slaves  of  the  sea  Dyaks  adopt  their  cus- 
toms and  become  contented.  Sometimes  they  win  affection  and  are 
adopted,  freed,  and  married  to  free  women.  Slaves  and  masters  eat 
together  the  same  food  in  the  rural  villages.*  Among  the  land  Dyaks 
slaves,  by  destitution  and  debt,  "  are  just  as  happy  as  if  perfectly  free, 
enjoying  all  the  liberty  of  their  masters,  who  never  think  of  ill-using  them."  ^ 
In  old  times  one  who  set  a  house  on  fire  was  liable  to  become  the  slave  of 
any  one  who  was  burned  out.^  Slaves  on  Timor  do  not  seem  to  care  for 
liberty.  Their  livelihood  would  not  be  so  certain.  There  is  a  kind  of 
slavery  to  the  kingdom,  not  to  any  individual,  but  the  slave  cannot  be 
sold  by  the  king.""  In  the  Barito  valley  a  debtor  slave  has  to  do  any  kind 
of  work.  He  may  be  punished  by  blows,  or  fines  added  to  his  debt,  which 
may  also  be  increased  by  any  breaches  of  customs,  or  by  the  value  of 
broken  tools  or  vessels.  A  month  after  a  child  is  born  to  him  ten  gulden 
are  added,  also  expenses  of  education  when  the  child  is  ready  to  go  to 
work.  He  may  be  slain  at  a  feast  of  the  dead  by  his  master.  The  owner 
can  torment  the  debtor  by  new  fines,  and  keep  up  the  debt  or  even  increase 
it.**  In  the  Katingan  valley  there  are  no  debtor  slaves,  because  after 
three  years  a  debtor  who  cannot  pay  becomes  an  hereditary  slave,  and 
cannot  get  his  liberty  even  if  he  should  get  the  means  to  pay  his  debt.^ 
If  he  ever  gets  the  means  to  pay  and  attempts  to  free  himself  he  is  com- 
pelled to  pay  fees,  taxes,  and  customary  dues  to  the  "spirits  of  the  house," 
etc.  When  he  leaves  his  master's  house  he  must  not  return  to  it  for  a  year 
or  two,  nor  eat  anything  brought  from  it  —  "to  prove  his  independence." 
Then  he  gives  a  feast  and  becomes  free.-^'^  "  Slavery  and  pawnship  are,  in 
the  nature  of  the  case,  the  same.""    The  Dyaks  put  their  Eden  on  a  cloud 

1  Bock,  Reis  in  Borneo,  g,  78,  94.  ^  /did.,  209. 

^/di</.,g2.  ^  Ibid.,  2\T,. 

3JAI,  XIII,  15.  •        'JAI,  XIII,  417. 

^  Ling  Roth,  Sarawak,  II,  209.  ^  Schwaner,  Borneo,  I,  205. 
9  Ibid.,  II,  149. 

10  Ling  Roth,  Sarawak,  CLXXXV;  JAI,  XXII,  32. 

11  Perelaer,  Dajaks,  153. 


SLAVERY 


275 


island.  They  have  a  myth  that  the  daughters  of  the  great  Being  let  down 
seven  times  seven  hundred  cords  of  gold  thread  in  order  to  lower  mortals 
upon  a  mountain,  but  the  mortals  were  overhasty  and  tried  to  lower  them- 
selves by  bamboos  and  rattans.  The  god,  angry  at  this,  condemned  them 
to  slavery.  The  myth,  therefore,  accounts  for  a  caste  of  slaves.  Formerly 
also  war  captives  and  criminals  who  could  not  pay  fines  became  slaves. 
Debts  cause  men  to  fall  into  pawnship.  Extravagant  living,  and  gambling, 
lead  to  this  condition.  If  a  man  becomes  pawn  for  a  debt  his  whole 
household  goes  with  him.  All  have  to  work  very  hard  to  try  to  satisfy  a 
greedy  master.  The  pawn  is  entitled  to  one  tenth  of  the  harvest,  or  of  the 
gain  by  trade.  Free  men  despise  pawns. ^  Wilken  ^  says  of  the  Bataks  that 
a  slave,  by  diligence  and  thrift,  can  always  buy  himself.  In  addition  to 
all  the  ill  chances  of  gambling,  extravagance,  making  love  to  another 
man's  wife,  etc.,  by  which  a  man  may  become  a  debtor  slave,  customs  exist 
which  are  traps  for  the  unwary.  Sago  and  rice  are  left  in  the  woods,  in 
some  islands,  until  wanted.  If  a  man  passes  the  store,  he  is  supposed  to 
take  away  the  spirit  of  the  goods.  If  caught,  he  and  all  his  family  become 
slaves.  If  a  man  dies  who  was  wont  to  fish  at  a  certain  place,  the  place 
becomes  taboo  to  his  ghost.  Any  one  who  fishes  there  becomes  a  slave  to 
his  family.  Also,  if  a  district  is  in  mourning,  any  one  who  breaks  the 
mourning  customs  is  made  a  slave. ^  The  education  of  the  Chinese  in 
ethical  doctrines  has  made  slavery  amongst  them  slight  and  mild.  It  is 
attributed  to  poverty,  which  forces  parents  to  sell  their  daughters.*  The 
owners  must  provide  female  slaves  with  husbands,  and  the  law  forbids  the 
separation  of  husband  and  wife,  or  of  parents  and  little  children.^  It 
appears  that  slavery  is  forbidden  by  law,  but  is  tolerated  in  the  case  where 
the  parents  are  poor.  Boys  once  enslaved  continue  in  bondage  and  their 
children  follow  them,  but  there  is  no  legal  possession.  Girls  become  free 
at  marriage.^ 

281.  Slavery  in  Asia.  Slavery  in  Asia  is  of  a  kind  which  puts 
the  slave  largely  at  the  mercy  of  his  owner,  but  the  mores  have 
taught  the  slave  owner  to  use  his  power  with  consideration.  This 
is  generally,  not  universally,  true.  Nivedita  says  "  that  "  slavery 
in  Asia,  under  the  regime  of  great  religious  systems,  has  never 
meant  what  Europe  and  America  have  made  of  it.  .  .  .  It  is  a 
curious  consequence  of  this  humanity  of  custom  [or  rather,  of  the 
judgment  in  the  mores  as  to  the  wisest  course  of  conduct  in  a 

^  Perelaer,  Dajaks,  155.  5  Jhid.,  277. 

2  Volketikujide,  423.  6  Medhurst  in  China  Er.,  RAS,  IV,  17 

3  JAI,  XVI,  142.  7  lYeb  0/ Indian  Life,  69. 
*  "Williams,  Middle  A'ingdoni,  I,  413. 


276  FOLKWAYS 

class  of  cases]  that  the  word  '  slave '  cannot  be  made  to  sting 
the  Asiatic  consciousness  as  it  does  the  European." 

282.  Slavery  in  Japan.  In  Japan  slavery  was  a  common  pun- 
ishment, in  early  times,  for  crime.  Debtors  unable  to  pay 
became  slaves  of  their  creditors,  and  thieves  were  made  slaves 
of  those  whom  they  had  robbed.  The  attempt  to  introduce 
Christianity  into  Japan  and  the  resistance  to  it  led  to  the  slavery 
of  many  Christian  converts,  if  they  refused  after  torture  to  recant. 
This  was  an  alternative  to  death.  Slaves  were  tattooed  with  marks 
to  show  ownership.  "  Slaves  were  bought  and  sold  like  cattle  in 
early  times,  or  presented  as  tribute  by  their  owners,  —  a  practice 
constantly  referred  to  in  the  ancient  records."  Their  sex  unions 
were  not  recognized.  "  In  the  seventh  century,  however,  private 
slaves  were  declared  state  property,  and  great  numbers  were  then 
emancipated,  including  nearly  all,  —  probably  all,  who  were  arti- 
sans, or  followed  useful  callings.  Gradually  a  large  class  of  f reed- 
men  came  into  existence,  but  until  modern  times  the  great  mass 
of  the  common  people  appear  to  have  remained  in  a  condition 
analogous  to  serfdom."  ^ 

283.  Slavery  in  higher  civilization.  It  appears  quite  clear  that 
men  in  savagery  and  barbarism  used  each  other,  if  they  could,  to 
serve  their  interests,  and  slavery  resulted.  The  hardships  of  life 
caused  it.  The  rules  of  war  were  "  Woe  to  the  vanquished  !  "  and 
"  To  the  victors  the  spoils."  Debt  was  a  relation  which  might 
come  about  between  two  men  from  incidents  in  the  struggle  for 
existence,  or  from  loans  of  money  and  goods.  All  mischance 
might  be  converted  into  lack  of  resources  (money  and  goods), 
and  he  who  borrowed  fell  into  dependence  and  servitude.  All 
violations  of  custom  and  law  led  to  fines  ;  all  need  of  civil  author- 
ity made  it  necessary  to  pay  fees.  The  debtor  pledged  his  future 
working  time.  His  relation  to  his  creditor  was  personal.  That 
he  was  a  borrower  proved  that  he  had  nothing  which  could  form 
a  property  security.  The  laws  of  Hammurabi  provide  that  a 
debtor  may  give  his  wife  and  children  as  pawn  slaves,  but  only 
for  three  years.  In  the  fourth  year  the  creditor  was  to  set  them 
free.    The  pawn  persons  were  to  be  well  treated.    A  slave  given 

1  Yi&di.xn,  Japan,  256,  258,  353. 


SLAVERY  277 

in  pawn  might  be  sold,  but  not  if  it  was  a  female  slave  with  chil- 
dren.^  To  aid  or  conceal  a  fugitive  slave  was  a  capital  offense.^ 
Many  Chaldean  contracts  have  been  found  in  which  the  debtor 
bound  himself  to  work  for  the  creditor  until  he  should  pay  the 
debt.^  It  appears  that  the  Babylonian  slaves  could  form  a  pecii- 
liuni  and  carry  on  business  with  it  as  a  capital,  paying  their 
owners  a  tax  upon  it.* 

284.  Slavery  amongst  Jews.  The  Jewish  law  had  a  provision 
like  that  in  the  law  of  Hammurabi,  except  that  the  limit  was  six 
years  instead  of  three.  A  debtor  was  not  to  be  a  slave,  but  to 
give  service  until  the  year  of  jubilee.^  In  2  Kings  iv.  i  the  widow 
tells  EHsha  that  her  husband's  creditors  will  come  and  take  her 
two  sons  to  be  bondmen.  The  creditors  of  some  of  the  Jews 
who  returned  from  exile  threatened  to  make  them  debtor  slaves. 
Nehemiah  appealed  to  them  not  to  do  so.^  In  Matt,  xviii.  25 
the  man  who  could  not  pay  was  to  be  sold  with  his  wife  and 
children.  Kidnapping  was  punishable  by  death.''  In  Job  xxxi.  15 
we  find  the  ultimate  philosophico-religious  reason  for  repudiating 
slavery :  "  Has  not  He  who  made  me  made  him  [the  slave]  also 
in  his  mother's  womb  1 "  The  laws  of  the  *'  Book  of  Covenants" 
begin  with  laws  about  slaves.^  A  male  slave,  with  his  wife,  is  to 
be  freed  in  the  seventh  year,  unless  he  prefers  to  remain  a  slave. 
A  man  may  sell  his  daughter  into  slavery,  i.e.  to  be  a  concubine. 
There  was  no  difference  in  principle  between  a  daughter  given 
to  wife  and  one  sold  to  be  a  concubine.  In  Deut.  xv.  12  the 
female  slave  is  also  set  free  in  the  seventh  year,  and  persons  so 
freed  are  to  be  given  gifts  when  they  depart.  The  slaves  were 
war  captives,  or  bought  persons,  or  criminals.^  The  lot  of 
slaves  was  not  hard.  The  owners  had  not  the  power  of  life  and 
death.  The  slave  could  acquire  property. ^*^  If  the  slave  was  an 
Israelite  he  was  protected  by  especial  restrictions  on  the  master 
in  behalf  of  fellow-countrymen.^^ 

1  Winckler,  Gesetze  Horn.,  21.  2  Laws  15  and  16. 

3  Kohler  und  Peiser,  Aiis  d.  Babyl-  Rechtsleben,  IV,  47.    Cf.  I,  i  and  II,  6. 
*  Ibid.,  I,  I.  6  Nehem.  v.  5.  ^  Exod.  xxi. 

^  Levit.  XXV.  39.  ^  Exod.  xxi.  16.  ^  Exod.  xxii.  2. 

^'5  Levit.  XXV.  49;  Buhl,  Soc.  Verhdlt.  d.  Is7-ael.,  35,  106. 

11  Deut.  XV.  12-18;  Exod.  xxi.  2  ff.  ;   Levit.  xxv.  39-46. 


278  FOLKWAYS 

285.  Slavery  in  the  classical  states.  Slavery  came  to  the  two 
great  classical  states  from  the  antecedent  facts  of  savage  and 
barbaric  life.  When  Aristotle  came  to  study  slavery  he  could 
not  find  a  time  when  it  was  not.  We  have  seen  how  it  had 
become  one  of  the  leading  institutions  of  uncivilized  society,  and 
how  it  had  been  developed  in  different  forms  and  degrees.  The 
two  great  classical  states,  more  especially  Rome,  built  their  power 
on  slavery.  Both  states  pursued  their  interests  with  little  care 
for  the  pain  they  might  inflict  on  others,  or  the  cost  in  the  happi- 
ness of  others.  The  Roman  state  began  by  subjugating  its  near- 
est neighbors.  It  used  its  war  captives  as  slaves,  increased  its 
power,  conquered  more,  and  repeated  the  process  until  it  used 
up  all  the  known  world.  The  Phoenicians  were  merchants,  who 
kidnapped  men,  women,  and  children,  if  they  found  opportunity, 
and  sold  them  into  slavery  far  from  home.  The  lonians,  Vv^ho 
grew  rich  by  commerce,  bought  slaves  and  organized  states  in 
which  slaves  did  all  the  productive  work.  In  both  Greece  and 
Rome  productive  work  came  to  be  despised.  One  is  amazed  to 
find  how  easily  any  one  who  went  on  a  journey  might  fall  into 
slavery,  or  how  recklessly  the  democracy  of  one  city  voted  to  sell 
the  people  of  a  defeated  city  into  slavery,  yet  how  unhesitat- 
ingly everybody  accepted  and  repeated  the  current  opinions  about 
the  baseness  of  slave  character.  Homer  says  that  a  slave  has 
only  half  the  soul  of  a  man.^  The  love  stories  in  the  Scriptores 
Eroiici  very  often  contain  an  incident  of  kidnapping.  The  story 
of  Eumaeus  must  have  been  that  of  many  a  slave.^  It  is  also  only 
rarely  and  very  incidentally  that  the  classical  writers  show  any  pity 
for  slaves,  although  they  often  speak  of  the  sadness  of  slavery .^  If 
any  man,  especially  a  merchant,  who  went  on  a  journey  incurred 
a  great  risk  of  slavery,  why  was  not  slavery  a  familiar  danger  of 
every  man,  and  therefore  a  matter  for  pity  and  sympathy  }  In  the 
great  tragedies  the  woes  of  slavery,  especially  the  contrasts  for 
princes  and  princesses,  heroes  and  heroines,  are  often  presented. 
Polyxena,  in  Euripides 's  Hckuba,  360,  bewails  her  anticipated 
lot  as  a  slave.    A  fierce  master  will  buy  her.    She  will  have  to 

1  Od.,  XVII,  322.  2  /^^^.^  XV,  403. 

^  Buchholz,  Homer.  Realie)i,  II,  63. 


SLAVERY  279 

knead  bread  for  him,  to  sweep  and  weave,  leading  a  miserable  life, 
given  as  wife  to  some  base  slave.  She  prefers  to  be  sacrificed  at 
Achilles's  tomb.  When  the  Greeks  were  going  to  kill  her,  she 
asked  them  to  keep  their  hands  off.  She  would  submit.  Let  her 
die  free.  "  It  would  be  a  shame  to  me,  royal,  to  be  called  a  slave 
amongst  the  dead."  In  the  Tr'ojan  Women  the  screams  of 
the  Trojan  women  are  heard,  as  they  are  distributed  by  lot  to 
their  new  Greek  masters.  The  play  is  full  of  the  woes  of  slavery. 
At  Athens  slaves  enjoyed  great  freedom  of  manners  and  conduct. 
They  dressed  like  the  poorest  freedmen.  No  one  dare  misuse 
the  slave  of  another  simply  because  he  was  a  slave.  If  the  master 
abused  a  slave,  the  latter  had  an  asylum  in  the  temple  and  could 
demand  to  be  sold.  Slaves  could  pursue  any  trade  which  they 
knew,  paying  a  stipulated  sum  to  their  owners,  and  could  thus 
buy  their  manumission.  Their  happiness,  however,  depended  on 
the  will  of  another.^  In  the  law  they  were  owned  as  things  were, 
and  could  be  given,  lent,  sold,  and  bequeathed.  They  could  not 
possess  property,  nor  have  wives  in  assured  exclusive  possession 
against  masters.  Their  children  belonged  to  their  masters.  Plato 
thought  that  nature  had  made  some  to  command,  others  to  serve  .^ 
He  thought  the  soul  of  a  slave  base,  incapable  of  good,  unworthy 
of  confidence.^  Aristotle  thought  that  every  well-appointed  house 
needs  animate  and  inanimate  tools.  The  animate  tools  are  slaves, 
who  have  souls,  but  not  like  those  of  their  masters.  They  lack 
will.  Slaves  are  like  members  of  the  master,  ruled  by  his  will. 
Their  virtue  is  obedience.*  He  says  that  there  v/ere  men  in  his 
time  who  said  that  slavery  was  an  injustice  due  to  violence  and 
established  by  law.^ 

286.  Slavery  at  Rome.  It  is  in  ancient  Rome  that  we  find 
slavery  most  thoroughly  developed.  Any  civilization  which  accom- 
plishes any  great  results  must  do  so  by  virtue  of  force  which  it 
has  at  its  disposal.  The  Romans  conquered  and  enslaved  their 
nearest  neighbors.  By  virtue  of  their  increased  power  they  ex- 
tended their  conquests.  They  repeated  this  process  until  they 
had  consumed  all  the  known  world.  The  city  of  Rome  was  a  center 

1  Beloch,  Griech.  Gesch.,  I,  469.       ^  £>£  Repiib.,  I,  309.       ^  De  Legibus,  VI,  376. 
*  Polit,  I,  ii,  7;  Nick.  Ethics,  VIII,  10.  ^  Polit.,  I,  2. 


28o  FOLKWAYS 

towards  which  all  the  wealth  of  the  world  was  drawn.  There 
was  no  reverse  current  of  goods.  What  went  out  from  Rome 
was  government,  —  peace,  order,  and  security.  The  provinces 
probably  for  a  time  made  a  good  bargain,  although  the  price  was 
high.  In  the  earliest  times  slaves  were  used  for  housework,  but 
were  few  in  number  per  household.  In  1 50  b.c.  a  patrician  left  to 
his  son  only  ten.  Crassus  had  more  than  five  hundred.  C.  Caec. 
Claudius,  in  the  time  of  Augustus,  had  41 16.1  In  the  early  days 
a  father  and  his  sons  cultivated  a  holding  together.  Slaves  were 
used  when  more  help  was  needed.  There  was  one  slave  to  three 
sons  and  they  lived  in  constant  association  of  work  and  play. 
When  conquest  rendered  slaves  numerous  and  cheap,  free  laborers 
disappeared .2  Ti.  Semp.  Gracchus,  in  177  B.C.,  after  the  war  in 
Sardinia,  sold  so  many  Sardinian  slaves  that  "  cheap  as  a  Sar- 
dinian "  became  a  proverb.^  His  son  Tiberius  is  reported  to  have 
been  led  into  his  agrarian  enterprise  by  noticing  that  the  lands  of 
Etruria  were  populated  only  by  a  few  slaves  of  foreign  birth.* 
Bucher  ^  puts  together  the  following  statistics  of  persons  reduced 
to  slavery  about  200  b.c.  :  after  the  capture  of  Tarentum  (209  b.c), 
30,000;  in  207  B.C.,  5400;  in  200  B.C.,  15,000.^  Roman  slaves 
were  not  allowed  to  marry  until  a  late  date.  They  were  systemat- 
ically worked  as  hard  as  it  was  possible  to  make  them  work, 
and  were  sold  or  exposed  to  perish  when  too  old  to  work. 
Such  was  the  policy  taught  by  the  older  Cato.'  The  number  on 
the  market  was  always  great ;  the  price  was  low ;  it  was  more 
advantageous  to  work  them  so  hard  that  they  had  no  time  or 
strength  to  plot  revolts.  This  is  the  most  cynical  refusal  to 
regard  slaves  as  human  beings  which  can  be  found  in  history. 
They  were  liable  to  be  tortured  in  their  owners'  cases  in  court. 
They  might  be  given  over  to  the  gladiatorial  shows  and  set  to 
fight  each  other,  or  wild  beasts.  Seventy-eight  gladiators  con- 
demned to  fight  to  the  death  revolted  in  74  b.c.  under  Spartacus, 

1  Drumann,  Arbeiter  tuid  Co»iiniiniste7i,  155.  ^  Livy,  XLI,  28,  8. 

2  Bender,  Rotn,  150,  159.  *  Plutarch,  Ti.  Gracchus,  8. 
^  Aufstdnde  d.  Unfreien  Arbeiter,  36. 

6  Livy,  XXVII,  16;  XXVIII,  9;  XXXI,  21. 

^  De  Agri  Cidtura,   2,  7  ;  Plutarch,    Caio,    5  ;   Schmidt,  Sociite  Civile  dans  le 
Monde  Ro7nain,  93. 


SLAVERY  281 

who  defeated  five  armies.  Crassus  was  sent  against  him  with 
eight  legions.  Lucullus  was  recalled  from  Thrace  and  Pompey 
from  Spain.  Spartacus  was  cut  to  pieces  in  his  last  battle. 
Crassus  crucified  six  thousand  prisoners  along  the  road  from 
Capua  to  Rome.^ 

287.  Slave  revolts.  The  severity  of  the  Roman  system  of  slavery  is 
shown  by  the  number  of  revolts  and  the  severe  proceedings  in  each  of  them. 
There  was  such  a  revolt  in  499  B.C.  The  guilty  were  crucified.  The  follow- 
ing year  there  was  another.^  In  416  there  was  another.  The  aim  always 
was  to  take  the  citadel  and  burn  the  city.^  Sicily  was  covered  with  a  swarm 
of  slaves  at  the  beginning  of  the  second  century  B.C.  They  were  especially 
Syrians,  very  tough  and  patient.  They  were  managed  under  Cato's  plan  : 
"  Work  or  sleep  !  "  In  196  B.C.  the  slaves  in  Etruria  revolted  and  were  sup- 
pressed with  great  severity.*  In  104  those  of  Sicily  revolted.  They  were 
subdued  four  years  later  and  the  last  remnant  were  sent  to  Rome  to  fight 
beasts.  The)^  killed  themselves  in  the  arena. ^  The  later  Roman  system  was 
that  the  mob  of  the  city  put  the  world  in  the  hands  of  one  or  another,  and 
he  gave  them  bread  and  games  as  their  part  of  the  plunder.  T\y^  frunien- 
taria  were  the  permanent  and  steady  pay  of  the  "  world  conquerors."  They 
made  herding  the  best  use  of  Italian  land.  "  Where  before  industrious 
peasants  prospered  in  glad  contentment,  now  unfree  herdsmen,  in  wide 
wastes,  drove  the  immense  herds  of  Roman  senators  and  knights."  ^  The 
Sicilian  landowners  left  their  shepherds  to  steal  what  they  needed,  so  that 
they  were  educated  to  brigandage.  The  greatest  sufferer  was  the  small 
freeman.''  There  is  a  story  in  Diodorus,**  of  Damophilos,  an  owner  of 
great  latifitndia,  whose  slaves  came  to  him  to  beg  clothes.  He  replied: 
"  Do  the  travelers,  then,  go  naked  through  the  country  .''  Are  they  not  bound 
to  pay  toll  to  him  who  needs  clothes .? "  He  caused  them  to  be  flogged  and 
sent  them  back  to  work.  The  misery  of  the  slave  population  seems  to  have 
reached  its  acme  at  Enna  where  two  roads  across  the  island  cross  each 
other.  The  town  lies  3000  feet  high.  It  was  a  great  fortress  down  into 
the  Middle  Ages.^  At  this  place  began  a  slave  revolt,  led  by  a  Syrian 
skilled  in  sorcery.  The  slaves  took  the  city  and  engaged  in  rapine  and 
murder.  A  band  was  sent  to  capture  Damophilos.  The  men  killed  him, 
and  the  women  his  wife.  Their  daughter  was  sent  in  security  to  her 
relatives. 1"    It  was  ten  years  before  peace  was  restored  to  the  island. 

1  Plutarch,  Crassus,  9;   Appianus,  I,  c.  120.  ''  Ibid.,  45. 

2  Dion.  Halic,  V,  51 ;   X,  16  ;  Livy,  III,  15.  «  XXXIV,  frag.  2,  8-11. 
8  Livy,  IV,  45.                                                                         9  Bucher,  52. 

*  Ibid.,  XXXII,  36.  10  Ibid.,  56. 

^  Neumann,  Gesch.  Ro7ns,  I,  382. 

6  Bucher,  Aufsidnde  d.  Uiifreien  Arbeiter,  31. 


282  FOLKWAYS 

288.  Later  Roman  slavery.  Slaves  in  the  civil  wars.  Clientage. 

Down  to  about  200  B.C.  slavery,  although  mechanical  and  cruel, 
was  domestic.  The  slave  was  a  member  of  the  household,  on 
intimate  terms  with  the  master  or  his  children,  shared  in  the  reli- 
gious exercises,  and  the  graves  of  slaves  were  under  religious 
protection. 1  In  the  second  century  B.C.  Roman  expansion  gained 
momentum  and  produced  power  and  wealth.  The  factions  of 
the  city  were  fighting  for  control  of  the  booty.  Roman  character 
became  mechanical  and  hard.  This  affected  the  type  of  slavery. 
By  100  B.C.  Carthaginians,  Greeks,  and  Romans  had  developed 
a  system  of  holding  slaves  which  was  cruel  and  reckless,  and 
slaves  had  acquired  a  character  of  hatred,  venom,  and  desire 
for  revenge.  They  were  malignant,  cunning,  and  hypocritical.^ 
In  the  civil  wars  each  leader  sought  the  help  of  slaves.  Sulla 
set  free  10,000  of  them,  whom  he  put  in  the  tribes  of  the  city.^ 
After  the  battle  of  Cannae  the  Romans  armed  8000  slaves 
whom  they  enfranchised.*  ^milius  Paulus  sold  1 5,000  Epirotes. 
Marius  made  90,000  Teutons  captives  at  Aquae  Sextiae  and 
60,000  Cimbrians  at  Vercellae.  When  Marius  offered  liberty 
to  slaves  only  three  followed  him.^  Sulla  promised  liberty  to 
the  slaves  of  the  proscribed,  if  they  would  bear  testimony  against 
their  masters.  One  did  so.  Sulla  freed  him,  but  then  put  him 
to  death.  Thus  the  slaves  were  the  sport  of  political  factions 
and  leaders.  The  Roman  conquests  caused  everywhere  a  certain 
servile  temper.  All  conquered  people  were  depressed  into  quasi- 
slavery.  All  had  to  pay  a  head  tax,  which  was  a  mark  of  serv- 
itude. The  Roman  system  reduced  all  to  servitude.  A  late 
emperor  called  the  senators  "slaves  in  the  toga."  When  all 
were  rendered  nil  under  the  emperor  the  slaves  gained.  They 
were  not  in  worse  case  than  the  rest.^  During  the  conquests 
entire  peoples  became  clients.  If  any  one  did  not  attach  him- 
self as  client  to  a  great  family  he  was  lost.  Freed  women,  for 
this  reason,  almost  always  fell  into  vice.''    Clientage  became  the 

1  Rossbach,  Rom.  Ehe,  23  ;   Plutarch,  Coriolanus.  ^  Plutarch,  Stella,  9. 

2  Wallon,  L'Esclavage,  I,  406;   II,  262.  *  Livy,  XXII,  57. 
^  Plutarch,  Marius,  35. 

8  Grupp,  Kiiltia-gesch.  der  Rom.  Kaiserzeit,  I,  306.  ''  Ibid.,  271. 


SLAVERY  283 

refuge  of  loafers.  "  Romans  did  not  give  anything  gratis."  All 
who  were  outside  the  social  system  had  to  seek  the  patronage 
of  a  great  man.  For  his  protection  he  took  pay  in  money  or 
service.    The  status  was  a  modified  slavery. 

289.  Manumission.  Natural  liberty.  The  slave  dealers  de- 
veloped tricks  far  surpassing  those  of  horse  dealers  in  modern 
times. ^  By  enfranchisement  the  owner  got  rid  of  the  worst 
worry  of  slavery,  and  tied  the  freedman  to  himself  by  a  con- 
tract which  it  was  for  the  interest  of  the  freedman  to  fulfill. 
The  owner  made  a  crafty  gain.^  Tacitus  ^  says  that,  in  his 
time,  the  Roman  people  was  almost  entirely  freedmen.  If  that 
is  so,  we  must  notice  that  the  "people,"  under  the  empire,  are 
a  different  set  from  what  they  were  under  the  republic.  When 
the  Romans  got  an  educated  artisan  as  a  slave  they  set  him  to 
teach  a  number  of  others.  When  no  more  outsiders  were  con- 
quered and  enslaved  the  slaves  taught  each  other.  The  work 
then  became  gross  and  ran  down.*  This  was  another  of  the 
ways  in  which  Rome  consumed  the  products  and  culture  of  the 
world.  Very  few  instances,  real  or  fictitious,  of  sympathy  with 
slaves  can  be  cited.  In  the  story  of  TrimalcJiio,  Encolpius  and 
his  friends  beg  off  a  slave  who  is  to  be  whipped  for  losing  the 
garment  of  another  slave  in  the  bath.  At  a  supper  at  which 
Augustus  was  present  a  slave  broke  a  vase.  His  master  ordered 
him  cast  to  the  mjtre^iae  in  a  tank.  The  slave  begged  Augustus 
to  obtain  for  him  an  easier  death,  which  Augustus  tried  to  do. 
The  master  refused.  Augustus  then  gave  the  slave  complete 
grace,  broke  the  host's  other  vases  himself,  and  ordered  the 
tank  filled  up.^  Under  Nero,  Pedanius  having  been  murdered, 
his  slaves,  four  hundred  in  number,  were  all  condemned  to  death, 
according  to  law.  The  populace  rose  against  this  sentence,  which 
was  fulfilled,  but  it  shows  that  there  was  a  popular  judgment 
which  would  respond  upon  occasion.^  "  Not  once,  in  all  antiquity, 
does  a  serious  thought  about  the  abolition  of  slavery  arise."  ' 

^  Dezobry,  Rotne  an  Siefle  crAiigustc,  I,  260.  ^  Seneca,  De  Ira,  III,  40. 

2  Wallon,  VEsclavage,  III,  Chap.  X.  6  Tacitus,  Annals,  XIV,  42. 

3  Annals,  XIII,  26.  "^  Biicher,  Ajifstdnde,  17. 
*  Moreau-Christophe,  Droit  i  VOisivete,  257. 


284  FOLKWAYS 

It  was  the  basis  of  the  entire  social  and  political  order.  They 
were  in  terror  of  the  slaves  and  despised  them,  but  could  not 
conceive  of  a  world  without  them.  Probably  we  could  not 
either,  if  we  had  not  machines  by  means  of  which  we  make 
steam  and  electricity  work  for  us.  Individuals  were  manumitted 
on  account  of  the  gain  to  the  master.  The  owner  said,  in  the 
presence  of  a  magistrate,  "  I  will  that  this  man  be  free,  after 
the  manner  of  the  Quirites."  The  magistrate  touched  the  head 
of  the  slave  with  his  rod,  the  master  boxed  his  ears,  and  he  was 
a  free  man.^  The  law  provided  a  writ,  "  resembling  in  some  re- 
spects the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  to  compel  any  one  who  detained 
an  alleged  freedman  to  present  him  before  a  judge."  ^  The 
Roman  lawyers  also,  if  they  could  find  a  moment  during  gesta- 
tion when  the  mother  had  been  free,  employed  legal  fiction  to 
assume  that  the  child  had  been  born  at  that  moment.^  Floren- 
tinus  defined  slavery  as  "  a  custom  of  the  law  of  nations  by 
which  one  man,  contrary  to  the  law  of  nature,  is  subjected  to 
the  dominion  of  another."*  Ulpian  likewise  said  that,  "as  far 
as  natural  law  is  concerned,  all  men  are  equal."  ^ 

290.  Slavery  as  represented  in  the  inscriptions.  "  The  inscrip- 
tions reveal  to  us  a  better  side  of  slave  life,  which  is  not  so 
prominent  in  our  literary  authorities."  They  show  cases  of 
strong  conjugal  affection  between  slave  spouses,  and  of  affec- 
tion between  master  and  slave .^  In  the  first  century  the  waste 
of  the  fortunes  won  by  extortion  from  the  provinces,  and  the 
opening  of  industrial  opportunities  by  commerce,  with  security, 
gave  great  stimulus  to  free  industry.  The  inscriptions  "  show 
the  enormous  and  flourishing  development  of  skilled  handicrafts," 
with  minute  specialization.  "  The  immense  development  of  the 
free  proletariat,  in  the  time  of  the  early  empire,  is  one  of  the 
most  striking  social  phenomena  which  the  study  of  the  inscrip- 
tions has  brought  to  light."  The  time  was  then  past  when 
Roman  society  depended  entirely  on  slave  labor  for  the  supply 
of   all   its   wants."    Dill    thinks   that    "  the    new  class   of   free 

^  Blair,  Slavery  amongst  the  Romans,  164.  ^  Dill,  Nero  to  M.  Aurel.,  1 17. 

2  Ibid.,  32.  4  Digest,  I,  I,  4.  ''  Ibid.,  251-252. 

3  Ibid.,  48.  ^  Ibid.,  L,  17,  32. 


SLAVERY  285 

artisans  and  traders  had  often,  so  far  as  we  can  judge  by  stone 
records,  a  sound  and  healthy  hfe,  sobered  and  dignified  by 
honest  toil,  and  the  pride  of  skill  and  independence."  ^  The 
slave  acted  only  under  two  motives,  fear  and  sensuality.  Both 
made  him  cowardly,  cringing,  cunning,  and  false,  and  at  the 
same  time  fond  of  good  eating  and  drinking  and  of  sensual 
indulgence.  As  he  was  subject  to  the  orders  of  others,  he  lacked 
character,  and  this  suited  his  master  all  the  better.  The  morality 
of  slaves  extended  in  the  society,  and  the  society  was  guided 
by  the  views  of  freedmen  in  its  intellectual  activity.  The 
strongest  symptom  of  this  was  the  prevalence  of  a  morality  of 
tips,  which  put  on  the  forms  of  liberality.  It  was  no  more 
disgrace  to  take  gifts  than  to  give  them.  Senators  took  gifts 
from  the  emperor,  and  all,  including  the  emperor,  reckoned  on 
legacies.  Thus  the  lack  of  character  spread.^  Slavery  proved 
a  great  corrupter  of  both  slaves  and  owners.  It  was  the  chief 
cause  of  the  downfall  of  the  state  which  had  been  created  by 
it.  It  made  cowards  of  both  owners  and  slaves.  "The  woes 
of  negro  slaves  were  insignificant,  like  a  drop  to  an  ocean,  in 
comparison  with  the  sufferings  of  ancient  slaves,  for  the  latter 
generally  belonged  to  civilized  peoples."  ^ 

291.  Rise  of  the  freedmen  in  industry.  The  freedmen  were 
the  ones  who  were  free  from  the  old  Roman  contempt  for  pro- 
ductive labor.  They  seized  the  chances  for  industry  and  com- 
merce and  amassed  wealth.  "  Not  only  are  they  crowding  all  the 
meaner  trades  [in  the  first  and  second  centuries  of  the  Christian 
era],  from  which  Roman  pride  shrank  contemptuously,  but,  by 
industry,  shrewdness,  and  speculative  daring,  they  are  becoming 
great  capitalists  and  landowners  on  a  senatorial  scale."  ^  "  The 
plebeian,  saturated  with  Roman  prejudice,  looking  for  support  to 
the  granaries  of  the  state  or  the  dole  of  the  wealthy  patron, 
turned  with  disdain  from  the  occupations  which  are  in  our  days 
thought  innocent,  if  not  honorable."^  "After  all  reservations, 
the  ascent  of   the   freedmen  remains   a   great   and   beneficent 

1  Dill,  AWo  to  M.  Aiirel.,  253.  *  Dill,  A'ero  to  M.  Aurel.,  100. 

2  Grupp,  Knltti7-gesch.  der  R'dm.  Kaiserzeit,  I,  312-314. 

3  Ibid.,  301.  ^  Ibid.,  102. 


286  FOLKWAYS 

revolution.  The  very  reasons  which  made  Juvenal  hate  it  most 
are  its  best  justification  to  a  modern  mind.  It  gave  hope  of  a 
future  to  the  slave.  By  creating  a  free  industrial  class  it  helped 
to  break  down  the  cramped  social  ideal  of  the  slave  owner  and 
the  soldier.  It  planted  in  every  municipality  a  vigorous  mer- 
cantile class,  who  were  often  excellent  and  generous  citizens. 
Above  all,  it  asserted  the  dignity  of  man."  ^  But  for  the  freed- 
men  the  society  seems  to  have  contained  but  two  classes,  —  "a 
small  class  of  immensely  wealthy  people,  and  an  almost  starving 
proletariat."  '•^ 

292.  The  freedmen  in  the  state.  Every  despot  needs  minis- 
ters. The  history  of  all  despotisms  shows  that  they  find  those 
best  suited  to  their  purpose  in  persons  of  humble  rank.  They 
can  use  such  ministers  against  nobles  or  other  great  men,  and 
can  command  their  complete  loyalty.  Julius  Caesar  made  some 
of  his  freedmen  officers  of  the  mint.  It  was  simply  an  exten- 
sion of  the  usage  of  aristocratic  households.  The  emperor  em- 
ployed freedmen  to  write  letters  and  administer  the  finances  of 
the  empire  as  he  would  have  used  them  to  manage  his  private 
estate.  "  Under  Caligula,  Claudius,  and  Nero,  the  imperial 
freedmen  attained  their  greatest  ascendancy.  Callistus,  Nar- 
cissus, and  Pallas  rose  to  the  rank  of  great  ministers,  and,  in 
the  reign  of  Claudius,  were  practically  masters  of  the  world. 
They  accumulated  enormous  wealth  by  abusing  their  power, 
and  making  a  traffic  in  civic  rights,  in  places,  or  pardons."  ^ 
The  freedmen  favorites  carried  the  evil  effects  of  slavery  on 
character  to  another  stage  and  were  agents  of  the  corruption  of 
the  new  form  of  the  state  by  the  inheritance  of  slavery.  "  The 
women  of  the  freedmen  class,  for  generations,  wielded,  in  their 
own  way,  a  power  which  sometimes  rivaled  that  of  the  men." 
They  often  had  great  charms  of  person  and  mind.  "  Their 
morals  were  the  result  of  an  uncertain  social  position,  combined 
with  personal  attractions,  and  education."  Some  of  them  did 
great  mischief.  Panthea,  mistress  of  Lucius  Verus,  is  celebrated 
as  one  of  the  most  beautiful  women  who  ever  lived.  She  had  a 
lovely  voice,  was  fond  of  music  and  poetry,  and   had  a  very 

1  Dill,  Nero  to  M.  Aurel.,  105.  ^  /^^-^.^  ^4.  3  JbiJ,^  106. 


SLAVERY  287 

superior  mind.  She  "  never  lost  her  natural  modesty  and  simple 
sweetness."  ^  In  the  first  century  some  freedmen  married 
daughters  of  senatorial  houses.  They  were  very  able  men.  No 
others  could  have  performed  the  duties  of  the  three  great 
secretaryships,  —  appeals,  petitions,  and  correspondence.  The 
fortunes  of  these  men  were  often  adventurous  in  the  extreme, 
like  those  of  the  ministers  of  sultans  in  the  Arabian  Nights. 
A  slave,  advanced  to  a  higher  position  in  a  household,  then  to 
a  position  of  confidence,  where  he  proved  his  ability  and  devo- 
tion, got  a  great  office  and  became  master  of  the  world.  Men 
of  this  kind  have  always  been  refused  social  status.^  In  the 
second  century  the  system  was  changed,  and  knights  became 
the  great  officers  of  administration. 

293.  Philosophers  opponents  of  slavery.  The  great  neostoics 
of  the  first  century  first  denounced  slavery  and  uttered  the  great 
humanitarian  doctrines.  The  real  question  in  regard  to  Roman 
slavery  was  this  :  Is  a  slave  not  a  man  }  If  he  was  one,  he  was 
either  the  victim  of  misfortune  or  the  inheritor  of  the  misfor- 
tune of  an  ancestor.  If  he  did  not  thereby  lose  human  status 
as  a  member  of  the  race  he  deserved  pity  and  help.  The  humani- 
tarian philosophy,  therefore,  had  the  simplest  task  and  the  most 
direct  application.  Dio  Chrysostom  declared  the  evil  effects  of 
slavery  on  the  masters,  sensuality,  languor,  and  dependence. 
He  pointed  out  the  wide  difference  between  personal  status  and 
character,  —  the  possible  nobility  of  a  slave  and  the  possible 
servility  of  a  freeman.^  Seneca  especially  taught  the  abstract 
philosophy  of  liberalism,  kindness,  and  humanity.  He  represented 
a  movement  in  public  opinion.  Pliny  cultivated  all  the  graces 
of  the  debonair  gentleman.  Dill  compares  him  to  a  "  kindly 
English  squire."  The  inscriptions  show  that  "his  household 
was  by  no  means  a  rare  exception."  ^  Slaves  had  such  perqui- 
sites and  chances  that  "  the  slave  could  easily  purchase  his  own 
freedom."  "The  trusted  slave  was  often  actually  a  partner, 
with  a  share  of  the  profits  of  an  estate,  or  he  had  a  commission 
on  the  returns."  ^    Plutarch's  whole  philosophy  of  life  is  gentle 

1  Dill,  jVero  ^o  M.  Aurel.,  11 4-1 16.       ^  Orat.,  X,  13;   XV,  5.         ^  /^/^.^  ny. 

2  Ibid.,  112.  4  Dill,  Xero  to  M.  Aurel.,  182. 


288  FOLKWAYS 

and  kindly.  It  is  unemotional  and  nonstimulating.  The  neo- 
stoics  Viad  the  character  of  an  esoteric  sect.  We  never  are  sure 
that  their  writings  are  any  more  than  rhetorical  exercises,  or 
that  they  act  or  expect  others  to  act  by  their  precepts.  Slavery 
was  such  a  fact  in  the  social  order  that  no  one  could  conceive 
of  the  abolition  of  it,  or  propose  abolition  as  a  thing  within  the 
scope  of  statesmanship. 

294.  The  industrial  colleges.  The  Romans  had  a  genius  for 
association  and  organization.  Under  the  republic  artisans  began 
to  unite  in  colleges.  In  the  last  century  of  the  republic  the 
political  leaders  took  alarm  at  these  unions  and  forbade  them. 
Caesar  and  Augustus  abolished  the  right  of  association.  In  the 
second  century  a  certain  number  of  societies  existed,  in  spite  of 
prohibitions,  —  miners,  salt  workers,  bakers,  and  boatmen.  Until 
Justinian  all  such  unions  were  carefully  watched  as  dangerous 
to  public  peace  and  order.  In  the  civil  law  they  were  authorized, 
and  made  like  natural  persons.^  The  fashion  of  them  became 
very  popular,  "  The  colleges  in  which  the  artisans  and  traders 
of  the  Antonine  age  grouped  themselves  are  almost  innumerable, 
even  in  the  records  which  time  has  spared.  They  represent 
almost  every  conceivable  branch  of  industry,  or  special  skill,  or 
social  service."  ^  "  Men  formed  themselves  into  these  groups  for 
the  most  trivial  or  whimsical  reasons,  or  for  no  reason  at  all, 
except  that  they  lived  in  the  same  quarter  and  often  met.  From 
the  view  which  the  inscriptions  give  us  of  the  interior  of  some 
of  these  clubs,  it  is  clear  that  their  main  purpose  was  social 
pleasure."^  "And  yet,  many  an  inscription  leaves  the  impres- 
sion that  these  little  societies  of  the  old  pagan  world  are 
nurseries,  in  an  imperfect  way,  of  gentle  charities  and  brotherh- 
ness."  *  They  had  many  honorary  members  from  among  the 
richer  classes.  Wandering  merchants  and  military  veterans,  as 
well  as  young  men  fond  of  sport,  formed  clubs  on  the  same  type. 
Alexander  Severus  organized  all  the  industrial  colleges  and 
assigned  them  defensores.  In  the  colleges  all  were  equal,  so 
that    they  were   educational    in  effect.    "  But   these  instances 

i  Digest,  III,  tit.  4,  I.  8  jiid.^  254,  266,  268. 

20111,265.  ^  Ibid.,  2TI. 


SLAVERY  289 

cannot  make  us  forget  the  cruel  contempt  and  barbarity  of 
which  the  slave  was  still  the  victim,  and  which  was  to  be  his  lot 
for  many  generations  yet  to  run.  Therefore  the  improvement  in 
the  condition  of  the  slave,  or  of  his  poor  plebeian  brother,  by 
the  theoretical  equality  in  the  colleges  may  be  easily  exagger- 
ated." ^  The  statesmen  had  feared  that  the  artisans  might  use 
their  organization  to  interfere  in  politics.  What  happened  in  the 
fourth  century  was  that  the  state  used  the  organizations  to 
reduce  the  artisans  to  servitude,  and  to  subject  them  to  heavy 
social  obligations  by  law. 

295.  Laws  changed  in  favor  of  slaves.  When  the  conquests 
ceased  and  the  supply  of  new  slaves  was  reduced  those  slaves 
who  were  born  in  the  households  or  on  the  estates  came  into 
gentler  relations  to  their  owners.  Slaves  rose  in  value  and  were 
worth  more  care.  The  old  plan  of  Cato  became  uneconomical. 
All  sentiments  were  softened  in  the  first  century  as  war  became 
less  constant,  less  important,  and  more  remote.  The  empire 
was  an  assumption  by  the  state  of  functions  and  powers  which 
had  been  family  powers  and  functions,  and  part  of  the  patria 
potestas.  Women,  children,  and  slaves  shared  in  emancipation 
until  the  state  made  laws  to  execute  its  jurisdiction  over 
them.  Hadrian  took  from  masters  the  power  of  life  and  death 
over  slaves.  Antoninus  Pius  confirmed  this,  and  provided  that 
he  who  killed  his  own  slave  should  suffer  the  same  penalty  as  he 
who  killed  the  slave  of  another.^  This  brought  the  life  of  every 
slave  into  the  protection  of  the  state.  Under  Nero  a  judge  was 
appointed  to  hear  the  complaints  of  slaves  and  to  punish  owners 
who  misused  them.  Domitian  forbade  castration.  Hadrian 
forbade  the  sale  of  slaves  to  be  gladiators.  The  right  to  sell 
female  slaves  into  brothels  was  also  abolished. '^ 

296.  Christianity  and  slavery.  In  1853  C.  Schmidt  published 
an  essay  on  the  "  Civil  Society  of  the  Roman  World  and  its  Trans- 
formation by  Christianity,"  in  which  he  thought  it  right  to 
attribute  all  the  softening  of  the  mores  in  the  first  three  Chris- 
tian centuries  to  Christianity.  Lecky,  on  the  other  hand,  says  : 
"  Slavery  was  distinctly  and  formally  recognized  by  Christianity, 

1  Dill,  282.  2  Tnstit.,  I,  8  ;  Digest,  I,  6,  2.  3  Wallon,  VEsclavage,  III,  51  ff. 


290 


FOLKWAYS 


and  no  religion  ever  labored  more  to  encourage  a  habit  of 
docility  and  passive  obedience."  ^  Schmidt  is  obliged  to  take 
the  ground  that  Christianity  received  and  accepted  slavery  as  a 
current  institution,  in  which  property  rights  existed,  and  that 
it  suffered  these  to  stand.  If  that  is  true,  then  Christianity 
could  not  exert  much  influence  on  civil  society.  What  Christian- 
ity did  was  to  counteract  to  a  great  extent  the  sentiment  of 
contempt  for  slaves  and  for  work.  It  did  this  ritually,  because 
in  the  church,  and  especially  in  the  Lord's  Supper,  all  participated 
alike  and  equally  in  the  rites.  The  doctrine  that  Christ  died  for  all 
alike  combined  with  the  philosophical  and  humanitarian  doctrine 
that  men  are  of  the  same  constitution  and  physique  to  produce 
a  state  of  mind  hostile  to  slavery.  In  the  fourth  century  the 
church  began  to  own  great  possessions,  including  slaves,  and  it 
accepted  the  standpoint  of  the  property  owner.^  In  the  Satur- 
nalia of  Macrobius  (fl.  400  a.d.)  Praetextatus  reaffirms  the  old 
neostoic  doctrine  about  slavery,  of  Seneca  and  Dio  Chrysos- 
tom.  DilP  takes  the  doctrine  to  be  the  expression  of  the  convic- 
tions of  the  best  and  most  thoughtful  men  of  that  time.  It  is 
not  to  be  found  in  Jerome,  Augustine,  or  Chrysostom.  Never- 
theless the  church  favored  manumission  and  took  charge  of  the 
ceremony.  It  especially  favored  it  when  the  manumitted  would 
become  priests  or  monks.  The  church  came  nearest  to  the 
realization  of  its  own  doctrines  when  it  refused  to  consider  slave 
birth  a  barrier  to  priesthood.  In  all  the  penitential  discipline  of 
the  church  also  bond  and  free  were  on  an  equality.  The  inter- 
marriage of  slave  and  free  was  still  forbidden.  Constantine 
ordered  that  if  a  free  woman  had  intercourse  with  her  slave 
she  should  be  executed  and  he  should  be  burned  alive.*  The 
pagan  law  only  ordered  that  she  should  be  reduced  to  slavery. 
The  manumissions  under  Constantine  were  believed,  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  to  have  caused  almshouses  and  hospitals  to 

^  Eitr.  Morals^  II,  65. 

2  Muratori  {Dissert.  XV)  thinks  that  all  ecclesiastics  were  bound  not  to  allow 
the  income  of  their  places  to  be  reduced  during  their  tenancy.  This  duty  set  their 
attitude  to  slavery. 

^  Roman  Society  in  the  Last  Century  of  Ro7ne,  161. 

*  Cod.  Theod.,  IX,  9. 


SLAVERY  291 

be  built,  on  account  of  the  great  numbers  of  helpless  persons  set 
adrift.^  Basil  the  Macedonian  (f  886)  first  enacted  that  slaves 
might  have  an  ecclesiastical  marriage,  but  the  prejudice  of 
centuries  made  this  enactment  vain.^  The  abolition  of  cruci- 
fixion had  special  value  to  the  slave  class.  There  was  no  longer 
a  special  and  most  infamous  mode  of  execution  for  them.  A  law 
of  Constantine  forbade  the  separation  of  members  of  a  family 
of  slaves.^  These  are  the  most  important  changes  in  the  law  of 
slavery  until  the  time  of  the  codex  of  Justinian.  Lecky  thinks 
that  Justinian  advanced  the  law  beyond  what  his  predecessors 
had  done  more  in  regard  to  slavery  than  on  any  other  point. 
His  changes  touched  three  points  :  (i)  He  abolished  all  the 
restrictions  on  enfranchisement  which  remained  from  the  old 
pagan  laws,  and  encouraged  it.  (2)  He  abolished  the  freedmen 
as  an  intermediate  class,  so  that  there  remained  only  slave  and 
free,  and  a  senator  could  marry  a  freed  woman,  i.e.  a  slave 
whom  he  had  already  freed.  (3)  A  slave  might  marry  a  free 
woman,  if  his  master  consented,  and  her  children,  born  in 
slavery,  became  free  if  the  father  was  enfranchised.  The  punish- 
ment for  the  rape  of  a  slave  woman  was  made  death,  the  same 
as  for  the  rape  of  a  free  woman.*  Isidore  of  Seville  (f  636) 
said  :  "  A  just  God  alloted  life  to  men,  making  some  slaves 
and  some  lords,  that  the  liberty  of  ill-doing  on  the  part  of  slaves 
might  be  restrained  by  the  authority  of  rulers."  Still  he  says 
that  all  men  are  equal  before  God,  and  that  Christ's  redemption 
has  wiped  away  original  sin,  which  was  the  cause  of  slavery.^ 

297.  The  colonate.  At  the  end  of  the  empire  population  was 
declining,  land  was  going  out  of  use  and  returning  to  wilderness, 
the  petty  grandees  in  towns  were  crushed  by  taxes  into  poverty, 
artisans  were  running  away  and  becoming  brigands  because  the 
state  was  immobilizing  them,  and  peasants  were  changed  into 
colons.  The  imperial  system  went  on  until  the  man,  the  emperor, 
was  above  all  laws,  the  senate  were  slaves,  and  the  provinces 
were  the  booty  of  the  emperor.    The  whole  system  then  became 

1  Bodin,  Repjiblic,  Book  I,  Chap.  V.  3  Cod.  T/ieod.,  II,  25. 

2  Lecky,  Eur.  Morals,  II,  64.  ■*  Lecky,  Eur.  Morals,  II,  65. 

5  Scntent.,  lib.  Ill,  cap.  47. 


292  FOLKWAYS 

immobilized.  What  the  colons  were  and  how  they  came  into 
existence  has  been  much  disputed.  They  were  immobilized 
peasants.  We  find  them  an  object  of  legislation  in  the  codex 
Theodosiamts  in  the  fourth  century.  They  were  personally  free 
(they  could  marry,  own  property,  could  not  be  sold),  but  they 
were  bound  to  the  soil  by  birth  and  passed  with  it.  They  culti- 
vated the  land  of  a  lord,  and  paid  part  of  the  crops  or  money. ^ 
Marquardt  thinks  that  they  arose  from  barbarians  quartered  in 
the  Roman  empire.^  Heisterbergk  ^  thinks  that  there  are  three 
possible  sources,  between  which  he  does  not  decide,  —  impover- 
ished freemen,  emancipated  slaves,  barbarian  prisoners.  Wallon  * 
ascribes  the  colonate  to  the  administration.  As  society  degener- 
ated it  became  harder  and  harder  to  get  the  revenue,  and  the 
state  adopted  administrative  measures  to  get  the  property  of 
any  one  who  had  any.  This  system  impoverished  everybody. 
To  carry  it  out  it  was  necessary  to  immobilize  everybody,  to 
force  each  one  to  accept  the  conditions  of  his  birth  as  a  status 
from  which  he  could  not  escape.  What  made  the  colonate,  then, 
was  misery.^  Emancipated  slaves  and  impoverished  peasants 
met  in  the  class  of  colons,  in  state  servitude.  The  proprietors 
were  only  farmers  for  the  state.  The  tribute  was  the  due  of  the 
state.  Laborers  were  enrolled  in  the  census  and  held  for  the 
state.  The  interest  of  the  fisciis  held  the  colon  to  the  soil.^ 
The  words  "  colon  "  and  "  slave  "  are  used  interchangeably  in  the 
codex  Jus  tm  ia  n  us . 

298.  Depopulation.  The  depopulation  of  Italy  under  the 
empire  is  amply  proved.  Vespasian  moved  population  from 
Umbria  and  the  Sabine  territory  to  the  plain  of  Rome.''  Marcus 
Aurelius  established  the  Marcomanni  in  Italy. ^  Pertinax  offered 
land  in  Italy  and  the  provinces  to  any  one  who  would  cultivate 
it.^  Auelian  tried  to  get  land  occupied. ^°  He  sent  barbarians 
to  settle  in  Tuscany. ^^    As  time  went  on  more  and  more  land 

1  Marquardt,  J?om.  Staatsverwaltiuig,  II,  233.         ^  Ibid.,  308. 
"  Ibid.,  234.  "^  Suetonius,   Vespas.,  i. 

3  EntstehiDig  des  Colonats,  11.  ^  Jul.  Capitol.,  M.  Aiirel.,  22. 

*  L' Esclavage,  III,  282.  ^  Herodianus,  II,  4,  sec.  12. 

6  Ibid.,  313.  10  Cod.  Just.,  XI,  LVIII. 

11  Vopisc,  Aurelian,  48. 


SLAVERY 


293 


was  abandoned  and  greater  efforts  were  made  to  secure  settlers. 
Valentinian  settled  German  prisoners  in  the  valley  of  the  Po.^ 
In  the  time  of  Honorius,  in  Campania  five  hundred  thou- 
sand arpents  were  discharged  from  the  fiscus  as  deserted  and 
waste.  In  the  third  century,  if  the  colon  ran  away  from  land 
which  no  one  would  take  he  was  pursued  by  all  the  agencies  of 
the  law  and  brought  back  like  a  criminal.^  The  colons  ran  away 
because  the  cnrialcs,  their  masters,  put  on  them  the  taxes  which 
the  state  levied  first  on  the  curiales?  What  was  wanted  was 
men.  The  Roman  imperial  system  had  made  men  scarce  by 
making  life  hard.  Pliny  said  that  the  latifnndia  destroyed  Italy. 
The  saying  has  been  often  quoted  in  modern  times  as  if  it  had 
some  unquestionable  authority.  It  is  a  case  of  the  common 
error  of  confusing  cause  and  consequence.  The  latifnndia  were 
a  consequence  and  a  symptom.  Heisterbergk  *  thinks  that  the 
latifnndia  were  not  produced  by  economic  causes,  but  by  vanity 
and  ostentation.  The  owners  did  not  look  to  the  land  for  revenue. 
He  asks  °  how  a  strictly  scientific  system  of  grand  culture  with 
plenty  of  labor  could  ruin  any  country.  Rodbertus  ^  thinks  that 
the  latifnjidia  went  from  a  grand  system  to  a  petty  system 
between  the  times  of  the  elder  and  the  younger  Pliny  by  the 
operation  of  the  law  of  rent.  He  thinks  that  there  must  have 
been  garden  culture  in  Italy  at  the  beginning  of  the  empire,  and 
that  the  colonate  arose  from  big  estates  with  petty  industry  and 
from  the  law  of  mortgage.  He  thinks,  further,  that  the  colons, 
until  the  fourth  century,  were  slaves,  and  that  their  status  was 
softened  by  the  legislation  of  the  fourth  century.  Heisterbergk 
thinks  that  the  colonate  began  in  the  corn  provinces,  and  that  it 
was,  at  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  century,  on  the  point  of  pass- 
ing away,  but  the  legislation  of  the  fourth  century  perpetuated 
it.  He  thinks  that  it  was  injured,  as  an  institution,  by  the  great 
increase  of  taxation  after  Diocletian.  Then  legislation  was 
necessary  to  keep  the  colons  on  the  land.'' 

1  Am.  Marcel.,  XXVIII,  5.  ^  7/,/,/.^  63. 

2  Moreau-Christophe,  Le  Droit  h  FOisivete,  274.  ^  Hildeb.  Ztsft.,  206. 

3  Rodbertus,  Hildeb.  Ztsft.,  II,  241.  "^  Colonat,  143. 

*  Colonat,  67.  '  ' 


294 


FOLKWAYS 


299.  Summary  on  Roman  slavery.  Chrysostom  describes  the 
misbehavior  of  all  classes,  about  400  a.d.^  The  colons  were 
overburdened.  When  they  could  not  pay  they  were  tortured. 
A  colon  was  flogged,  chained,  and  thrown  into  prison,  where  he 
was  forgotten.  His  wife  and  child  were  left  in  misery  to  support 
themselves,  and  get  something  for  him  if  they  could.  The  Roman 
system,  after  consuming  all  the  rest  of  the  world,  began  to  consume 
itself.  The  Roman  empire  at  last  had  only  substituted  one  kind  of 
slaves  for  another.  Artisans  and  peasants  were  now  slaves  of  the 
state.  Slavery  was  at  first  a  means.  By  it  the  subjugated 
countries  were  organized  into  a  great  state.  Then  it  developed 
its  corruption.  It  was  made  to  furnish  gladiators  and  harlots. 
Nowhere  else  do  we  see  how  slavery  makes  cowards  of  both  slaves 
and  owners  as  we  see  it  at  Rome  in  the  days  of  glory.  Slavery 
rose  to  control  of  the  mores.  The  free  men  who  discussed  con- 
temporary civilization  groaned  over  the  effects  of  slavery  on  the 
family  and  on  private  interests,  but  they  did  not  see  any  chance 
of  otherwise  getting  the  work  done.  Then  all  the  other  social 
institutions  and  arrangements  had  to  conform  to  slavery.  It 
controlled  the  mores,  prescribed  the  ethics,  and  made  the  char- 
acter. In  the  last  century  of  the  Western  empire  the  protest 
against  it  ceased.  It  seemed  to  be  accepted  as  inevitable,  and 
one  of  the  unavoidable  ills  of  life.  It  ruled  society.  Scarcely 
a  man  represented  the  old  civilization  who  can  command  our 
respect.    The  social  and  civic  virtues  were  dead. 

300.  In  all  the  ancient  world  we  meet  with  distinct  repudia- 
tion of  slavery  only  amongst  the  Therapeuts,  a  communistic 
association  amongst  the  Jews  in  the  last  century  before  Christ. 
They  were  ascetics,  each  of  whom  lived  in  a  cell.  We  first  hear 
of  them  through  Philo  Judaeus  {The  Cojitemplative  Life)  about 
the  time  of  the  birth  of  Christ.  They  had  no  slaves.  They 
regarded  slavery  as  absolutely  contrary  to  nature.  Nature 
produced  all  in  a  state  of  freedom,  but  the  greed  of  some 
had  vested  some  with  power  over  others.^  The  Therapeuts, 
who  included  women,  did  their  own  work.    They  carried  on  no 

1  Honi.  on  Matthew^  62  ;   Migne,  Patrol.  Graec,  LVIII,  591. 
•  2  Cook,  Fathers  of  Jesus,  II,  25. 


SLAVERY  295 

productive  industry  the  products  of  which  they  could  give  in 
exchange.  Their  system  could  not  endure  without  an  endow- 
ment.^ Bousset^  thinks  that,  "if  they  ever  existed,  they  can 
never  have  had  more  than  a  limited  and  ephemeral  significance." 
Their  central  home  was  on  a  hill  near  lake  Marea.  Their  place 
of  meeting,  on  the  seventh  day,  was  divided  by  a  wall,  three  or 
four  cubits  high,  into  two  compartments,  one  for  the  women,  the 
other  for  the  men.  They  reduced  the  consumption  of  food  and 
drink  as  much  as  possible.  Sometimes  they  abstained  for  three 
or  four  days.  They  had  a  very  simple  feast  on  the  forty-ninth 
day,  the  men  and  women  sitting  separately  on  coarse  mattresses.^ 
301.  Slavery  amongst  the  Germanic  nations.  According  to 
the  most  primary  view,  the  one  which  we  might  call  natural,  a 
war  captive's  due  fate  was  to  be  killed  in  sacrifice  to  the  god  of 
the  victor.  During  some  interval  of  time  before  his  public 
execution  he  was  set  at  work,  and  the  convenience  of  his 
services  was  learned.  He  was  kept  alive  in  order  to  be  employed 
in  the  labors  which  were  the  most  irksome  and  disagreeable. 
The  joke  of  letting  him  five  on  to  perform  these  tasks  was  not 
lost.  When,  now,  we  turn  our  attention  to  the  Germanic  invaders 
of  the  Roman  empire,  we  are  carried  back  to  primitive  barbarism. 
In  the  heroic  age  of  Scandinavia  we  find  that  thralls  are  sacri- 
ficed at  Upsala  at  solemn  feasts  in  honor  of  the  heathen  gods. 
They  were  thrown  from  the  cliffs,  or  into  a  hole  in  the  ground, 
or  tortured  and  hung  up  in  the  clear  air,  or  the  spine  was  broken.* 
In  the  prehistoric  period  of  German  history  the  unfree  were 
tenderly  handled.  "  A  well-born  youth,  who  grew  up  amongst 
the  same  herds  and  on  the  same  land  with  an  unfree  youth, 
eating  and  drinking  together,  and  sharing  joy  and  sorrow,  could 
not  handle  shamefully  the  comrades  of  the  unfree  man."  ^  In  the 
Scandinavian  Rigsmal,  Rig,  the  hero,  begets  a  representative  of 
each  of  three  ranks,  —  noble,  yeoman,  laborer,  —  the  first  with 
the  mother,  the  second  with  the  grandmother,  and  the  third  with 
the  great-grandmother,  as  if  they  had  come  from  later  and  later 

^  Achelis,  Virg.  Siibintrod.,  29-31.  ^  Cook,  Fathers  of  Jesus,  II,  18-28. 

2  Relig.  des  Judent.,  447.  *  Estrup,  Skrifter,  I,  261. 

5  Weinhold,  D.  F.,  I,  104. 


296  FOLKWAYS 

strata  of  population.^  Rig  slept  between  man  and  wife  when  he 
begot  the  yeoman  and  thrall,  but  not  when  he  begot  the  noble. 
The  thrall  has  no  marriage  ceremony.  The  food,  dwelling,  dress, 
furniture,  occupations,  and  manners  of  the  three  classes  are 
carefully  distinguished,  also  the  physique,  as  if  they  were  racially 
different,  and  the  names  of  the  children  are  in  each  case 
characteristic  epithets.  The  great-grandfather  wears  the  most 
ancient  dress  ;  his  wife  provides  an  ash-baked  loaf,  flat,  heavy, 
mixed  with  bran.  She  bore  Thrall,  who  was  swarthy,  had  callous 
hands,  bent  knuckles,  thick  fingers,  an  ugly  face,  a  broad  back, 
long  heels.  Toddle-shankie  also  came  sunburnt,  having  scarred 
feet,  a  broken  nose,  called  Theow.  Their  children  were  named  : 
the  boys,  —  Sooty,  Cowherd,  Clumsy,  Clod,  Bastard,  Mud, 
Log,  Thickard,  Laggard,  Grey  Coat,  Lout,  and  Stumpy ;  the 
girls,  —  Loggie,  Cloggie,  Lumpy  [=  Leggie],  Snub-nosie,  Cin- 
ders, Bond-maid,  Woody  [= Peggy],  Tatter-coatie,  Crane-shankie. 
The  story  seems  to  present  the  three  classes  or  ranks  as 
founded  in  natural  facts.  Slaves  were  such  by  birth,  by  sale 
of  themselves  to  get  maintenance  (esteemed  the  worst  of  all, 
debtors,  war  captives,  perhaps  victims  of  shipwreck),  and  free 
women  who  committed  fornication  with  slave  men.^  If  a  debtor 
would  not  pay  he  was  brought  into  court,  and  the  creditor  might 
cut  off  a  piece  [of  his  body]  above  or  below. -^  A  free  man  would 
not  allow  his  slave  to  be  buried  by  his  side,  even  if  the  slave 
had  lost  his  life  in  loyalty  to  his  master.  Slaves,  criminals,  and 
outlaws  were,  buried  dishonorably  in  a  place  by  themselves  on 
one  side.  They  were  harnessed  to  plows  when  there  were  no 
oxen  at  hand.  When  Listen,  king  of  Opland,  wanted  to  annihi- 
late the  Ernds,  he  gave  them  their  choice  of  his  slave  or  his  dog 
for  a  king.  They  chose  the  dog.^  The  sister  of  King  Canute 
bought  in  England  most  beautiful  slave  men  and  women,  who 
were  sent  to  Denmark,  and  were  sold  for  use  chiefly  in  vice.^ 
Here  we  see  again  the  great  contempt  for  slaves.  It  was  a 
proverb  in  Scandinavia  :  "  Put  no  trust  in  the  friendship  of  a 
thrall,"^  although  in  the  sagas  there  are  many  cases  in  which 

'^  Corpus  Poet.  B or.,  \2-^<^.  ^Ibid.,\-].         ^  Ilud.,  11,  266. 

2  Rothe,  Nordens  Staatsvrfssg.,  I,  -^z,.         4  Ibid.,  iS.  6  Estrup,  Skrifter,  I,  263. 


SLAVERY  297 

the  heroes  profited  by  trusting  them.  Yet  the  sagas  are  also 
full  of  stories  of  persons  who  fell  into  slavery,  e.g.  Astrid, 
widow  of  King  Trygve  Olafson,  who  was  found  by  a  merchant 
in  the  slave  market  of  Esthonia  and  redeemed.^  A  thrall  was 
despised  because  he  feared  death,  and  when  it  impended  over 
him  hid,  whimpered,  begged,  wept,  lamented  to  leave  his 
swine  and  good  fare,  and  offered  to  do  the  meanest  work  if  he 
might  live.  A  hero  bore  torture  bravely  and  met  death  laugh- 
ing.^  When  hero  children  and  thrall  children  were  changed  at 
birth,  the  fraud  was  discovered  by  the  cowardice  of  the  latter 
and  the  courage  of  the  former,  when  grown. ^  In  the  heroic  age 
a  conqueror  could  set  a  princess  to  work  at  the  qvcrn.  In 
Valhalla  the  hero  set  thralls  to  work  for  his  conquered  victim, 
to  give  him  footbath,  light  fire,  bind  dogs,  groom  horses,  and 
feed  swine  Thrall  women  became  concubines.  They  worked 
at  the  gvern,  and  wove.  Love  could  raise  them  to  pets. 
Thralls  were  obtained  in  the  lands  raided,  but  even  after  they 
became  Christians  the  Scandinavians  raided  and  enslaved  each 
other.  The  Roman  law  system,  as  the  church  employed  it,  and 
especially  tithes,  were  means  of  reducing  the  masses  to  servi- 
tude.* Beggars  could  be  arrested  and  taken  before  the  TJiing, 
where,  if  they  were  not  ransomed  by  their  relatives,  they  were 
at  the  mercy  of  the  captor.^  Magnus  Erikson  ascended  the 
throne  of  Sweden,  Norway,  and  Skona  in  1333.  Two  years 
later  he  decreed  that  no  one  born  of  Christian  parents  should 
thereafter  be,  or  be  called,  a  thrall.^ 

302.  The  sale  of  children.  In  the  Germanic  states  it  remained 
lawful  until  far  down  in  the  Middle  Ages  for  a  man  to  sell  his 
wife  or  child  into  servitude,  or  into  adoption  in  another  family 
in  time  of  famine  or  distress.    The  right  fell  into  disuse." 

303.  Slavery  and  the  state.  The  reason  why  there  was  little 
slavery  in  the  Middle  Ages  is  that  slavery  needs  a  great  state 
to  return  fugitives  or  hold  slaves  to  work.    The  feudal  lord  was 

1  Heimskringla,  II,  77.  -  Corpus  Poet.  Bor.,  I,  340.  ^  Ibid.,  361. 

*  Wachsmuth,  Baiter>ikriege,  in  Raumer,   Taschenbitchy  V. 
^  G jessing,  Amt.f.  Nordiske  Oldkyndiglied,  1862,  85  ff. 
^  Geijer,  Sveiiska  Folkets  Hist..,  I,  206. 
''  Grimm,  Deutsche  Reclitsalterthiimer,  461. 


298  FOLKWAYS 

at  odds  with  such  a  state  as  existed,  and  could  not  get  its  aid 
to  restore  his  slaves.  Hence  the  extension  of  the  state  made 
the  slaves  worse  off,  e.g.  in  Russia  and  parts  of  Germany.^ 
Amongst  the  Franks  "  slavery  took  many  forms."  The  vicissi- 
tudes of  life  produced  the  strongest  contrasts  of  fortune. 
Freeman^  mentions  a  case  in  which  a  boy  king  reigned,  but 
his  mother,  formerly  a  slave  woman,  reigned  as  queen  in  rank 
and  authority,  and  the  power  was  really  exercised  by  the  man 
who  was  once  her  owner.  "  In  the  system  of  a  Frankish  king- 
dom a  slave-born  queen  could  play,  with  more  of  legal  sanc- 
tion, the  part  often  played  in  Mohammedan  courts  by  the 
mother  of  the  sultan,  son  of  a  slave."  The  Franks  had  a  pecu- 
liar ceremony  of  manumission.  The  lord  struck  a  coin  from 
the  hand  of  his  slave  to  the  ground,  and  the  slave  became 
free.^  Philippe  le  Bel,  enfranchising  the  serfs  of  Valois,  in 
the  interest  of  the  Fiscus,  uttered  a  generality  which  Louis  le 
Hutin  reiterated  :  "  Seeing  that  every  human  creature  who  is 
formed  in  the  image  of  our  Lord,  ought,  generally  speaking, 
to  be  free  by  natural  right,  —  no  one  ought  to  be  a  serf  in 
France."  In  the  eighth  and  ninth  centuries  serfs  were  sold  to 
Jews  who  sold  them  to  Mohammedans.  Montpelier  carried  on 
a  slave  trade  with  the  Saracens.  The  clergy  joined  in  this 
trade  in  the  twelfth  century,  and  it  is  said  to  have  lasted  until 
the  fifteenth  century.*  The  Romance  of  Hervis  (of  about  the 
beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century)  turns  on  the  story  of  a 
youth  who  ransomed  a  girl  who  had  been  kidnapped  by  some 
soldiers.  They  proposed  to  take  her  to  Paris  and  sell  her  at 
the  fair  there.  The  Parliament  of  Bordeaux,  in  1571,  granted 
liberty  to  Ethiopians  and  other  slaves,  "  since  France  cannot 
admit  any  servitude."  Still  slavery  existed  in  the  southern 
provinces,  including  persons  of  every  color  and  nationality.^ 
Biot^  thinks  that  the  slave  trade  in  the  Middle  Ages  was  carried 
on  chiefly  by  pirates,  so  that  slave  markets  existed  on  the  coast 

1  Vinogradoff,   Vileinage,  152.  ^  D'Avenel,  Hist.  Econ.,  I,  186. 

2  West.  Europe  in  the  Eighth  Centtiry,  11.  ^  Abol.  de  PEsclav.,  264. 
'  Grimm,  Rechtsalt.,  178. 

*  Bourquelot,  Eoires  de  Champagne,  Acad.  d.  Belles  Lettres  et  Inscrip.,  1865,  307. 


SLAVERY  299 

only,  not  inland.  The  Council  of  Armagh,  in  1171,  forbade 
the  Irish  to  hold  English  slaves  and  mentions  the  sale  of  their 
children  by  the  Enghsh.^  Thomas  Aquinas  is  led  by  Aristotle 
to  approve  of  slavery.  Like  Aristotle  he  holds  it  to  be  in  the 
order  of  nature.^  A  society  was  founded  in  Spain  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  thirteenth  century  to  redeem  Christian  captives 
from  Moorish  slavery.  The  pious  made  gifts  to  this  society  to 
be  used  in  its  work.  Christians  sold  kidnapped  persons  to  the 
Moors  that  they  might  be  redeemed  again.  In  1322  the  Coun- 
cil of  Valladolid  imposed  excommunication  on  the  sale  of  men. 
In  the  fourteenth  century  the  Venetians  and  Genoese  were 
selling  young  persons  from  all  countries  in  Egypt. ^  Pope 
Nicholas  V,  in  1454,  gave  Portugal  the  right  to  subjugate 
western  Africa,  supposed  to  be  lands  which  belonged  to  the 
Saracens,  and  "  to  reduce  the  persons  of  those  lands  to  perpetual 
servitude,"  expressing  the  hope  that  the  negroes  would  be 
thoroughly  converted.  Margry  puts  in  the  year  1444  the  first 
sale  of  negroes  as  slaves,  under  the  eyes  of  Don  Enrique  of 
Portugal.^  As  early  as  1500  Columbus  suggested  to  the  king 
of  Spain  to  use  negroes  to  work  the  mines  of  Hispaniola.  The 
king  decreed  that  only  such  negroes  should  be  taken  to  His- 
paniola as  had  been  Christianized  in  Spain.  In  1508  the  Span- 
iards took  negroes  to  the  mines  to  work  with  Indian  slaves. 
The  slave  trade  was  authorized  by  Charles  V  in  1517.^  Chris- 
tian slaves  existed  in  Spain  until  the  seventeenth,  perhaps  until 
the  eighteenth,  century.  If  blacks  and  Moors  are  included, 
slavery  has  existed  there  until  the  most  recent  times. ^ 

304.  Slavery  in  Europe.  Italy  in  tha  Middle  Ages.  Slavery 
existed  in  Italy  in  the  thirteenth  century,  by  war,  piracy,  and 
religious  hatred.  The  preaching  friars,  by  preaching  against 
all  property,  helped  to  break  it  down,  and  it  began  to  decline.'' 
The  religious  hatred  is  illustrated  by  the  act  of  Clement  V 
(f  1 3 14).  When  he  excommunicated  the  Venetians  for  seizing 
Ferrara  he  ordered  that  wherever  they  might  be  caught  they 

^  W  ilk  ins,  Cone.  Mag.  Brit.,  I,  471.     *  N'avig.  Frattfaises,  19. 

^  Opusc,  XX,  ii,  10.  ^  Mason  in  Avier.  Aiiikrop.,  IX,  197. 

3  Heyd,  Levanthandel,  II,  442.  ®  Biot.  Abol.  de  FEsclav.,  422.        "^  Ibid.,  431. 


300  FOLKWAYS 

should  be  treated  as  slaves. ^  Not  until  1288  was  a  law  passed 
at  Florence  forbidding  the  sale  of  serfs  away  from  the  land. 
Such  a  law  was  passed  at  Bologna  in  1256,  and  renewed  in  1283. 
Such  laws  seem  to  have  been  democratic  measures  to  lessen  the 
power  of  nobles  in  the  rural  districts.^  A  man  who  made  a  slave 
woman  a  mother  must  pay  damages  to  her  owner.  In  a  con- 
tract of  1392  a  man  in  such  a  case  confesses  a  debt,  as  for 
money  borrowed.  By  a  statute  of  Lucca,  in  1539,  a  man  so 
offending  must  buy  the  woman  at  twice  her  cost  and  pay  to  the 
state  a  fine  of  one  hundred  lire.  By  a  statute  of  Florence, 
141 5,  it  was  afifirmed  that  the  quality  of  Christian  would  not 
exempt  from  slavery.^  In  a  contract  of  sale  of  a  woman  at 
Venice,  1450,  it  is  specified  that  the  seller  sells  piiru^n  et 
vienun  dominimn.^  The  Italian  cities  continued  to  protect  the 
slave  trade  until  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century.^  The 
Venetians  and  Genoese  carried  on  the  trade  actively,  except  in 
times  of  great  public  or  general  calamity,  when  they  suspended 
it  to  appease  the  wrath  of  God.^  The  intimate  connection  of 
the  great  commercial  republics  with  the  Orient,  and  hatred  for 
Greek  heretics,  are  charged  with  causing  them  to  keep  up  the 
trade.''  Conjugal  life  at  Venice  was  undermined  by  the  desire 
for  variety  in  pleasure,  and  by  the  easy  opportunity  to  get  beau- 
tiful slaves  in  the  markets  of  the  Orient.  From  the  most 
ancient  times  laws,  as  fierce  as  inefficacious,  punished  with 
death  merchants  who  traded  in  men,  but  the  trade  did  not 
cease  until  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century.  The  national 
archives  contain  contracts  from  the  twelfth  century  to  the  six- 
teenth about  slaves.  Priests  were  the  notaries  in  these  contracts, 
in  spite  of  the  state,  the  popes,  and  the  councils.  Slaves  were 
brought  from  every  country  in  the  Levant,  including  Circassian 
and  Georgian  girls  of  twelve  and  fourteen.  Slaves  passed 
entirely  under  the  will  of  the  buyer.^  Biot  ^  finds  evidence  of 
slavery  in  Italy  until  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century. 

^  Libri,  Sciences  Maihematiqices  en  lialie,  II,  509. 

2  Ibid.,  510.  *  Ibid.,  513.  «  Cibrario,  Eco7i.  Polit.,  Ill,  274. 

3  Ibid,  515.  6  Jhid.^  511.  7  Biot,  Abol.  de  VEsclav.,  426. 

8  Molmenti,   Venezia  nella  Vita  Privata,  I,  280.  ^  Abol.  de  PEsclav.,  441. 


SLAVERY  301 

305.  Slavery  in  France.  When  the  Armagnacs  captured  two 
men,  in  1445,  who  could  not  pay  ransom,  they  threatened  to  sell 
them  to  the  Spanish  Jews.^  Bodin  ^  admits  that  it  is  better  to 
hold  captives  as  slaves  than  to  kill  them,  but  his  argument  is  all 
against  slavery.  He  mentions  cases  in  which  it  had  been  decided, 
apparently  on  the  ground  of  the  dictum  of  Philippe  le  Bel,  that 
slaves  who  set  foot  in  France  became  free. 

306.  Slavery  in  Islam.  Islam  is  more  favorable  to  the  eman- 
cipation of  slaves  than  Christianity  is,  as  the  Visigothic  bishops 
understood  it.  Mohammed  set  free  his  own  slaves  and  ordered 
that  all  slaves  should  have  the  right  to  redeem  themselves.  He 
taught  that  it  is  a  good  work  to  emancipate  a  slave,  which  will 
offset  many  sins.^  In  his  last  sermon  he  said:  "Know  that 
every  Moslem  is  the  brother  of  every  other  Moslem.  Ye  are  all 
a  fraternity;  all  equal." '^  The  law  recognizes  only  two  ways  in 
which  a  human  being  may  become  a  slave,  —  (0  t'y  birth,  (2)  by 
war.  A  debtor  cannot  become  a  slave,  and  parents  in  distress 
cannot  sell  their  children.  Slaves  cannot  be  so  sold  that  a  mother 
and  her  child  under  seven  years  of  age  are  separated.  Any 
slave  woman  may  be  made  a  concubine,  but  may  not  be  married. 
Children  of  slave  women  are  legitimate  and  free.  A  woman 
who  has  borne  her  master  a  child  becomes  free  at  the  master's 
death,  and  may  not  be  sold  or  pawned  by  him  while  he  lives. 
Slaves  are  in  many  respects  inferior  to  free  persons  as  to  rights 
and  powers.  They  have  no  right  of  property  against  their  owners. 
They  are  under  milder  criminal  law  than  their  owners.  All  this 
is  to  be  understood  of  slaves  who  are  Moslems.^  The  Koran 
often  inculcates  kindness  to  slaves.^  Slaves  are  goods  given  to 
the  free  by  the  grace  of  God.  Mohammedans  would  consider 
the  abolition  of  slavery  a  triumph  of  Christianity  over  Islam.'' 
An  unbelieving  slave  has  no  guarantees  at  all  against  the  will 
of  his  owner.  In  the  eighth  century  the  serfs  in  the  Asturias 
rose  €71  masse  against  their  Mohammedan  lords,  and  we  are  told 

1  Raumer,  Hist.  Taschenbtich,  2  ser.,  Ill,  iii. 

2  Repiib.,  Book  I,  Chap.  V. 

8  Dozy,  Musulni.  d^Espagiie,  II,  43;  Koran,  IV,  94  ;  V,  91  ;   LVIII,  4. 
*  Hauri,  Islam,  84.  6  Suras  II,  IV,  XXIV. 

^  Juynboll,    Moham.  Wet.,  231.  '^  Hauri,  Islam,  155. 


302  FOLKWAYS 

that  under  the  wealth  and  glory  of  Grenada  the  peasants  hated 
the  lords  with  great  intensity.^  In  the  great  days  of  Abdurrah- 
man III  slaves  were  very  numerous.  They  possessed  land  and 
slaves  and  the  sultan  charged  them  with  "  important  military 
and  civil  functions,  and  pursued  the  policy  of  all  despots  in 
making  them  his  ministers  and  favorites,  in  order  to  humiliate 
the  aristocrats."  -  They  were  also  armed.  The  late  Romans  put 
colons  in  the  army.  The  Visigoths  inherited  the  usage,  although 
the  lords  would  not  give  them  up.  At  last  the  levy  arose  to 
one  half  of  the  serfs  and  they  became  a  majority  of  the  army.^ 
Schweinfurth^  says  that  "  wherever  Islamism  has  sway  in  Africa 
it  appears  never  to  be  the  fashion  for  any  one  to  allow  himself 
to  be  carried."  "A  strict  Mohammedan  reckons  it  an  actual 
sin  to  employ  a  man  as  a  vehicle,  and  such  a  sentiment  is  very 
remarkable  in  a  people  who  set  no  limits  to  their  spirit  of  oppres- 
sion. It  is  a  known  fact  that  a  Mohammedan,  though  he  cannot 
refuse  to  recognize  a  negro,  denying  the  faith,  as  being  a  man, 
has  not  the  faintest  idea  of  his  being  entitled  to  any  rights  of 
humanity."  The  jurists  early  set  up  the  doctrine  that  the  life 
of  a  Mohammedan  slave  was  worth  as  much  as  that  of  a  Moham- 
medan freeman,  but  this  doctrine  rarely  was  fulfilled  in  practice, 
never  inside  of  the  harem.  The  jurists  pronounced  against  the 
right  of  life  and  death  on  the  part  of  the  slave  owner,  but  it  was 
exercised.^  It  is  not  law,  but  custom,  to  emancipate  an  adult 
slave  after  from  seven  to  nine  years'  service.  In  most  Moslem 
families  slaves  are  well  treated,  as  members  of  the  household. 
Their  children  are  educated  as  those  of  their  masters  are.^ 
Pischon  says  that  Moslems  cannot  live  without  slavery.  No  free 
woman  will  do  the  menial  housework,  and  no  woman  may  be  seen 
unveiled  by  a  free  man.'^  This  is  a  repetition  of  the  opinion  of 
the  ancients  that  slavery  was  indispensable  (sec.  285).  If  all 
the  women  were  free,  some  of  them  would  do  the  housework. 
A  modern  Turk  is  a  tyrant  inside  his  own  dwelling.  For  his 
wife  he  has  a  proverb  that  she  should  have  "  neither  mouth  nor 

1  Dozy,  II,  25.        2  ji,id,^  III,  61.        3  jf,i^^  II,  29.        *  Heart  of  Africa,  I,  374. 

^  Von  Kremer,  Kidturgesch.  d.  Orients,  II,  128. 

*  Pischon,  Einfluss  d.  Islam,  25-29.  "  Ibid.,  31. 


SLAVERY  303 

tongue."  The  girls  are  not  educated  to  be  such  wives.  They 
find  some  support  at  home  against  their  husbands.  Hence 
nearly  all  Turks  entertain  feelings  of  dislike  and  ill  will  towards 
their  parents-in-law,  and  prefer  slave  concubines,  whose  rela- 
tives they  welcome,  if  the  wife  is  pretty,  or  wins  their  affection. 
Great  ladies  buy  promising  girls  of  seven  or  eight  and  train 
them,  and  sell  them  again. ^ 

307.  Review  of  slavery  in  Islam.  The  injunctions  of  Moham- 
medanism sound  just  and  humane;  the  practice  of  Mohammed- 
ans is  cruel  and  heartless.  The  slave  is  not  a  thing  or  ware  ;  he 
is  a  man  entitled  to  treatment  worthy  of  a  man.  A  man  may  take 
his  slave  as  a  concubine,  but  he  must  not  sell  her  to  vipe.  A  free 
man  may  marry  a  slave,  if  she  is  not  his  own.  A  free  woman 
may  marry  a  slave,  with  the  same  restriction.  If  a  slave  woman 
bears  a  child  to  her  master,  the  child  is  free,  and  the  mother 
cannot  be  sold  or  given  away.  At  the  death  of  her  owner  she 
becomes  free.  A  slave  man  and  woman  may  marry,  with  the 
consent  of  the  owner,  to  which  they  have  a  claim  if  they  have 
behaved  well.  A  slave  man  is  limited  to  two  wives.  Emanci- 
pation is  a  religious  and  meritorious  act  on  the  part  of  a  slave 
owner. ^  "  In  general,  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  neither 
amongst  the  people  of  antiquity,  nor  amongst  Christians,  have 
slaves  enjoyed  such  good  treatment  as  amongst  Moslems."  ^ 
The  provision  about  a  slave  woman  who  becomes  a  mother  by 
her  master  is  the  one  to  arouse  most  Christian  shame.  Still, 
the  Moslems  have  so  many  special  pleas  and  technical  interpre- 
tations by  which  to  set  aside  troublesome  laws  that  we  can  never 
infer  that  the  mores  conform  to  the  laws.  It  is  against  the  law 
for  a  Moslem  to  reduce  a  Moslem  to  slavery,  but  the  Turks  rob 
the  Kurds  and  other  tribes  of  their  women,  or  buy  them  from 
the  barbarous  Tcherkess.* 

308.  Slavery  in  England.  Sir  Thomas  More^  provided  for 
some  of  the  troubles  of  life  by  slavery.  Slaves  were  to 
do  "all  laborsome  toil,"  "drudging,"  and  "base  business." 
They    were    to    be    persons    guilty    of    debt    and    breakers    of 

^  Globus,  XXX,  127  ;   Vambery,  Sittenbilder  atts  dem  Morgenlande,  25. 

2  Hauri,  Islarn,  149.  ^  Ibid.,  150.  *  Ibid.,  153.  *  Utopia,  II,  53. 


304  FOLKWAYS 

marriage.^  Garnier  quotes  a  law  of  1547  (I  Ed.  VI,  c.  3),  in 
which  a  vilein  is  mentioned  as  a  slave.  "  Long  after  this 
date  there  are  mentioned  instances  of  a  slave's  emancipation, 
and  such  philanthropic  writers  as  Fitzherbert  lament  the  possi- 
bility of  slavery  and  its  actual  existence,  as  a  disgrace  both  to 
legislation  and  religion."^ 

309.  Slavery  in  America.  In  the  Anglo-American  colonies 
which  did  not  have  a  plantation  system  for  tobacco  or  indigo 
the  great  reason  for  slavery  was  to  hold  the  laborer  to  the  place 
where  the  owner  wanted  him  to  work.  In  N.ew  England  the 
negro  slave  lived  in  close  intimacy  with  his  owner  and  the 
latter's  sons.  In  Connecticut  he  was  allowed  to  go  to  the  table 
with  the  family,  "  and  into  the  dish  goes  the  black  hoof  as  freely 
as  the  white  hand."  ^  In  that  colony  the  creditor  might  require 
the  debtor,  by  a  law  of  1650,  to  pay  by  service,  and  might  sell 
his  due  service  to  any  one  of  the  English  nation.  The  law 
remained  in  force  into  the  nineteenth  century.* 

310.  Colonial  slavery.  France  reopened  the  slave  trade  by  a 
law  of  May  20,  1802.  One  of  the  reasons  for  this  law  submitted 
by  Buonaparte  to  the  legislature  was:  "The  commercial  pros- 
perity of  France  renders  it  necessary  that  a  certain  quantity  of 
the  produce  of  the  country,  in  wine  and  cereals,  should  be  sent 
to  the  Antilles  for  consumption  by  the  blacks.  Now  these 
negroes,  were  they  free,  would  prefer  manioc  to  wheat,  and  the 
juice  of  the  sugar  cane  to  our  wines.  It  is,  therefore,  indispen- 
sable that  they  should  be  slaves."  ^ 

311.  Slavery  preferred  by  slaves.  It  appears,  therefore,  that 
the  subjection  of  one  man's  muscles  and  nerves  to  another 
man's  will  has  been  in  the  mores  of  all  people  from  the  begin- 
ning of  human  societal  organization  until  now.  Now  it  exists, 
as  an  institution,  only  in  barbarism  and  half-civilization.  In 
English  North  Borneo  slavery  is  traditional.  Any  slave  may  be 
free  for  ^4,  "but  in  most  cases  they  have  been  brought  up 
as  ordinary  members  of  the  family,  and  have  no  wish  to  leave 

1  Utopia,  II,  132,  144,  147.  3  ]\lad.  Knight's  yOT/r;/ri'  (1704). 

2  Brit.  Peasantry,  71.  .*  Hildreth,  Hist.  U.  S.,  I,  372. 

^  Fauriel,  Last  Days  of  the  Consulate,  31. 


SLAVERY 


305 


their  home.  Cases  of  unkind  treatment  are  very  few  and  far 
between."  ^  In  fact,  the  purely  sentimental  objections  to  slavery 
have  reached,  in  Africa,  many  people  who  are  on  a  grade  of 
civilization  where  slavery  is  an  advantage  to  the  slave  (sec.  275). 
Schweinfurth  tells  us,  of  the  Sudanese,  that  numbers  of  them 
often  "  voluntarily  attach  themselves  to  the  Nubians,  and  are 
highly  delighted  to  get  a  cotton  shirt  and  a  gun  of  their  own. 
They  will  gladly  surrender  themselves  to  slavery,  being  attracted 
also  by  the  hope  of  finding  better  food  in  the  seribas  than  their 
own  native  wilderness  can  produce.  The  mere  offer  of  these 
simple  inducements  in  any  part  of  the  Niam-niam  lands  would 
be  sufficient  to  gather  a  whole  host  of  followers  and  vassals."  ^ 
He  goes  on  to  show  how  the  mode  of  grinding  durra  corn  used 
in  Africa  keeps  women  in  slavery.  They  pound  it  on  a  big 
stone  by  means  of  a  little  stone.  One  woman's  day's  work  will 
grind  enough  for  five  or  six  men.  It  has  been  shown  above 
(sec.  275)  how  badly  the  abolition  of  slavery  has  been  received 
in  Algeria  and  Sahara.  Gibson  is  quoted  "  that  voluntary  and 
hereditary  slavery  might  well  be  permitted  to  continue  "  in  West 
Africa. 3  In  that  region  "  a  slave  man  could  hold  property  of  his 
own.  If  he  were  a  worthy,  sensible  person,  he  could  inherit." 
He  could  take  part  in  discussions  and  the  palaver,  and  could 
defend  himself  against  abuse.  There  are  now  no  slaves  bought 
or  sold,  but  there  are  "  pawns  "  for  debt,  who  are  not  free.*  On 
the  one  hand,  the  slave  trade  in  Africa  has  required  for  its 
successful  prosecution  that  the  slaves  should  first  be  war  cap- 
tives or  raid  captives  of  other  negroes.  This  has  led  to  the 
wildest  and  most  cruel  devastation  of  the  territory.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  question  arises  whether  savages  must  be  left 
to  occupy  and  use  a  continent  as  they  choose,  or  whether  they 
may  be  compelled  to  come  into  cooperation  with  civilized  men 
to  use  it  so  as  to  carry  on  the  work  of  the  world.  Many  who 
think  the  latter  view  sound  are  arrested  by  the  fact  that  no 
one  has  ever  been  found  great  or  good  enough  to  be  a  slave 
owner.    On  the  other  hand,  a  humanitarian  doctrine  which  orders 

1  Cator,  Head-hunters,  198.  ^  N'.  S.,  Avier.  Ant/irop.,  VI,  563. 

2  Heart  of  Africa,  II,  421.  *  Nassau,  Fetishism  in  West  Afr.,  14  ff. 


3o6  FOLKWAYS 

that  a  slave  be  turned  out  of  doors,  in  spite  of  his  own  wish,  is 
certainly  absurd. 

312.  Future  of  slavery.  In  the  eighteenth  century,  in  western 
Europe,  there  was  a  moral  revolt  against  slavery.  None  of  the 
excuses,  or  palliatives,  were  thought  to  be  good.  The  English, 
by  buying  the  slaves  on  their  West  India  islands,  took  the  money 
loss  on  themselves,  but  they  threw  back  the  islands  to  economic 
decay  and  uncultivation.  When  the  civilized  world  sees  what  its 
ideas  and  precepts  have  made  of  Hayti,  it  must  be  forced  to 
doubt  its  own  philosophy.  The  same  view  has  spread.  Slavery 
is  now  considered  impossible,  socially  and  politically  evil,  and 
so  not  available  for  economic  gain,  even  if  it  could  win  that. 
It  is  the  only  case  in  the  history  of  the  mores  where  the  so- 
called  moral  motive  has  been  made  controlling.  Whether  it 
will  remain  in  control  is  a  question.  The  Germans,  in  the 
administration  of  their  colonies,  sneer  at  humanitarianism  and 
eighteenth-century  social  philosophy.  They  incline  to  the 
doctrine  that  all  men  must  do  their  share  in  the  world  and 
come  into  the  great  modern  industrial  and  commercial  organiza- 
tion. They  look  around  for  laborers  for  their  islands  and  seem 
disposed  to  seek  them  in  the  old  way.  In  South  Africa  and  in 
our  own  southern  states  the  question  of  sanitary  and  police 
control  is  arising  to  present  a  new  difficulty.  Are  free  men 
free  to  endanger  peace,  order,  and  health  }  Is  a  low  and  aban- 
doned civilization  free  to  imperil  a  high  civilization,  and  entitled 
to  freedom  to  do  so  .''  The  humanitarians  of  the  nineteenth 
century  did  not  settle  anything.  The  contact  of  two  races  and 
two  civilizations  cannot  be  settled  by  any  dogma.  Evidence  is 
presented  every  day  that  the  problems  are  not  settled  and  can- 
not be  settled  by  dogmatic  and  sentimental  generalities.  Is  not 
a  sentiment  made  ridiculous  when  it  is  offered  as  a  rule  of  action 
to  a  man  who  does  not  understand  it  and  does  not  respond  to 
it  ?  In  general,  in  the  whole  western  Sahara  district  slaves 
are  as  much  astonished  to  be  told  that  their  relation  to  their 
owners  is  wrong,  and  that  they  ought  to  break  it,  as  boys  amongst 
us  would  be  to  be  told  that  their  relation  to  their  fathers  was 
wrong  and  ought  to  be  broken. 


SLAVERY  307 

313.  Relation  of  slavery  to  the  mores  and  to  ethics.  Inasmuch 
as  slavery  springs  from  greed  and  vanity,  it  appeals  to  primary 
motives  and  is  at  once  intertwined  with  selfishness  and  other 
fundamental  vices.  It  is  not,  therefore,  a  cause  which  gradually 
produces  and  molds  the  mores,  nor  is  it  an  ethical  product  of 
folkways  and  mores.  It  is  characteral.  It  rises  into  an  interest 
which  overrules  everything  else.  This  appears  most  clearly  in 
the  history  of  Roman  slavery  (see  sec.  288).  The  due  succes- 
sion of  folkways,  mores,  character,  and  ethics  is  here  broken. 
The  motive  of  slavery  is  base  and  cruel  from  the  beginning. 
Later,  there  are  many  people  of  high  character  who  accept  it  as 
an  inheritance,  and  are  not  corrupted  by  it.  The  due  societal 
relation  of  interests  and  mores  is  broken,  however.  It  is  an  evil 
thing  that  that  relation  should  be  broken.  All  which  is  moral 
(pertaining  to  mores)  or  ethical  is  thrown  out  of  sequence 
and  relation.  The  interests  normally  control  life.  It  is  not 
right  that  ethical  generalizations  should  get  dogmatic  authority 
and  be  made  the  rule  of  life.  Ethical  generalizations  are  vague 
and  easy.  They  satisfy  loose  thinkers,  and  it  is  a  matter  of 
regret  when,  in  any  society,  they  get  the  currency  of  fashion 
and  are  cherished  by  great  numbers.  Interests  ought  to  control, 
being  checked  and  verified  by  ethical  principles  of  approved 
validity.  Slavery  is  an  interest  which  is  sure  to  break  over  all 
restraints  and  correctives.  It  therefore  becomes  mistress  of 
folkways  and  dictates  the  life  policy.  It  is  a  kind  of  pitfall  for 
civilization.  It  seems  to  be  self-evident  and  successful,  but  it 
contains  a  number  of  forms  of  evil  which  are  sure  to  unfold. 
The  Moslems  have  suffered  from  the  curse  of  it,  although  in 
entirely  other  ways  than  the  Christians.  It  intertwines  with  any 
other  great  social  evil  which  may  be  present.  There  it  has 
combined  with  polygamy.  It  is,  in  any  case,  an  institution 
which  radically  affects  the  mores,  but  it  is  to  be  noticed  that  its 
effect  on  them  is  not  normal  and  not  such  as  belongs  to  the 
prosperous  development  of  civilization. 


CHAPTER   VII 

ABORTION,  INFANTICIDE,  KILLING  THE  OLD 

The  able-bodied  and  the  burdens.  — •  The  advantages  and  disadvantages 
of  the  aged.  Respect  and  contempt  for  them.  —  Abortion  and  infanticide. 
—  Relation  of  parent  and  child.  —  Population  policy. — -The  burden  and 
benefit  of  children.  —  Individual  and  group  interest  in  children.  —  Abortion 
in  ethnography.  —  Abortion  renounced.  —  Infanticide  in  ethnography. — 
Infanticide  renounced.  —  Ethics  of  abortion  and  infanticide.  —  Christian 
mores  as  to  abortion  and  infanticide.  —  Respect  and  contempt  for  the 
aged.  — The  aged  in  ethnography.  —  Killing  the  old.  —  Killing  the  old  in 
ethnography.  —  Special  exigencies  of  the  civilized.  —  How  the  customs 
of  infanticide  and  killing  the  old  were  changed. 

314.  The  competent  part  of  society ;  the  burdens.  The  able- 
bodied  and  competent  part  of  a  society  is  the  adults  in  the  prime 
of  life.  These  have  to  bear  all  the  societal  burdens,  among 
which  are  the  care  of  those  too  young  and  of  those  too  old  to 
care  for  themselves.  It  is  certain  that  at  a  very  early  time  in 
the  history  of  human  society  the  burden  of  bearing  and  rearing 
children,  and  the  evils  of  overpopulation,  were  perceived  as 
facts,  and  policies  were  instinctively  adopted  to  protect  the 
adults.  The  facts  caused  pain,  and  the  acts  resolved  upon  to 
avoid  it  were  very  summary,  and  were  adopted  with  very  little 
reasoning.  Abortion  and  infanticide  protected  the  society,  unless 
its  situation  with  respect  to  neighbors  was  such  that  war  and 
pestilence  kept  down  the  numbers  and  made  children  valuable  for 
war.  The  numbers  present,  therefore,  in  proportion  to  the 
demand  for  men,  constituted  one  of  the  life  conditions.  It  is  a 
life  condition  which  is  subject  to  constant  variation,  and  one  in 
regard  to  which  the  sanctions  of  wise  action  are  prompt  and 
severe. 

315.  The  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  the  aged.  Mores 
of  respect  and  contempt.  Those  who  survive  to  old  age  become 
depositaries  of  all  the  wisdom  of  the  group,  and  they  are  gener- 
ally the  possessors  of  power  and  authority,  but  they  lose  physical 

308 


ABORTION,  INFANTICIDE,  KILLING  THE  OLD      309 

power,  skill,  and  efficiency  in  action.  In  time,  they  become 
burdens  on  the  active  members  of  the  group.  "  As  a  man  grows 
old  and  weak  he  loses  the  only  claim  to  respect  which  savages 
understand  ;  but  superstitious  fear  then  comes  to  his  protection. 
He  will  die  soon  and  then  his  ghost  can  take  revenge."^  That 
is  to  say  that  the  mores  can  interfere  to  inculcate  duties  of 
respect  to  the  old  which  will  avert  from  them  the  conclusion 
that  they  ought  to  die.  In  respect  to  the  aged,  therefore,  we 
find  two  different  sets  of  mores  :  (a)  those  in  which  the  aged  are 
treated  with  arbitrary  and  conventional  respect ;  and  {b)  those 
in  which  the  doctrine  is  that  those  who  become  burdens  must 
be  removed,  by  their  own  act  or  that  of  their  relatives.  In  abor- 
tion, infanticide,  and  killing  the  old  there  is  a  large  element  of 
judgment  as  to  what  societal  welfare  requires,  although  they  are 
executed  generally  from  immediate  personal  selfishness.  The 
custom  of  the  group,  by  which  the  three  classes  of  acts  are 
approved  as  right  and  proper,  must  contain  a  judgment  that  they 
are  conducive,  and  often  necessary,  to  welfare. 

316.  Abortion  and  infanticide.  Abortion  and  infanticide  are 
two  customs  which  have  the  same  character  and  purpose.  The 
former  prevents  child  bearing ;  the  latter  child  rearing.  They 
are  folkways  which  are  aggregates  of  individual  acts  under  indi- 
vidual motives,  for  an  individual  might  so  act  without  a  custom 
in  the  group.  The  acts,  however,  when  practiced  by  many,  and 
through  a  long  time,  change  their  character.  They  are  no  longer 
individual  acts  of  resistance  to  pain.  They  bear  witness  to 
uniform  experiences,  and  to  uniform  reactions  against  the  ex- 
periences, in  the  way  of  judgments  as  to  what  it  is  expedient  to 
do,  and  motives  of  policy.  They  also  suggest  to,  and  teach,  the 
rising  generation.  They  react,  in  the  course  of  time,  on  the  welfare 
of  the  group.  They  affect  its  numbers  and  its  quality,  as  we 
now  believe,  although  we  cannot  find  that  any  group  has  ever 
been  forced  by  its  experience  to  put  these  customs  under  taboo. ^ 

317.  Relation  of  parent  and  child.  Children  add  to  the  weight 
of  the  struggle  for  existence  of  their  parents.    The  relation  of 

^  Lippert,  Kidturgesch,  I,  229. 

2  Ancient  India  may  be  an  exception. 


3IO  FOLKWAYS 

parent  to  child  is  one  of  sacrifice.  The  interests  of  children  and 
parents  are  antagonistic.  The  fact  that  there  are,  or  may  be, 
compensations  does  not  affect  the  primary  relation  between  the 
two.  It  may  well  be  believed  that,  if  procreation  had  not  been 
put  under  the  dominion  of  a  great  passion,  it  would  have  been 
caused  to  cease  by  the  burdens  it  entails.  Abortion  and  infanti- 
cide are  especially  interesting  because  they  show  how  early  in 
the  history  of  civilization  the  burden  of  children  became  so 
heavy  that  parents  began  to  shirk  it,  and  also  because  they 
show  the  rise  of  a  population  policy,  which  is  one  of  the  most 
important  programmes  of  practical  expediency  which  any  society 
ever  can  adopt. 

318.  Population  policy.  At  the  present  moment  the  most 
civilized  states  do  not  know  whether  to  stimulate  or  restrict  popu- 
lation ;  whether  to  encourage  immigration  or  not ;  whether  emi- 
gration is  an  evil  or  a  blessing  ;  whether  to  tax  bachelors  or 
married  men.  These  questions  are  discussed  as  if  absolute 
answers  to  them  were  possible,  independently  of  differences 
in  life  conditions.  In  France  the  restriction  of  population  has 
entered  into  the  mores,  and  has  been  accomplished  by  the 
people,  from  motives  which  lie  in  the  standard  of  living.  In 
New  England  the  same  is  true,  perhaps  to  a  greater  extent. 
There  are  many  protests  against  these  mores,  on  the  ground 
that  they  will  produce  societal  weakness  and  decay,  and  ethical 
condemnation  is  freely  expended  upon  them  by  various  schools 
of  religious  and  philosophical  ethics.  What  is  certain,  however, 
is  that  in  the  popular  ethics  of  the  people  who  practice  re- 
striction it  is  regarded  as  belonging  to  elementary  common 
sense.  The  motives  are  connected  with  economy  and  social 
ambition.  The  restriction  on  the  number  of  children,  in  all 
modern  civilized  society,  issues  in  an  improvement  of  the  quality 
of  the  children,  so  far  as  that  can  be  improved  by  care,  educa- 
tion, travel,  and  the  expenditure  of  capital  (sec.  320).  Thus  the 
problem  of  rearing  children  has  pressed  upon  mankind  from  the 
earliest  times  until  to-day.  It  is  a  problem  of  the  last  degree  of 
simplicity  and  reality,  —  a  problem  of  a  task  and  the  strength  to 
perform  it,  of  an  expenditure  and  the  means  to  meet  it.    For  the 


ABORTION,  INFANTICIDE,  KILLING  THE  OLD      311 

group,  also,  population  has  always  presented,  as  it  now  does,  a 
problem  of  policy.  That  group  interests  are  involved  in  it  is 
unquestionable.  It  is  one  of  the  matters  in  regard  to  which  it 
would  be  most  proper  to  adopt  a  careful  and  well-digested  pro- 
gramme of  policy.  A  great  many  of  the  projects  which  are  now 
urged  upon  society  are  really  applications  of  population  philoso- 
phy assumed  to  be  wise  without  adequate  knowledge,  or  they 
set  population  free  from  all  restraints  on  behalf  of  certain  bene- 
ficiaries, while  a  sound  population  policy,  according  to  the  best 
knowledge  we  have,  would  be  the  real  solution  of  a  number 
of  the  most  serious  evils  (alcoholism,  sex  disease,  imbecility, 
insanity,  and  infant  mortality)  which  now  exhaust  the  vigor  of 
society. 

319.  Burden  or  benefit  of  children.  Abortion  and  infanticide 
are,  as  already  stated,  the  earliest  efforts  of  men  to  ward  off 
the  burden  of  children  and  the  evils  of  overpopulation  by 
specific  devices  of  an  immediate  and  brutal  character.  The 
weight  of  the  burden  of  children  differs  greatly  with  the  life  con- 
ditions of  groups,  and  with  the  stage  of  the  arts  by  which  men 
cope  with  the  struggle  for  existence.  If  a  territory  is  under- 
populated, an  increase  in  numbers  increases  the  output  and  the 
dividend  per  capita.  If  it  is  overpopulated,  the  food  quest  is  diffi- 
cult and  children  cause  hardship  to  the  parents.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  demand  for  children  will  be  great,  if  the  group  has 
strong  neighbors  and  needs  warriors.  The  demand  may  be 
greater  for  boys  than  for  girls,  or  contrariwise.  Girls  may  be 
needed  in  order  that  wives  may  be  obtained  in  exchange  for 
them,  but  the  greater  demand  for  girls  is  generally  due  to  the 
mores  which  have  been  established.  The  demand  may  be  so 
great  as  to  offset  the  burden  of  rearing  children  and  make  it  a 
group  necessity  that  that  burden  shall  be  endured.  From  the 
standpoint  of  the  individual  father  or  mother  this  means  that 
there  are  compensations  for  the  toil  and  cost  of  rearing  children. 
When  girls  bring  a  good  bride  price  to  the  father,  it  is  evident 
that  he  at  least  receives  compensation.  As  to  the  mothers,  if 
they  receive  no  compensation,  that  accords  with  all  the  rest  of 
their  experience.    It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  they  often  show 


312 


FOLKWAYS 


resentment  when  a  daughter  is  given  (sold)  in  marriage.  That 
fact  has  never  been  adequately  explained,  but  it  seems  to  be 
anything  but  strange  if  the  husband  sells  the  girl  and  takes 
the  bride  price,  although  the  wife  bore  and  reared  the  child. 
Amongst  the  Marathas  of  India,  on  the  contrary,  "  even  to  the 
well-to-do,  to  have  many  daughters  is  a  curse."  The  bride's 
father  has  to  give  a  big  dowry  to  the  groom.  If  the  fathers 
have  rank,  but  are  poor,  the  girls  often  have  to  marry  men  who 
are  inferior  in  age  or  rank.^ 

320.  Individual  and  group  interest.  It  follows  that,  in  all 
variations  of  the  life  conditions,  in  all  forms  of  industrial  organi- 
zation, and  at  all  stages  of  the  arts,  conjunctures  arise  in  which 
the  value  of  children  fluctuates,  and  also  the  relative  value  of 
boys  and  girls  turns  in  favor,  now  of  one,  now  of  the  other.  In 
the  examination  of  any  case  of  the  customs  of  abortion  and  infan- 
ticide chief  attention  should  be  directed  to  these  conjunctures. 
On  the  stage  of  pastoral-nomadic  life,  or  wherever  else  horde 
life  existed,  it  appears  that  numerous  offspring  were  regarded  as 
a  blessing  and  child  rearing,  in  the  horde,  was  not  felt  as  a  bur- 
den. It  was  in  the  life  of  the  narrower  family,  whatever  its 
form,  that  children  came  to  be  felt  as  a  burden,  so  that  "prog- 
ress" caused  abortion  and  infanticide.  Further  progress  has  made 
children  more  and  more  expensive,  down  to  our  own  times,  when 
"  neomalthusianism,"  although  unavowed,  exists  in  fact  as  a 
compromise  between  egoism  and  child  rearing.  All  the  folkways 
which  go  to  make  up  a  population  policy  seem  to  imply  greater 
knowledge  of  the  philosophy  of  population  than  can  be  ascribed 
to  uncivilized  men.  The  case  is  one,  however,  in  which  the 
knowledge  is  simple  and  the  acts  proceed  from  immediate  interest, 
while  the  generalization  is  an  unapprehended  result.  The  mothers 
know  the  strain  of  child  bearing  and  child  rearing.  They  refuse 
to  undergo  it,  for  purely  egoistic  reasons.  The  consequent 
adjustment  of  the  population  to  the  food  supply  comes  of  itself. 
It  was  never  foreseen  or  purposed  by  anybody.  The  women 
would  not  be  allowed  by  the  men  to  shirk  motherhood  if  the 
group  needed  warriors,  or  if  the  men  wanted  daughters  to  sell 

1  Eth7iog.  of  India,  I,  95. 


ABORTION,  INFANTICIDE,  KILLING  THE  OLD      313 

as  wives,  so  that  the  egoistic  motive  of  mothers  never  could 
alone  suffice  to  make  folkways.  It  would  need  to  be  in  accord 
with  the  interest  of  the  group  or  the  interest  of  the  men.  Abor- 
tion and  infanticide  are  primary  and  violent  acts  of  self-defense 
by  the  parents  against  famine,  disease,  and  other  calamities  of 
overpopulation,  which  increase  with  the  number  which  each 
man  or  woman  has  to  provide  for.  In  time,  the  customs  get 
ghost  sanction,  but  it  does  not  appear  that  they  are  in  any  way 
directly  due  to  goblinism  or  to  the  aleatory  element.  They  become 
ritual  acts  and  are  made  sacred  whenever  they  are  brought  into 
connection  with  societal  welfare,  which  implies  some  reflection. 
The  customs  begin  in  a  primary  response  to  pain  and  the  strain 
of  life.  Doctrines  of  right  and  duty  go  with  the  customs  and 
produce  a  code  of  conduct  in  connection  with  them.  Sometimes, 
if  a  child  lives  a  specified  time,  its  life  must  be  spared.  Some- 
times infanticide  is  practiced  only  on  girls,  of  whom  a  smaller 
number  suffices  to  keep  up  the  tribe.  Sometimes  it  is  confined 
to  the  imperfect  infants,  in  obedience  to  a  great  tribal  interest 
to  have  able-bodied  men,  and  to  spend  no  strength  or  capital  in 
rearing  others.  Sometimes  infanticide  is  executed  by  exposure, 
which  gives  the  infant  a  chance  for  its  life  if  any  one  will  rescue 
it.  Sometimes  the  father  must  express  by  a  ritual  act  (e.g.  tak- 
ing up  the  newborn  infant  from  the  ground)  his  decision  whether 
it  is  to  live  or  not.  With  these  customs  must  be  connected  that  of 
selling  children  into  slavery,  which,  when  social  hardship  is  great, 
is  an  alternative  to  infanticide.  The  Jews  abominated  infanti- 
cide but  might  sell  their  children  to  Jews.^  Abortion  by  unmar- 
ried women  is  due  to  the  penalties  of  husbandless  mothers,  and 
is  only  in  form  in  the  same  class  with  abortion  by  the  married. 
Cases  are  given  below  in  which  abortion  is  not  due  to  misery, 
but  to  the  egoistic  motive  only  ;  also  cases  in  which  abortion 
and  infanticide  are  actually  carried  to  the  degree  of  group  suicide. 
Finally  we  may  mention  in  this  connection  superstitious  customs 
or  ancient  and  senseless  usages  to  prevent  child  bearing,  since 
they  bear  witness  to  the  dominion  of  the  same  ideas  and  wishes 
to  which  abortion  and  infanticide  are  due  (see  sec.  321). 

^  Exod.  xxi.  7. 


314  FOLKWAYS 

321.  Illustrations  from  ethnography.  The  Papuans  on  Geelvink  Bay, 
New  Guinea,  say  that  "  children  are  a  burden.  We  become  tired  of  them. 
They  destroy  us."  The  women  practice  abortion  to  such  an  extent  that 
the  rate  of  increase  of  the  population  is  very  small  and  in  some  places 
there  is  a  lack  of  women. ^  Throughout  Dutch  New  Guinea  the  women 
will  not  rear  more  than  two  or  three  children  each.^  In  fact,  it  is  said  of 
the  whole  island  that  the  people  love  their  children  but  fear  that  the  food 
supply  will  be  insufficient,  or  they  seek  ease  and  shirk  the  trouble  of 
rearing  children.^  In  German  Melanesia  the  custom  is  current.  Although 
many  Europeans  live  with  native  women,  few  crossbreeds  are  to  be  seen.* 
Codrington  ^  gives  as  reasons:  "  If  a  woman  did  not  want  the  trouble  of 
bringing  up  a  child,  desired  to  appear  young,  was  afraid  her  husband 
might  think  the  birth  before  its  time,  or  wi.shed  to  spite  her  husband." 
Ling  Roth  '^  quotes  Low  that  the  Dyaks  never  resort  to  wilful  miscarriage, 
but  this  statement  must  be  restricted  to  some  of  them.  Perelaer  ^  says 
that  even  married  women  do  it  and  employ  harmful  means.  The  Atchinese 
practice  abortion  both  before  marriage  and  in  marriage.  It  is  a  matter  of 
course.^  The  women  of  Central  Celebes  will  not  bear  children,  and  use 
abortion  to  avoid  it,  lest  the  perineum  be  torn,  —  "a  thing  which  they 
consider  the  greatest  shame  for  a  woman."  ^  If  an  unmarried  woman  of  the 
Djakun,  on  the  peninsula  of  Malacca,  used  abortion,  she  lost  all  standing 
in  the  tribe.  Women  despised  her  ;  no  man  would  marry  her,  and  she 
might  be  degraded  by  a  punishment  inflicted  by  her  parents.  Married 
women  practiced  it  sometimes  to  avoid  the  strain  of  bearing  children,  but, 
if  detected,  they  might  be  beaten  by  the  husbands,  even  to  death.  In  the 
neighboring  tribe  of  the  Orang  Laut  no  means  of  abortion  was  known. 
"  Such  an  abomination  was  not  regarded  as  possible."  ^^  These  tribes  on 
Malacca  are  very  low  in  grade  of  civilization.  They  are  aborigines  who 
have  been  displaced  and  depressed.  The  people  of  Nukuoro  are  all 
of  good  physique,  large,  and  well  formed.  They  have  a  food  supply 
in  excess  of  their  wants  and  are  well  nourished.  The  population  has 
decreased  in  recent  years,  by  reason  of  the  killing  of  children  before  or 
after  birth. ^^  On  the  New  Britain  islands  the  women  dislike  to  become 
mothers  soon  after  marriage.  Generally  it  is  from  two  to  four  years 
before  a  child  is  born.^-  On  the  New  Hebrides  the  women  employ  abor- 
tion for  egoistic  reasons,  and  miscarriage  is  often  produced  by  climbing 
trees  and  carrying  heavy  loads. ^^    The  inhabitants  of  the  New  Hebrides 

1  Rosenberg,  Geelvinkbaai,  91.  "^  Dajaks,  37. 

^  Krieger,  A'eu-Giiinea,  390.  ^  Snouck-Hurgronje,  De  Atj'ehers,  I,  73. 

3  Ibid.,  165.  9  Bijdragen  lot  T.  L.  e7i  V.-kiinde,  XXXV,  79. 

4  Pfeil,  Aus  der  Siidsee,  31.  "  ztsft.  f.  Ethnol.,  XXVIII,  186. 
^  Melanesians,  229.  •      ^^  Kubary,  Nukuoro,  9,  12,  14. 

6  Sarawak,  I,  loi.  1-  JAI,  XVIII,  291. 

13  Austral.  Assoc.  Adv.  Sci.,  1892,  704. 


ABORTION,  INFANTICIDE,  KILLING  THE   OLD      315 

are  diminishing  in  number,  especially  on  the  coasts,  because  they  flee 
inland  before  the  whites.  Ten  years  ago  there  were  at  Port  Sandwich, 
on  Mallicolo,  six  hundred  souls.  To-day  there  are  only  half  so  many. 
In  the  last  years  there  have  been  five  births  and  thirty  deaths.  Abortion 
is  very  common.  If  a  malformed  child  is  born,  it  and  the  mother  are 
killed.  The  nations  raid  each  other  to  get  slaves  or  cannibal  food.^ 
These  citations  seem  to  represent  the  general  usage  throughout  the 
Pacific  islands. 

322.  Oviedo  said  of  the  women  "  of  the  main  land  "  of  South  America, 
when  first  discovered,  that  they  practiced  abortion  in  order  not  to  spoil 
their  bodies  by  child  bearing.^  The  Kadiveo  of  Paraguay  are  perishing 
largely  through  abortion  by  the  women,  who  will  not  bear  more  than 
one  child  each.^  They  are  a  subdivision  of  the  Guykurus,  who  were 
reported  sixty  or  seventy  years  ago  to  be  decreasing  in  number  from  this 
cause.  The  women,  "until  they  are  thirty,  procure  abortion,  to  free  them- 
selves from  the  privations  of  pregnancy  and  the  trouble  of  bringing  up 
children."*  Martius^  gave  as  additional  reasons,  that  the  tribe  lived  largely 
on  horseback,  and  the  women  did  not  want  to  be  hindered  by  greater 
difficulties  in  this  life,  nor  did  they  want  to  be  left  behind  by  their  hus- 
bands. The  Indians  of  the  plains  of  North  America  were  driven  to 
similar  limitations.  "It  has  long  been  the  custom  that  a  woman  should 
not  have  a  second  child  until  her  first  is  ten  years  old."  ^  Infants  interfere 
very  seriously  with  their  mode  of  life. 

Neither  abortion  nor  infanticide  is  customary  in  the  Horn  of  Africa 
unless  it  be  in  time  of  famine. '^  In  South  Africa  abortion  is  a  common 
custom.^  Abortion  and  infanticide  are  so  nearly  universal  in  savage  life, 
either  as  egoistic  policy  or  group  policy,  that  exceptions  to  the  practice 
of  these  vices  are  noteworthy  phenomena. 

323.  Abortion  renounced.  In  ancient  India  abortion  came  to  be  ranked 
with  the  murder  of  a  Brahmin  as  the  greatest  crimes.^  Plato's  idea  of 
right  was  that  men  over  fifty-five,  and  women  over  forty,  ought  not  to 
procreate  citizens.  By  either  abortion  or  infanticide  all  offspring  of  such 
persons  should  be  removed.-^'*  Aristotle  also  thought  that  imperfect  children 
should  be  put  to  death,  and  that  the  numbers  should  be  limited.  If 
parents  exceeded  the  prescribed  number,  abortion  should  be  employed. ^^ 
These  two  philosophers  evidently  constructed  their  ideals  on  the  mores 
already  established  amongst  the  Greeks,  and  their  ethical  doctrines  are 
only  expressions  of  approval  of  the  mores  in  which  they  lived.    The  Jews, 

1  Globus,  LXXXVIII,  164,  after  Joly.  ^  Paulitschke,  Ethnog.  N.  O. 

2  Three  First  English  Books  about  America,  zy].  Afr.,1,  172. 

3  Globus,  LXXXI,  4.  8  Yritsch,  Eingeb.  Siid-Afr.,  96. 
*  Spix  and  Martius,  Travels  in  Brazil,  II,  77.  ^  Zimmer,  Altind.  Leben,  333. 

6  Ethnog.  Brasil.,  231.  ^°  Republic,  V,  9. 

6  Grinnell,  Cheyenne  Woman  Customs,  15;  N'.S.        ^^  Politics,  VII,  16. 
Amer.  Anthrop.,  IV,  13. 


3i6  FOLKWAYS 

on  the  other  hand,  regarded  abortion  and  infanticide  as  heathen  abomina- 
tions. Both  are  forbidden  in  the  "  Two  Ways,"  sec.  2.  In  the  laws  of 
the  German  nations  the  mother  was  treated  as  entitled  to  decide  whether 
she  would  bear  a  child.  Abortion  produced  on  her  by  another  was  a 
crime,  but  not  when  she  produced  it  on  herself.  Only  in  the  law  of  the 
West  Goths  was  abortion  by  the  mother  made  criminal,  because  it  was 
the  view  that  the  state  was  injured.^  In  modern  Hungary,  at  a  marriage, 
the  desire  to  have  no  children  is  expressed  by  a  number  of  ancient  and 
futile  usages  to  prevent  child  bearing  for  years,  or  altogether.  Abortion 
is  practiced  throughout  Hungary  by  women  of  all  the  nationalities. 
Women  rejoice  to  be  barren,  and  it  is  not  thought  creditable  to  have  an 
infant  within  two  or  three  years  of  marriage. ^  Nevertheless  the  birth  rate 
is  very  high  (thirty-nine  per  thousand). 

324.  Illustrations  of  infanticide.  The  Australians  practiced  infanticide 
almost  universally.  A  woman  could  not  carry  two  children.  Therefore, 
if  she  had  one  who  could  not  yet  march,  and  bore  another,  the  latter  was 
killed.  One  or  both  twins  were  killed.  The  native  men  killed  half-white 
children.^  Australian  life  was  full  of  privations  on  account  of  limited 
supplies  of  food  and  water.  The  same  conditions  made  wandering  a 
necessity.  If  a  woman  had  two  infants,  she  could  not  accompany  her 
husband.*  One  reporter  says  that  the  fate  of  a  child  "depended  much  on 
the  condition  the  country  was  in  at  the  time  (drought,  etc.),  and  the  pros- 
pect of  the  mother's  rearing  it  satisfactorily."  *  Sickly  and  imperfect 
children  were  killed  because  they  would  require  very  great  care.  The 
first  one  was  also  killed  because  they  thought  it  immature  and  not  worth 
preserving.^  Very  generally  it  was  eaten  that  the  mother  might  recover 
the  strength  which  she  had  given  to  it.''  If  there  was  an  older  child,  he 
ate  of  it,  in  the  belief  that  he  might  gain  strength.  Very  rarely  were 
more  than  four  children  of  one  woman  allowed  to  grow  up.**  Curr^  says 
that  before  the  whites  came  women  bore,  on  an  average,  six  children  each, 
and  that,  as  a  rule,  they  reared  two  boys  and  a  girl,  the  maximum  being 
ten.  All  authorities  agree  that  if  children  were  spared  at  birth  they  were 
treated  with  great  affection.  On  the  Andaman  Islands  infanticide  was 
unknown.^"  It  was  not  common  on  New  Zealand.  Boys  were  wanted  as 
warriors,  girls  as  breeders. ^^  A  missionary  reports  a  case  in  New  Guinea 
where   the  parents  of  a  sickly,  peevish   child,  probably  teething,  calmly 

1  Rudeck,  Oeffentl.  Sittlichkeit  in  Deutschland,  181. 

2  Temesvary,  Volksbrdiiche  luid  Aberglaiiben  in  der  Gebilrtshilfe  in  Ungarn^ 
12-14.  3  Ratzel,  Volkerhcnde,  II,  59. 

*  Eyre,  Cent.  Anst.,  II,  324;  Spencer  and  Gillen,  Ce)it.  Aust.,  51,  264. 
^  JAI,  XIII,  137.  8  Dawson,  IVest  Victoria,  39. 

^  Smyth,   Victoria,  I,  52.  ^  Austr.  Race,  I,  70. 

''  N'ovara-Reise,  I,  32.  1°  JAI,  XII,  329. 

11  Ibid.,  XIX,  99. 


ABORTION,  INFANTICIDE,  KILLING  THE  OLD      317 

decided  to  kill  it.^  In  British  New  Guinea  there  is  more  or  less  infanticide, 
the  father  strangling  the  infant  at  birth  to  avoid  care  and  trouble. 
Daughters  are  preserved  by  preference  because  of  the  bride  price  which 
the  father  will  get  for  theni.^  On  Nukuoro  the  civil  ruler  decides  long 
before  a  birth  whether  the  child  is  to  be  allowed  to  live  or  not.  If  the 
decision  is  adverse,  it  is  smothered  at  birth."  On  the  Banks  Islands  girls 
are  preferred,  because  the  people  have  the  mother  family,  and  because  of 
the  marriageable  value  of  girls.*  On  the  Murray  Islands  in  Torres  Straits 
all  children  beyond  a  prescribed  number  are  put  to  death,  "  lest  the  food 
supply  should  become  insufficient."  "  If  the  children  were  all  of  one  sex, 
some  were  destroyed  from  shame,  it  being  held  proper  to  have  an  equal 
number  of  boys  and  girls."  ^  On  some  islands  of  the  Solomon  group  infan- 
ticide is  not  practiced,  except  in  cases  of  illegitimate  births.  On  others 
the  coast  people  kill  their  own  children  and  buy  grown-up  children  from 
the  bush  people  of  the  interior,  that  being  an  easier  way  to  get  them.® 
There  is  no  infanticide  on  Samoa.  The  unmarried  employ  abortion." 
Throughout  Polynesia  infanticide  was  prevalent  for  social  selection,  all  of 
mixed  blood  or  caste  being  put  to  death.  Only  two  boys  in  a  family  were 
allowed  to  live,  but  any  number  of  girls.**  In  Tahiti  they  killed  girls,  who 
were  of  no  use  for  war,  service  of  the  god,  fishing,  or  navigation.'^  The 
Malagassans  on  Madagascar  kill  all  children  who  are  born  on  unlucky  days.^" 

325.  The  women  of  the  Pima  (Arizona)  practice  infanticide,  because, 
if  their  husbands  die,  they  will  be  poor  and  will  have  to  provide  by  their 
own  exertions  for  such  children  as  they  have.^^  All  Hyperboreans  practice 
infanticide  on  account  of  the  difficulty  of  the  food  supply.'-  . 

326.  The  Bondei  of  West  Africa  strangle  an  infant  at  birth  if  any  of 
the  numerous  portents  and  omens  for  which  they  watch  are  unfavorable. 
An  infant  is  also  killed  if  its  upper  teeth  come  first. ^'^  Until  very  recently 
it  was  customary  in  parts  of  Ahanta  for  the  tenth  child  born  of  the  same 
mother  to  be  buried  alive."  In  Kabre  (Togo)  there  is  a  large  population 
and  little  food.  The  people  often  sell  their  own  children,  or  kidnap  others, 
which  they  sell  in  order  to  provide  for  their  own.'^  The  Vadshagga  put  to 
death  illegitimate  children  and  those  whose  upper  incisors  come  first. 
The  latter,  if  allowed  to  live,  would  be  parricides. '"^  On  the  Zanzibar 
coast  weak  and   deformed   children   are  exposed.    The   Catholic  mission 

1  Abel,  A^'ezv  Gitinea,  43.  6  jaI,  XVII,  93. 

2  Krieger,  A^eu-Giiiiiea,  292.  "^  Aiistr.  Assoc.  Adv.  Set.,  1892,  621. 

3  Kubary,  Ahikttoro,  35.  ^  Waltz,  Anthrop.,  V,  139. 

*  Codrington,  Melanesiaits,  229.  ^  Ratzel,   Volkerkunde,  II,  126. 

5  JAI,  XXVIII,  II.  w  Waltz,  AntJirop.,  II,  441. 

11  Srnithsoii.  Rep.,  1871,  407;  quoted,  Bur.  Eth.,  I,  99. 

12  Ratzel,  II,  769;  Bur.  Eth.,  XVIII,  289. 

13  PSM,  L,  100.  15  Globus,  LXXXIII,  314. 

1*  Ellis,  Tshi-speakiiig  Peoples,  234.         1®  Volkens,  Kilimandscharo,  252. 


3l8  FOLKWAYS 

saved  many,  but  the  natives  then  exposed  more  to  get  rid  of  them.^  The 
Hottentots  expose  female  twins. ^  The  Kabyls  put  to  death  all  children 
who  are  illegitimate,  incestuous,  or  adulterine.  If  the  mother  should  spare 
the  infant  she  would  insure  her  own  death.''  There  is  said  to  be  no  infan- 
ticide in  Cambodia.*  "  Widows  among  the  Moghiahs  [a  criminal  tribe  of 
central  India]  are  allowed  to  remarry.  The  murder  of  female  infants  has, 
therefore,  never  prevailed  amongst  them."  ^  The  Chinese  on  Formosa 
practice  female  infanticide,  "in  cases  of  a  succession  of  girls  in  a  family." 
"  The  aborigines,  both  civilized  and  savage,  looked  with  horror  upon  the 
Chinese  for  their  inhumanity  in  this  respect."  They  brought  the  custom 
from  China,  where  in  the  overpopulated  southeastern  provinces  it  is  current 
custom.''  The  Khonds  of  India  are  a  poor,  isolated  hill  tribe,  who  put 
female  infants  to  death  because  they  regard  marriage  in  the  same  tribe 
as  incest."  All  tribes  in  their  status  who  refuse  to  practice  endogamy 
have  a  peculiar  problem  to  deal  with.  Wilkins*  says  that  six  sevenths  of 
the  population  of  India  have  for  ages  practiced  female  infanticide.  Bud- 
dhism is  declared  to  be  inhuman  and  antisocial.  It  palliates  everything 
which  is  done  to  limit  population,  —  polygamy  and  infanticide  in  China, 
concubinage  in  Japan,  and  prostitution  in  both.  It  started  and  developed 
in  countries  which  had  for  generations  suffered  from  overpopulation,  with 
its  regular  consequences  of  famine,  pestilence,  and  war.'' 

327.  Revolt  against  infanticide.  The  ancient  Egyptians  revolted,  in 
their  mores,  against  infanticide  and  put  an  end  to  it.^"  Strabo  ^^  thought  it  a 
peculiarity  of  the  Egyptians  that  every  child  must  be  reared.  The  Greeks 
regarded  infanticide  as  the  necessary  and  simply  proper  way  to  deal  with 
a  problem  which  could  not  be  avoided.  Dissent  was  not  wanting.  At 
Thebes  infanticide  was  forbidden.^-  Sutherland^"  points  out  the  effect  of 
infanticide  to  bring  the  Greek  and  Latin  races  to  an  end.  They  neglected 
their  own  females  and  begot  offspring  with  foreign  and  slave  women,  thus 
breeding  out  their  own  race  blood.  The  Romans  do  not  appear  to  have  had 
any  population  policy  until  the  time  of  the  empire,  when  the  social  cor- 
ruption and  egoism  so  restricted  reproduction  that  the  policy  was  directed 
to  the  encouragement  of  marriage  and  parenthood.  Therefore  infanticide 
was  disapproved  by  the  jurists  and  moralists.  Ovid,  Seneca,  Plutarch, 
Favorinus,  and  Juvenal  speak  of  abortion  as  general  and  notorious,  but 
as   criminal."    Tacitus  praised   the   Germans  because,   as  he   erroneously 

1  Stuhlmann,  Mit  Emin  Pascha,  38.  ^  Ratzel,   Vblkerkntide,  I,  104. 

3  Hanoteau  et  Letourneux,  La  Kabylie,  III,  220. 

*  PSM,  XLIV,  779.  9  Humbert, /a/(z«,  311. 

5  JASB,  I,  283.  10  Lippert,  I,  205. 

^  Pickering,  Formosa,  61.  11  Geog.,  VIII,  24. 

^  Hopkins,  Relig.  of  India,  531.  12  Aelian,   Var.  Hist.,  II,  7. 

8  Mod.  Hinduism,  431.  1*  Moral  Instinct,  I,  134,  136. 

1*  Cf.  Lecky,  Eur.  Morals,  II,  20. 


ABORTION,  INFANTICIDE,  KILLING  THE   OLD      319 

asserted/  they  did  not  allow  infanticide,  and  he  knew  that  the  Jews  pro- 
hibited it.-  In  the  cases  of  Greece  and  Rome  we  have  clear  instances  to 
prove  the  opposite  tendencies  of  the  mores,  with  their  attendant  philos- 
ophies and  ethical  principles,  on  the  conjuncture  of  the  conditions  and 
interests.  At  Rome  children  were  exposed  either  on  account  of  poverty, 
which  was  the  ancient  cause,  or  on  account  of  luxury,  egoism,  and  vice. 
"  Pagan  and  Christian  authorities  are  united  in  speaking  of  infanticide  as 
a  crying  vice  of  the  empire."  ^  These  protests  show  that  the  custom  was 
not  fully  protected  by  tlie  mores.  Pliny  thought  it  necessary.*  Seneca 
refers  to  the  killing  of  defective  children  as  a  wise  and  unquestioned  cus- 
tom which  he  can  use  for  illustration.^  For  the  masses,  until  the  late  days 
of  the  empire,  infanticide  was,  at  the  worst,  a  venial  crime.  "  What  was 
demanded  on  this  subject  was  not  any  clearer  moral  teaching,  but  rather  a 
stronger  enforcement  of  the  condemnation  long  since  passed  upon  infanti- 
cide, and  an  increased  protection  for  exposed  infants.  .  .  .  The  church 
labored  to  deepen  the  sense  of  the  enormity  of  the  crime." '''  Evidently 
infanticide  was  a  tradition  with  serious  approval  from  one  state  of  things 
to  another  in  which  it  was  harmful  and  not  needed  in  any  view.  In  331  a.d. 
Constantine  gave  title  to  those  who  rescued  exposed  children  against  the 
parents  of  the  children. '^  This  was  in  favor  of  the  children,  since  it  increased 
the  chances  that  they  would  be  rescued,  if  we  must  assume  that  it  was 
their  interest  that  their  lives  should  be  spared,  even  if  they  were  reared  by 
men  who  speculated  on  their  future  value  as  slaves  or  prostitutes.  As  a 
corollary  of  the  legislation  against  infanticide,  institutions  to  care  for 
foundlings  came  into  existence.  Such  institutions  rank  as  charitable  and 
humanitarian.  Their  history  is  such  as  to  make  infanticide  seem  kind. 
In  374  infanticide  was  made  a  crime  punishable  by  death.  Justinian 
provided  that  foundlings  should  be  free.**  Infanticide  continued  to  be 
customary.  The  church  worked  against  it  by  the  introduction  of  the 
mystic  religious  element.  The  infants  died  unbaptized.  As  the  religion 
took  a  more  and  more  ritualistic  character  this  fact  affected  the  minds  of 
the  masses  more  than  the  suffering  or  death  of  the  infants  ever  had.  In  a 
cold  estimate  of  facts  it  was  also  questionable  whether  the  infants  suffered 
any  great  harm,  and  the  popular  estimate  of  the  crime  of  extinguishing  a 
life  before  any  interests  had  clustered  around  it  was  very  lenient.  "  The 
criminality  of  abortion  was  immeasurably  aggravated  when  it  was  believed 
to  involve  not  only  the  extinction  of  a  transient  life,  but  also  the  damnation 
of  an  immortal  soul."  ^  The  religious  interest  was  thus  brought  to  reenforce 
the  love  of  children  in  the  struggle  against  the  old  custom.    The  canon 

1  Weinhold,  Z>.  F.,  I,  91.  5  /^^  /ra,  I,  15. 

2  Germania,  19  ;  T/tst,  V,  5.  ^  Lecky,  £i(r.  Morals,  II,  29. 

3  Lecky,  Etir.  Morals,  II,  27.  ^  Cod.  Theod.,  V,  7. 

*  Nat.  Hist.,  IV,  29.  8  Blair,  Slavery  atnongst  the  Romans,  44. 

9  Lecky,  Eur.  Morals,  II,  23. 


320 


FOLKWAYS 


law  also  construed  it  as  murder.  Through  the  Middle  Ages  the  sale  of 
children  was  not  common,  but  the  custom  of  exposure  continued. ^  The 
primitive  usages  of  the  Teutons  included  exposure  of  infants.  The  father 
by  taking  the  child  up  from  the  ground  ordained  that  it  should  live.  It 
was  then  bathed  and  named.  Rulers  exposed  infants  lest  dependent 
persons  should  be  multiplied.  Evil  dreams  also  caused  exposure.  When 
the  Icelanders  accepted  Christianity  a  minority  stipulated  that  they  should 
still  be  allowed  to  eat  horseflesh  and  to  practice  exposure  of  infants.'^ 
In  old  German  law  infanticide  was  treated  as  the  murder  of  a  relative. 
The  guilty  mother  was  buried  alive  in  a  sack,  the  law  prescribing,  with  the 
ingenious  fiendishness  of  the  age,  that  a  dog,  a  cat,  a  rooster,  and  a  viper 
should  also  be  placed  in  the  sack.'  In  ancient  Arabia  the  father  might 
kill  newborn  daughters  by  burying  them  alive.  The  motive  of  the  old 
custom  was  anxiety  about  provision  for  the  child  and  shame  at  the  disgrace 
of  having  become  the  father  of  a  daughter.^  In  the  Koran  it  is  forbidden 
to  kill  children  for  fear  of  starvation.  In  modern  countries  infanticide  has 
been  common  or  rare  according  to  the  penalties,  in  law  or  the  mores,  upon 
husbandless  mothers.  In  the  sixteenth  century,  in  Spain,  illegitimate  births 
were  very  common.  Infanticide  was  very  uncommon,  but  abandonment 
(foundlings)  took  its  place.    The  foundlings  became  vagabonds  and  rogues.^ 

328.  Ethics  of  abortion  and  infanticide.  Abortion  and  infanti- 
cide are  at  war  with  the  attachment  of  parents  to  children, 
which  is  a  sentiment  common,  but  not  universal,  amongst  animals 
while  the  offspring  are  dependent.  It  might  seem  that  these 
customs  have  been  abolished  by  speculative  ethics.  In  fact, 
they  have  not  been  abolished.  They  have  been  modified  and 
have  been  superseded  by  milder  methods  of  accomplishing  the 
same  purpose.  It  is  evidently  a  question  at  what  point  parental 
affection  begins  to  attach  to  the  child.  We  think  that  we  have 
gained  much  over  savage  people  in  our  notion  of  murder,  but  it 
appears  that  primitive  men  did  not  dare  to  take  anything  out  of 
nature  without  giving  an  equivalent  for  it,  and  that  they  did  not 
dare  to  kill  anything  without  first  sacrificing  it  to  a  god,  or 
afterwards  conciliating  the  spirit  of  the  animal  or  of  its  species. 
If  it  is  murder  to  prevent  a  life  from  coming  into  existence,  it 

1  Polyptique  de  IrtninoUy  I,  287. 

2  Weinhold,  D.  F.,  I,  93,  96;  II,  93. 

3  Rudeck,  Oeffentl.  Sittlichkeit,  182. 

*  Wellhausen,  Ehe  bei  de?i  Arabem,  458. 

5  Chandler,  Romances  of  Roguery  in  Spain,  30. 


ABORTION,  INFANTICIDE,  KILLING  THE  OLD      32 1 

would  be  a  question  of  casuistry  at  what  point  such  a  crime 
would  ensue.     It  might  be  murder  to  remain  unmarried. 

329.  Christian  mores  as  to  abortion  and  infanticide.  The 
tradition  against  abortion  and  infanticide  came  down  into  our 
mores  from  the  Jews.  It  never  got  strength  in  the  mores  of 
Christianity  until  each  of  those  acts  was  regarded  as  a  high 
religious  crime  because  the  child  died  unbaptized.  The  soul 
was  held  to  belong  to  it  from  the  moment  of  conception.  In 
reality  nothing  has  put  an  end  to  infanticide  but  the  advance  in 
the  arts  (increased  economic  power),  by  virtue  of  which  parents 
can  provide  for  children.  Neomalthusianism  is  still  practiced 
and  holds  the  check  by  which  the  population  is  adjusted  to  the 
economic  power.  There  is  shame  in  it.  No  one  dare  avow  it  or 
openly  defend  it.  A  "  two-child  system  "  is  currently  referred 
to  in  French  and  German  literature  as  an  established  family 
policy,  and  restriction  is  certainly  a  fact  in  the  mores  of  all 
civilized  people.  It  is  certain  that  the  masses  of  those  people 
think  it  right  and  not  wrong.  They  do  not  accept  guidance 
from  any  speculative  ethics,  but  from  expediency.  Their  devo- 
tion to  their  children  is  greater  than  a  similar  virtue  ever  has 
been  at  any  previous  time,  and  they  prove  their  willingness  to 
make  the  utmost  sacrifices  for  them.  In  fact,  very  many  of 
them  are  unwilling  to  have  more  children  because  it  would  limit 
what  they  can  do  for  those  they  have.  In  short,  the  customs 
and  their  motives  have  changed  very  little  since  the  days  of 
savagery. 

330.  Mores  of  respect  or  contempt  for  the  aged.  In  the  intro- 
ductory paragraph  to  this  chapter  it  was  observed  that  there  are 
two  sets  of  mores  as  to  the  aged  :  {a)  in  one  set  of  mores  the 
teaching  and  usages  inculcate  conventional  respect  for  the  aged, 
who  are  therefore  arbitrarily  preserved  for  their  wisdom  and 
counsel,  perhaps  also  sometimes  out  of  affection  and  sympathy  ; 
{b)  in  the  other  set  of  mores  the  aged  are  regarded  as  societal 
burdens,  which  waste  the  strength  of  the  society,  already  inade- 
quate for  its  tasks.  Therefore  they  are  forced  to  die,  either  by 
their  own  hands  or  those  of  their  relatives.  It  is  very  far  from 
being  true  that  the  first  of  these  policies  is  practiced  by  people 


32  2  FOLKWAYS 

higher  up  in  civilization  than  those  who  practice  the  second. 
The  people  in  lower  civilization  profit  more  by  the  wisdom  and 
counsel  of  the  aged  than  those  in  higher  civilization,  and  are 
educated  by  this  experience  to  respect  and  value  the  aged. 
"  The  introduction  of  the  father-right  won  more  respect  for  the 
aged  man."  ^  In  some  cases  we  can  see  the  two  codes  in  strife. 
Amongst  the  ancient  Teutons  the  father  could  expose  or  sell 
his  children  under  age,  and  the  adult  son  could  kill  his  aged 
parents.^  There  was  no  fixed  duty  of  child  to  parent  or  of 
parent  to  child. 

331.  Ethnographical  illustrations  of  respect  to  the  aged.  "  The  people 
of  Madagascar  pay  high  honor  to  age  and  to  parents.  The  respect  to  age 
is  even  exaggerated."  Tlie  Hovas  always  pay  formal  respect  to  greater 
age.  If  two  slaves  are  carrying  a  load  together,  the  younger  of  them  will 
try  to  carrj'  it  all.^  In  West  Africa,  "all  the  younger  members  of  society 
are  early  trained  to  show  the  utmost  deference  to  age.  They  must  never 
come  into  the  presence  of  aged  persons  or  pass  by  their  dwellings  without 
taking  off  their  hats  and  assuming  a  crouching  gait.  When  seated  in  their 
presence  it  must  always  be  at  a  'respectful  distance,'  —  a  distance  pro- 
portioned to  the  difference  in  their  ages  and  position  in  society.  If  they 
come  near  enough  to  hand  an  aged  man  a  lighted  pipe  or  a  glass  of  water, 
the  bearer  must  always  fall  upon  one  knee."  ^  "  Great  among  the  Oromo  is 
the  veneration  for  the  old.  Failure  in  respect  to  age  is  considered  an 
injury  to  the  customs  of  the  country.  The  aged  always  sit  in  the  post  of 
honor,  have  a  voice  in  public  councils,  in  discussions,  and  controversies 
which  arise  amongst  citizens.  The  young  and  the  women  are  taught  to 
serve  them  on  all  occasions."  ^  The  Hereros  respect  the  old.  Property 
belongs  to  an  old  man  even  after  his  son  assumes  the  care  of  it.  Milk  pails 
and  joints  of  meat  are  brought  to  him  to  be  blessed.'^  The  old  are  well 
treated  in  Australia.  Certain  foods  are  reserved  for  them.''  Amongst  the 
Lhoosai,  on  the  Chittagong  hills  of  southeastern  India,  "parents  are 
reverenced  and  old  age  honored.  When  past  work  the  father  and  mother 
are  cared  for  by  the  children."  **  The  Nicobarese  treat  the  old  kindly  and 
let  them  live  as  long  as  they  can.*^  The  Andamanese  also  show  great 
respect  to  the  old  and  treat  them  with  care  and  consideration. ^'^  The  tribes 
in   central   Australia  have  no  such  custom  "  as  doing  away  with  aged  or 

1  Lippert,  A'liltnrgescli.,  I,  240.  ^  Ratzel,  Hist,  of  Mankind,  II,  468. 

2  QxYcnva.,  Deictsche  Rechtsalt.,  i\(i\,A,%i.  '  Ratzel,   Vblkerkiinde,  II,  22. 

3  Ratzel,   Volkerkiinde,  II,  511.  ^  Lewin,  IVild Races  of  S.  E.  India,  256. 
*  Nassau,  Fetishism  in  West  Afr.,  159.  ^  JAI,  XVIII,  384. 

5  Vannutelli  e  Citemi,  VOmo,  448.  i*^  Ibid.,  XII,  93. 


ABORTION,  INFANTICIDE,  KILLING  THE   OLD      323 

infirm  people  ;  on  ttie  contrary,  sucli  are  treated  witii  especial  kindness, 
receiving  a  share  of  the  food  which  they  are  unable  to  procure  for  them- 
selves." ^  The  Jekris,  in  the  Niger  Protectorate,  "  have  great  respect  for 
their  fathers,  chiefs,  and  old  age  generally.  Public  opinion  is  very  strong 
on  these  points.'-^  The  Indians  on  the  northwest  coast  of  North  America 
"  have  great  respect  for  the  aged,  whose  advice  in  most  matters  has  great 
weight."  ^  "  Great  is  the  respect  for  the  aged  "  amongst  the  Chavantes,  a 
Ges  tribe  of  Brazil.*  Cranz  ^  says  that  the  Greenland  Eskimo  take  care 
of  their  old  parents.  "  The  Ossetines  [of  the  Caucasus]  have  the  greatest 
love  and  respect  for  their  parents,  for  old  age  in  general,  and  for  their 
ancestors.  The  authority  of  the  head  of  the  family,  the  grandfather,  father, 
stepfather,  uncle,  or  older  brother  is  unconditionally  recognized.  The 
younger  men  will  never  sit  down  in  the  presence  of  elders,  will  not  speak 
loudly,  and  will  never  contradict  them."  "^  "A  young  Kalmuck  never  dares 
show  himself  before  his  father  or  mother  when  he  is  not  sober.  He  does 
not  sit  down  in  the  presence  of  old  people,  drawing  his  legs  under  him, 
which  would  be  a  gross  familiarity,  but  he  squats  on  his  knees,  supporting 
himself  with  his  heels  in  the  ground.  He  never  shows  himself  before  old 
people  without  his  girdle.  To  be  without  a  girdle  is  extreme  neglig^."  ^ 
Maine'^  says  :  "  A  New  Zealand  chief,  when  asked  as  to  the  welfare  of  a 
fellow-tribesman,  replied,  '  He  gave  us  so  much  good  advice  that  we  put 
him  mercifully  to  death.'  This  gives  a  good  idea  of  the  two  views  which 
barbarous  men  take  of  the  aged.  At  lirst  they  are  considered  useless  and 
burdensome,  and  fare  accordingly ;  later  a  sense  of  their  wisdom  raises 
them  to  a  place  of  high  honor."  It  is  evidertt  that  the  statement  here 
made,  of  the  relation  in  time  of  the  two  ways  of  treating  the  old,  is  not 
correct.  The  cases  above  cited  are  nearly  all  those  of  savages  and  bar- 
barians. The  people  of  higher  civilization  will  be  found  amongst  those  of 
the  other  mores  to  be  cited  below  (see  sec.  335). 

332.  "  The  position  of  the  Roman  father  assured  him  respect 
and  obedience  as  long  as  he  lived.  His  unlimited  power  of 
making  a  will  kept  his  fate  in  his  own  hands."  ^  The  power  in 
his  family  which  the  law  gave  him  was  very  great,  but  his  sons 
never  paid  him  affectionate  respect.  "  It  is  remarkable  that  we 
do  not  hear  so  often  of  barbarous  treatment  of  old  women  as 
of  old   men.     Could  love  for  mothers   have   been  an  effective 

1  Spencer  and  Gillen,  Native  Tribes,  Cent.  A2tstr.,  51. 

2  JAI,  XXVIII,  109.  ®  von  Haxthausen,  Transkaiikasia,  II,  35. 

3  U.  S.  Nat.  Mils.,  1888,  240.  '^  Russian  Ethnog.  {Rnss.),  II,  445. 
*  Martius,  Ethnog.  Brasil.,  ■zi\.  ^  Early  Law  and  Custom,  23. 

^  Hist,  von  Grdnland,  197.  ^  Lippert,  Kiilturgesch.,  I,  241. 


324  FOLKWAYS 

sentiment  ?  Under  mother  right  the  relation  of  child  to  parent 
was  far  stronger,  and  the  relation  to  the  maternal  uncle  was 
secondary  and  derivative  with  respect  to  that  to  the  mother."  ^ 

333.  Killing  the  old.  The  custom  of  killing  the  old,  especially 
one's  parents,  is  very  antipathetic  to  us.  The  cases  will  show 
that,  for  nomadic  people,  the  custom  is  necessary.  The  old 
drop  out  by  the  way  and  die  from  exhaustion.  To  kill  them  is 
only  equivalent,  and  perhaps  kinder.  If  an  enemy  is  pursuing, 
the  necessity  is  more  acute. ^  All  this  enters  into  the  life  con- 
ditions so  primarily  that  the  custom  is  a  part  of  the  life  policy ; 
it  is  so  understood  and  acquiesced  in.  The  old  sometimes  re- 
quest it  from  life  weariness,  or  from  devotion  to  the  welfare 
of  the  group. 

334.  Killing  the  old  in  ethnography.  The  "  Gallinomero  sometimes  have 
two  or  three  cords  of  wood  neatly  stacked  in  ricks  about  the  wigwam. 
Even  then,  with  the  heartless  cruelty  of  the  race,  they  will  dispatch  an  old 
man  to  the  distant  forest  with  an  ax,  whence  he  returns  with  his  white 
head  painfully  bowed  under  a  back-load  of  knaggy  limbs,  and  his  bare 
bronzed  bowlegs  moving  on  with  that  catlike  softness  and  evenness  of  the 
Indian,  but  so  slowly  that  he  scarcely  seems  to  get  on  at  all."  ^  An  old  squaw, 
who  had  been  abandoned  by  her  children  because  she  was  blind,  was  found 
wandering  in  the  mountains  of  California.*  "  Filial  piety  cannot  be  said 
to  be  a  distinguishing  quality  of  the  Wailakki,  or  any  Indians.  No  matter 
how  high  may  be  their  station,  the  aged  and  decrepit  are  counted  a  burden. 
The  old  man,  hero  of  a  hundred  battles,  when  his  skill  with  the  bow  and 
arrow  is  gone,  is  ignominiously  compelled  to  accompany  his  sons  into  the 
forest,  and  bear  home  on  his  shoulders  the  game  they  have  killed."  ^  Cat- 
lin  describes  his  leave-taking  of  an  old  Ponca  chief  who  was  being  deserted 
by  the  tribe  with  a  little  food  and  water,  a  trifling  fire,  and  a  few  sticks. 
The  tribe  were  driven  on  by  hunger.  The  old  chief  said :  "  My  children, 
our  nation  is  poor,  and  it  is  necessary  that  you  should  all  go  to  the  country 
where  you  can  get  meat.  My  eyes  are  dimmed  and  my  strength  is  no  more. 
.  .  .  1  am  a  burden  to  my  children.  I  cannot  go.  Keep  your  hearts  stout  and 
think  not  of  me.  I  am  no  longer  good  for  anything."  '^  This  is  the  fullest 
statement  we  can  quote,  attributed  to  one  of  the  abandoned  old  men,  of 
the  view  of  the  proceeding  which  could  make  him  acquiesce  in  it.  The 
victims  do  not  always  take   this  view  of  the   matter.    This  custom  was 

1  hippert,  Ji'ti/iur^^esc// .,  I,  325.  *  Ihid.,  112. 

'■2  Powers,  Calif.  Indians,  319.  ^  Ibid.,  118. 

^  Ibid.,  176  ;  Bancroft,  iXative  Races,  I,  390.      ^  Sniithson.  Rep.,  1885,  Part  II,  429. 


ABORTION,  INFANTICIDE,  KILLING  THE  OLD      325 

common  to  all  the  tribes  which  roamed  the  prairies.  Every  one  who  lived 
to  decrepitude  knew  that  he  must  expect  it.  A  more  recent  authority  says 
that  Poncas  and  Omahas  never  left  the  aged  and  infirm  on  the  prairie. 
They  were  left  at  home,  with  adequate  supplies,  until  the  hunting  party 
returned.^  That  shows  that  they  had  a  settled  home  and  their  cornfields 
are  mentioned  in  the  context.  The  old  watched  the  cornfields,  so  that 
they  were  of  some  use.  By  the  law  of  the  Incas  the  old,  who  were  unfit 
for  other  work,  drove  birds  from  the  fields,  and  they  were  kept  at  public 
cost,  like  the  disabled.^  The  Hudson's  Bay  Eskimo  strangle  the  old  who 
are  dependent  on  others  for  their  food,  or  leave  them  to  perish  when  the 
camp  is  moved.  They  move  in  order  to  get  rid  of  burdensome  old  people 
without  executing  them.^  The  central  Eskimo  kill  the  old  because  all 
who  die  by  violence  go  to  the  happy  land  ;  others  have  not  such  a  happy 
future.*  Nansen^  says  that  "when  people  get  so  old  that  they  cannot  take 
care  of  themselves,  especially  women,  they  are  often  treated  with  little 
consideration "  by  the  Eskimo.  Many  tribes  in  Brazil  killed  the  old 
because  they  were  a  burden  and  because  they  could  no  longer  enjoy  war, 
hunting,  and  feasting.  The  Tupis  sometimes  killed  a  sick  man  and  ate  the 
corpse,  if  the  shaman  said  that  he  could  not  get  well.®  The  Tobas,  a  Guy- 
kuru  tribe  in  Paraguay,  bury  the  old  alive.  The  old,  from  pain  and  decrepi- 
tude, often  beg  for  death.  Women  execute  the  homicide.'  An  old  woman 
of  the  Murray  River  people,  Australia,  broke  her  hip.  She  was  left  to  die, 
"  as  the  tribe  did  not  want  to  be  bothered  with  her."  The  helpless  and  infirm 
are  customarily  so  treated.^  In  West  Victoria  the  old  are  strangled  by  a 
relative  deputed  for  the  purpose  and  the  body  is  burned.  One  reason  given 
is  that,  in  cases  of  attack  by  an  enemy,  the  old  would  be  captured  and 
tortured  to  death.  The  victims  often  beg  for  delay,  but  always  in  vain.^ 
The  Melanesians  buried  alive  the  sick  and  old.  "  It  is  certain  that,  when 
this  was  done,  there  was  generally  a  kindness  intended."  Even  when  the 
younger  hastened  the  end,  for  selfish  reasons,  the  sick  and  aged  acquiesced. 
They  often  begged  to  be  put  out  of  their  misery.^''  On  the  Easter  Islands 
the  aged  were  treated  with  little  respect.  The  sick  were  not  kindly  treated, 
unless  they  were  near  relatives. ^^  The  Solomon  Islanders  are  described  as 
"a  community  where  no  respect  whatever  is  shown  by  youth  to  age."  ^^ 
Holub  '^^  mentions  a  great  cliff  from  which  some  South  African  tribes  cast 
the  old  when  tired  of  caring  for  them.  Hottentots  used  to  put  decrepit  old 
people  on  pack  oxen  and  take  them  out  into  the  desert,  where  they  were 

.  1  Bur.  Eth.,  Ill,  274.  T  Globus,  LXXXI,  108. 

2  Martius,  Ethnog.  Brasil.,  126,  n.  *  Eyre,  Cejtt.  Australia,  I,  321. 

3  Bur.  Eth.,  XI,  178,  186.  9  Dawson,  West  Victoria,  62. 

*  Ibid.,  VI,  615.  1"  Codrington,  RIelanesiaus,  347. 

^  Eskimo,  178.  ^^  Geiseler,  Oster-inseln,  31. 

^  Martius,  Ethnog.  Bras.,  126.  ^-  Woodford,  Head-hunters,  25. 

13  Sieben  Jahre  in  S.  Afr.,  I,  409. 


326  FOLKWAYS 

left  in  a  little  hut  prepared  for  the  purpose  with  a  little  food.  They  now 
show  great  heartlessness  towards  helpless  old  people.^  Bushmen  abandon 
the  aged  with  a  little  food  and  water. ^  In  the  Niger  Protectorate  the  old 
and  useless  are  killed.  The  bodies  are  smoked  and  pulverized  and  the  pow- 
der is  made  into  little  balls  with  water  and  corn.  The  balls  are  dried  and 
kept  to  be  used  as  food.^  The  Somali  exploit  the  old  in  work  to  the  last 
point,  and  then  cast  them  out  to  die  of  hunger.*  The  people  of  the  Arctic 
regions  generally  put  the  aged  to  death  on  account  of  the  hard  life  condi- 
tions. The  aged  of  the  Chuckches  demand,  as  a  right,  to  be  put  to  death.^ 
Life  is  so  hard  and  food  so  scarce  that  they  are  indifferent  to  death,  and 
the  acquiescence  of  the  victim  is  described  as  complete  and  willing.*'  A  case 
is  also  described "  of  an  old  man  of  that  tribe  who  was  put  to  death  at  his 
own  request  by  relatives,  who  thought  that  they  performed  a  sacred  obliga- 
tion. The  Yakuts  formerly  had  a  similar  custom,  the  old  man  begging  his 
children  to  dispatch  him.  They  thrust  him  into  a  hole  in  the  forest,  where 
they  left  him  with  vessels,  tools,  and  a  little  food.  Sometimes  a  man  and 
his  wife  were  buried  together.  There  was  no  such  thing  as  respect  for  the 
aged  or  for  aged  relatives  amongst  the  Yakuts.  Younger  men  plundered, 
scolded,  and  abused  the  elder.'^ 

335.  "  The  custom  of  putting  a  violent  end  to  the  aged  and  infirm  sur- 
vived from  the  primeval  period  into  historic  times  not  infrequently  amongst 
the  Indo-European  peoples.  It  can  be  authenticated  in  Vedic  antiquity, 
amongst  the  Iranians  (Bactrians  and  Caspian  peoples),  and  amongst  the 
ancient  Germans,  Slavs,  and  Prussians."  '*  The  Bactrians  cast  the  old  and 
sick  to  the  dogs.^"  The  Massagetae  made  a  sacrifice  of  cattle  and  of  an  old 
man,  and  ate  the  whole.  This  was  a  happy  end.  Those  who  died  of  disease 
were  buried  and  were  thought  less  fortunate."  "  As  far  as  I  know  no  men- 
tion is  made  among  the  Aryans  of  the  putting  to  death  of  old  people  in 
general  (we  first  meet  with  it  in  the  migratory  period),  nor  of  the  putting  to 
death  of  parents  by  their  children  ;  but  their  casting  out  is  mentioned."  ^^ 
The  Greeks  treated  the  old  with  neglect  and  disrespect. ^^  Gomme  ^^  quotes 
a  fifteenth-century  MS.  of  a  Parsifal  episode  in  which  the  hero  congratu- 
lates himself  that  he  is  not  like  the  men  of  Wales,  "  where  sons  pull  their 
fathers  out  of  bed  and  kill  them  to  save  the  disgrace  of  their  dying  in 
bed."    He  also  cites  mention  of  the  "holy  mawle  which  (they  fancy)  hung 

1  Kolben,  Hist.  Good  Hope,  1,324;  Fritsch,     ^  Sieroshevski,  Yakiity  (rt/ss.),  51 1,  621. 

Eingeb.  S.  Afr.,  334.  '^  ^chr^Lder,  Pre/tist.  Aiitiq. of  the  Aryans, 

2  Globus,  XVIII,  122.  379;  Zimmer,  Altind.  Leben,  327. 
^YJvvLg%\G.y,  West  Afr.  Studies,  i^dd.  i'^  Strabo,    XI,    517;     Spiegel,    Eran. 
*  Paulitschke,  Ethnog.  N.  O.  Afr.,  I,  205.  Alterthiimskiinde,  III,  682. 

^  A'.  S.  Amer.  Anthrop.,  Ill,  106.  "  Herodotus,  I,  216. 

fi  De  Windt  in  N.  Y.  Tit7ies,  May  10, 1S97.      12  Ihering,  E7'oi.  of  the  Aryan,  33. 
''  J?itss.  Ethnog.  (rnss.),  II,  578.  13  Mahaffy,  Soc.  Life  in  Greece,  229. 

^*  Ethnol.  in  Folklore,  136. 


ABORTION,  INFANTICIDE,  KILLING  THE  OLD      327 

behind  the  church  door,  which,  when  the  father  was  seventy,  the  son  might 
fetch  to  knock  his  father  on  the  head  as  effete  and  of  no  more  use."  ^ 
Once  in  Iceland,  in  time  of  famine,  it  was  decided  by  solemn  resolution 
that  all  the  old  and  unproductive  should  be  killed.  That  determination 
was  part  of  a  system  of  legislation  by  which,  in  that  country,  the  society 
was  protected  against  superfluous  and  dependent  members.^ 

336.  Special  exigencies  of  the  civilized.  Civilized  men  in 
certain  cases  find  themselves  face  to  face  with  the  primitive 
circumstances,  and  experience  the  primeval  necessity,  which 
overrides  the  sentiments  of  civilization,  whatever  may  be  the 
strength  of  the  latter.  Colonel  Fremont,  in  1849,  i^  ^  letter  to 
his  wife,  tells  how  in  crossing  the  plains  he  and  his  comrades  left 
the  weak  and  dying  members  of  their  party,  one  by  one,  to  die 
in  the  snow,  after  lighting  a  little  fire  for  him.^  Many  other 
such  cases  are  known  from  oral  narratives.  The  question  is  not 
one  of  more  or  less  humanity.  It  is  a  question  of  the  struggle 
for  existence  when  at  the  limit  of  one  of  its  conditions.  Our 
civilization  ordinarily  veils  from  us  the  fact  that  we  are  rivals 
and  enemies  to  each  other  in  the  competition  of  life.  It  is  in 
such  cases  as  the  one  just  mentioned,  or  in  shipwrecks,  that  this 
fact  becomes  the  commanding  one.  The  only  alternative  to  the 
abandonment  of  one  is  the  loss  of  all.  Abortion,  infanticide, 
and  the  kilhng  of  the  old  began  at  times  when  the  competition 
of  life  was  so  direct  and  pitiless  that  it  left  no  room  for  kindly 
sentiment.  The  latter  is  a  product  of  civilization.  It  could  be 
cultivated  only  by  men  for  whom  the  struggle  for  existence  was 
so  easy,  and  the  competition  of  life  so  moderate,  that  the  severity 
was  all  taken  out  of  them.  Then  there  was  a  surplus  and  the 
conditions  of  life  were  easy.  The  alternative  was  not  murder 
or  suicide.  Such  a  state  of  ease  was  reached  by  migration  or 
by  advance  in  the  arts,  —  in  short,  by  greater  command  of  man 
over  nature.    The  fundamental  elements  in  the  case  were  altered. 

1  In  the  national  museum  at  Stockholm  is  a  large  collection  of  flat  clubs  from 
all  the  churches  in  Sweden,  the  use  of  which  is  described  with  discretion.  That 
the  clubs  were  kept  in  the  churches  denotes  that  the  act  was  put  under  religious 
sanction. 

2  Weinhold,  £>.  R,  II,  92. 

^  Thayer,  Marvels  of  the  New  West,  231. 


328  FOLKWAYS 

337.  How  the  mores  were  changed.  Abortion,  infanticide,  and 
killing  the  old  are  primary  folkways  which  respond  to  hard  facts 
of  life  in  the  most  direct  and  primitive  manner.  They  are  not 
blamed  when  they  become  ruling  customs  which  everybody  ob- 
serves. They  rise  into  mores  more  easily  than  other  primitive 
usages  because  the  superficial  reasons  for  believing  that  they 
are  conducive  to  welfare  appear  so  simple  and  obvious.  When 
a  settled  life  took  the  place  of  a  wandering  life  some  immediate 
reasons  for  these  customs  were  removed.  When  peace  took  the 
place  of  war  with  neighboring  tribes  other  causes  were  set  aside. 
The  cases  would  then  become  less  frequent,  especially  the  cases 
of  infanticide  and  killing  the  old.  Then,  if  cases  which  seemed 
to  call  for  reemployment  of  old  customs  arose,  they  could  be 
satisfied  only  against  some  repugnance.  Men  who  were  not  hard 
pressed  by  the  burden  of  life  might  then  refrain  from  infanti- 
cide or  killing  the  old.  They  yielded  to  the  repugnance  rather 
than  to  the  dislike  of  hardship.  Later,  when  greater  power  in 
the  st^ggje  for  existence  was  won  the  infants  and  the  old  were 
spared,  and  the  old  customs  were  forgotten.  Then  they  came  to 
be  regarded  with  horror,  and  the  mores  protected  the  infants  and 
the  old.  The  stories  of  th^Fiffii^h  peasantry  which  come  to  us 
nowadays  sj^o-i*  that  the  son  is  often  fully  ready  in  mind  and 
^  %ill  to  kill  bis  old  fat^h^fer  if  the  mores  and  the  law  did  not 
restrain  him. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

CANNIBALISM 

Cannibalism.  • —  Origin  in  food  supply.  —  Cannibalism  not  abominable.  — 
In-group  cannibalism.  —  Population  policy.  —  Judicial  cannibalism.  —  Judi- 
cial cannibalism  in  ethnography.  —  Out-group  cannibalism.  —  Cannibalism 
to  cure  disease.  —  Reversions  to  cannibalism.  —  Cannibalism  in  famine. — 
Cannibalism  and  ghost  fear.  —  Cannibalism  in  sorcery  and  human  sacrifice. 
—  Cult  and  cannibalism.  — •  Superstitions  about  cannibalism.  —  Food  taboos 
in  ethnography.  —  Expiation  for  taking  life.  —  Philosophy  of  cannibalism. 

338.  Cannibalism.  Cannibalism  is  one  of  the  primordial  mores. 
It  dates  from  the  earliest  known  existence  of  man  on  earth.  It 
may  reasonably  be  believed  to  be  a  custom  which  all  peoples  have 
practiced. 1  Only  on  the  pastoral  stage  has  it  ceased,  where  the 
flesh  of  beasts  was  common  and  abundant.^  It  is  indeed  notice- 
able that  the  pygmies  of  Africa  and  the  Kubus  of  Sumatra, 
two  of  the  lowest  outcast  races,  do  not  practice  cannibalism,^ 
although  their  superior  neighbors  do.  Our  intense  abomination 
for  cannibalism  is  a  food  taboo  (sees.  353-354),  and  is  perhaps 
the  strongest  taboo  which  we  have  inherited. 

339.  Origin  in  food  supply.  It  is  the  best  opinion  that  canni- 
bahsm  originated  in  the  defects  of  the  food  supply,  more  spe- 
cifically in  the  lack  of  meat  food.  The  often  repeated  objection 
that  New  Zealanders  and  others  have  practiced  cannibalism  when 
they  had  an  abundant  supply  of  meat  food  is  not  to  the  point. 
The  passion  for  meat  food,  especially  among  people  who  have 
to  live  on  heavy  starch  food,  is  very  strong.  Hence  they  eat 
worms,  insects,  and  offal.  It  is  also  asserted  that  the  appetite 
for  human  flesh,  when  eating  it  has  become  habitual,  becomes  a 

^  See  Andree,  Anthi-opophagie ;  Steinmetz,  Eiidokannibalism,  Mitt.  Aitthrcp. 
Ges.  in  IVien,  XXVI;  Schaffhausen  in  Archiv  fi'ir  Anthrop.,  IV,  245.  Steinmetz 
gives  in  tabular  form  known  cases  of  cannibalism  with  the  motives  for  it,  p.  25. 

2  Lippert,  Kidturgesch.,  II,  275. 

3  Globus,  XXVI,  45;  Stuhlmann,  Mit  Eniin  Pascha,  457  ;  JAI,  XXVIII,  39. 

329 


330  FOLKWAYS 

passion.  When  salt  is  not  to  be  had  the  passion  for  meat  reaches 
its  highest  intensity.  "  When  tribes  [of  AustraUans]  assembled 
to  eat  the  fruit  of  the  bunya-bunya  they  were  not  permitted  to 
kill  any  game  [in  the  district  where  the  trees  grow],  and  at  length 
the  craving  for  flesh  was  so  intense  that  they  were  impelled  to 
kill  one  of  their  number,  in  order  that  their  appetites  might  be 
satisfied."  ^  It  follows  that  when  this  custom  has  become  tradi- 
tional the  present  food  supply  may  have  little  effect  on  it. 
There  are  cases  at  the  present  time  in  which  the  practice  of 
using  human  flesh  for  food  is  customary  on  a  large  and  system- 
atic scale.  On  the  island  of  New  Britain  human  flesh  is  sold 
in  shops  as  butcher's  meat  is  sold  amongst  us.^  In  at  least  some 
of  the  Solomon  Islands  human  victims  (preferably  women)  are 
fattened  for  a  feast,  like  pigs.^  Lloyd  *  describes  the  cannibalism 
of  the  Bangwa  as  an  everyday  affair,  although  they  eat  chiefly 
enemies,  and  rarely  a  woman.  The  women  share  the  feast,  sitting 
by  themselves.  He  says  that  it  is,  no  doubt,  "  a  depraved  appe- 
tite." They  are  not  at  all  ashamed  of  it.  Physically  the  men 
are  very  fine.  "  The  cannibalism  of  the  Monbutto  is  unsurpassed 
by  any  nation  in  the  world."  ^  Amongst  them  human  flesh  is 
sold  as  if  it  were  a  staple  article  of  food.  They  are  "a  noble 
race."  They  have  national  pride,  intellectual  power,  and  good 
judgment.  They  are  orderly,  friendly,  and  have  a  stable  national 
life.^  Ward "  describes  the  cannibalism  on  the  great  bend  of 
the  Congo  as  due  to  a  rehsh  for  the  kind  of  food.  "  Origi- 
nating, apparently,  from  stress  of  adverse  circumstances,  it  has 
become  an  acquired  taste,  the  indulgence  of  which  has  created 
a  peculiar  form  of  mental  disorder,  with  lack  of  feeling,  love  of 
fighting,  cruelty,  and  general  human  degeneracy,  as  prominent 
attributes."  An  organized  traffic  in  human  beings  for  food  exists 
on  the  upper  waters  of  the  Congo.  It  is  thought  that  the  pygmy 
tribe  of  the  Wambutti  are  not  cannibals  because  they  are  too 
"low,"  and  because  they  do  not  file  the  lower  incisors.    The 

1  Smyth,  Victoria,  I,  xxxviii.  *  Dwarf-land,  345. 

2  Atist.  Ass.  Adv.  Sci.,  1892,  618.  ^  Schweinfurth,  Heart  of  Africa,  II,  94. 

3  JAI,  XVII,  99.  S  Keane,  Ethnology,  265. 

MAI,  XXIV,  298. 


CANNIBALISM  33 1 

latter  custom  goes  with  cannibalism  in  the  Congo  region,  and  is 
also  characteristic  of  the  more  gifted,  beautiful,  and  alert  tribes.^ 
None  of  the  coast  tribes  of  West  Africa  eat  human  flesh,  but 
the  interior  tribes  eat  any  corpse  regardless  of  the  cause  of  death. 
Families  hesitate  to  eat  their  own  dead,  but  they  sell  or  exchange 
them  for  the  dead  of  other  families.^  In  the  whole  Congo  region 
the  custom  exists,  especially  amongst  the  warlike  tribes,  who 
eat  not  only  war  captives  but  slaves.^ 

It  is  noteworthy  that  a  fork  *  was  invented  in  Polynesia  for 
this  kind  of  food,  long  before  the  fork  was  used  for  any  other. 

340.  Cannibalism  not  abominable.  Spix  and  Martius  ^  asked 
a  chief  of  the  Miranhas  why  his  people  practiced  cannibalism. 
The  chief  showed  that  it  was  entirely  a  new  fact  to  him  that 
some  people  thought  it  an  abominable  custom.  "  You  whites," 
said  he,  "  will  not  eat  crocodiles  or  apes,  although  they  taste 
well.  If  you  did  not  have  so  many  pigs  and  crabs  you  would  eat 
crocodiles  and  apes,  for  hunger  hurts.  It  is  all  a  matter  of  habit. 
When  I  have  killed  an  enemy  it  is  better  to  eat  him  than  to  let 
him  go  to  waste.  Big  game  is  rare  because  it  does  not  lay  eggs 
like  turtles.  The  bad  thing  is  not  being  eaten,  but  death,  if-  I 
am  slain,  whether  our  tribal  enemy  eats  me  or  not.  I  know  of 
no  game  which  tastes  better  than  men.  You  whites  are  really 
too  dainty." 

341.  In-group  cannibalism.  Cannibalism  was  so  primordial  in  the  mores 
that  it  has  two  forms,  one  for  the  in-group,  the  other. for  the  out-group.  It 
had  a  theory  of  affection  in  the  former  case  and  of  enmity  in  the  latter.  In 
the  in-group  it  was  so  far  from  being  an  act  of  hostility,  or  veiled  impropriety, 
that  it  was  applied  to  the  closest  kin.  Mothers  ate  their  babies,  if  the  latter 
died,  in  order  to  get  back  the  strength  which  they  had  lost  in  bearing  them. 
Herodotus  says  that  the  Massagetae  sacrificed  the  old  of  their  tribe,  boiling 
the  flesh  of  the  men  with  that  of  cattle  and  eating  the  whole.  Those  who 
died  of  disease  before  attaining  old  age  were  buried,  but  that  they  thought 
a  less  happy  fate.  He  says  that  the  Padeans,  men  in  the  far  east  of  India, 
put  a  sick  man  of  their  tribe  to  death  and  ate  him,  lest  his  flesh  should  be 
wasted  by  disease.  The  women  did  the  same  by  a  sick  woman.  If  any 
reach  old  age  without  falling  victims  to  this  custom,  they  too  are  then  killed 

1  Globus,  LXXXV,  229.  3  Globus,  LXXII,  120;  LXXXVII,  237. 

2  l>i2iSSdiVi,  Fetis/rism  in  West  Africa,  11.     *  Specimen  in  the  Dresden  Museum. 

^  Brasilien,  1249. 


332  FOLKWAYS 

and  eaten.  He  mentions  also  the  Issidones,  in  southeastern  Russia,  who 
cut  up  their  dead  fathers,  mingle  the  flesh  with  that  of  sacrificed  animals,  and 
make  a  feast  of  the  whole.  The  skull  is  cleaned,  gilded,  and  kept  as  an 
emblem,  to  which  they  make  annual  sacrifices.  They  are  accounted  a  right- 
eous people.  Amongst  them  women  are  esteemed  equal  with  men.^  Strabo^ 
says  that  the  Irish  thought  it  praiseworthy  to  eat  their  deceased  parents. 
The  Birhors  of  Hazaribag,  Hindostan,  formerly  ate  their  parents,  but  "they 
repudiate  the  suggestion  that  they  ate  any  but  their  own  relations  "  [i.e.  each 
one  ate  his  own  relatives  and  no  others  ?]  ^.  Reclus  ■*  says  that  in  that  tribe 
"  the  parents  beg  that  their  corpses  may  find  a  refuge  in  the  stomachs  of 
their  children  rather  than  be  left  on  the  road  or  in  the  forest."  The  Tib- 
etans, in  ancient  times,  ate  their  parents,  "  out  of  piety,  in  order  to  give  them 
no  other  sepulcher  than  their  own  bowels."  This  custom  ceased  before  1250 
A.D.,  but  the  cups  made  of  the  skulls  of  relatives  were  used  as  memorials. 
Tartars  and  some  "  bad  Christians  "  killed  their  fathers  when  old,  burned  the 
corpses,  and  mingled  the  ashes  with  their  daily  food.'^  In  the  gulf  country  of 
Australia  only  near  relatives  partake  of  the  dead,  unless  the  corpse  is  that  of 
an  enemy.  A  very  small  bit  only  is  eaten  by  each.  In  the  case  of  an  enemy 
the  purpose  is  to  win  his  strength.  In  the  case  of  a  relative  the  motive  is 
that  the  survivors  may  riot,  by  lamentations,  become  a  nuisance  in  the  camp.^ 
The  Dieyerie  have  the  father  family.  The  father  may  not  eat  his  own  child, 
but  the  mother  and  female  relatives  must  do  so,  in  order  to  have  the  dead  in 
their  liver,  the  seat  of  feeling.'^  The  Tuare  of  Brazil  (2  S.  67  W.)  burn  their 
dead.  They  preserve  the  ashes  in  reeds  and  mix  them  with  their  daily 
meals. ^  The  Jumanas,  on  the  head  waters  of  the  Amazon,  regard  the  bones 
as  the  seat  of  the  soul.  They  burn  the  bones  of  their  dead,  grind  them  to 
powder,  mix  the  powder  with  intoxicating  liquor,  and  drink-it,  "  that  the  dead 
may  live  again  in  them."'-'  All  branches  of  the  Tupis  are  cannibals.  They 
brought  the  custom  from  the  interior.^'^  The  Kobena  drink  in  their  cachiri 
the  powdered  bones  of  their  dead  relatives. ^^  The  Chavantes,  on  the  Uru- 
guay, eat  their  dead  children  to  get  back  the  souls.  Especially  young  mothers 
do  this,  as  they  are  thought  to  have  given  a  part  of  their  own  souls  to  their 
children  too  soon.^"^  In  West  Victoria  "  the  bodies  of  relatives  who  have  lost 
their  lives  by  violence  are  alone  partaken  of."  Each  eats  only  a  bit,  and  it 
is  eaten  "  with  no  desire  to  gratify  or  appease  the  appetite,  but  only  as  a 
symbol  of  respect  and  regret  for  the  dead."^^  In  Australian  cannibalism 
the  eating  of  relatives  has  behind  it  the  idea  of  saving  the  strength  which 

1  Herod.,  I,  216;  III,  99;  IV,  26.  ^  JAI,  XVII,  186. 

2  IV,  5,  298.  8  Glohis,  LXXXIII,  137. 

3  JASB,  II,  571.  9  Martius,  Ethnog.  Bras.,  485. 
*  Prim.  Folk,  249.                                                 1°  Southey,  Brazil,  I,  233. 

5  Rubruck,  Eastern  Parts,  81,  151.  ^  Zts/t.f.  EthnoL,  XXXVI,  293. 

6  JAI,  XXIV,  171.  12  Andree,  Anthropophagie,  50. 

13  Dawson,   West  Victoria,  67. 


CANNIBALISM 


333 


would  be  lost,  or  of  acquiring  the  dexterity  or  wisdom,  etc.,  of  the  dead. 
Enemies  are  eaten  to  win  their  strength,  dexterity,  etc.  Only  a  bit  is  eaten. 
There  are  no  great  feasts.  The  fat  and  soft  parts  are  eaten  because  they 
are  the  residence  of  the  soul.  In  eating  enemies  there  appears  to  be  ritual 
significance. 1  It  may  be  the  ritual  purpose  to  get  rid  of  the  soul  of  the  slain 
man  for  fear  that  it  might  seek  revenge  for  his  death. 

342.  Some  inhabitants  of  West  Australia  explained  cannibalism  (they  ate 
every  tenth  child  born)  as  "  necessary  to  keep  the  tribe  from  increasing 
beyond  the  carrying  capacity  of  the  territory."  ^  Infanticide  is  a  part  of 
population  policy.  Cannibalism  may  be  added  to  it  either  for  food  supply 
or  goblinism.  When  children  were  sacrificed  in  Mexico  their  hearts  were 
cooked  and  eaten,  for  sorcery.^ 

343.  Judicial  cannibalism.  Another  use  of  cannibalism  in  the 
in-groLip  is  to  annihilate  one  who  has  broken  an  important  taboo. 
The  notion  is  frequently  met  with,  amongst  nature  peoples,  that 
a  ghost  can  be  got  rid  of  by  utterly  annihilating  the  corpse,  e.g. 
by  fire.  Judicial  cannibalism  destroys  it,  and  the  members  of 
the  group  by  this  act  participate  in  a  ritual,  or  sacramental  cere- 
mony, by  which  a  criminal  is  completely  annihilated.  Perhaps 
there  may  also  be  the  idea  of  collective  responsibility  for  his 
annihilation.  To  take  the  life  of  a  tribe  comrade  was  for  a  long 
time  an  act  which  needed  high  motive  and  authority  and  required 
expiation.  The  ritual  of  execution  was  like  the  ritual  of  sacrifice. 
In  the  Hebrew  law  some  culprits  were  to  be  stoned  by  the  whole 
congregation.  Every  one  must  take  a  share  in  the  great  act. 
The  blood  guilt,  if  there  was  any,  must  be  incurred  by  all.* 
Primitive  taboos  are  put  on  acts  which  offend  the  ghosts  and 
may,  therefore,  bring  woe  on  the  whole  group.  Any  one  who 
breaks  a  taboo  commits  a  sin  and  a  crime,  and  excites  the  wrath 
of  the  superior  powers.  Therefore  he  draws  on  himself  the  fear 
and  horror  of  his  comrades.  They  must  extrude  him  by  banish- 
ment or  death.  They  want  to  dissociate  themselves  from  him. 
They  sacrifice  him  to  the  powers  which  he  has  offended.  When 
his  comrades  eat  his  corpse  they  perform  a  duty.  They  annihi- 
late him  and  his  soul  completely. 

1  Smyth,   Victoria,  I,  245. 

2  Whitmarsh,  The  World's  Rough  Hand,  178. 

3  Globus,  LXXXVI,  112. 

*  W.  R.  Smith,  Religion  of  the  Semites,  284. 


334 


FOLKWAYS 


344,  Judicial  cannibalism  in  ethnography.  "  A  man  found  in  the  harem  of 
Muato-jamvos  was  cut  in  pieces  and  given,  raw  and  warm,  to  the  people  to 
be  eaten."  ^  The  Bataks  employ  judicial  cannibalism  as  a  regulated  system. 
They  have  no  other  cannibalism.  Adulterers,  persons  guilty  of  incest,  men 
who  have  had  sex  intercourse  with  the  widow  of  a  younger  brother,  traitors, 
spies,  and  war  captives  taken  with  arms  in  their  hands  are  killed  and  eaten. 
The  last-mentioned  are  cut  in  pieces  alive  and  eaten  bit  by  bit  in  order  to 
annihilate  them  in  the  most  shameful  manner.-  The  Tibetans  and  Chinese 
formerly  ate  all  who  were  executed  by  civil  authority.  An  Arab  traveler  of 
the  ninth  century  mentions  a  Chinese  governor  who  rebelled,  and  who  was 
killed  and  eaten.  Modern  cases  of  cannibalism  are  reported  from  China. 
Pith  balls  stained  with  the  blood  of  decapitated  criminals  are  used  as  medi- 
cine for  consumption.  Cases  are  also  mentioned  of  Tartar  rulers  who 
ordered  the  flesh  of  traitors  to  be  mixed  with  the  rulers'  own  food  and  that 
of  their  barons.  Tartar  women  begged  for  the  possession  of  a  culprit, 
boiled  him  alive,  cut  the  corpse  into  mince-meat,  and  distributed  it  to  the 
whole  army  to  be  eaten." 

345.  Out-group  cannibalism.  Against  members  of  an  out-group,  e.g. 
amongst  the  Maori,  cannibalism  "  was  due  to  a  desire  for  revenge  ;  cooking 
and  eating  being  the  greatest  of  insults."  ^  On  Tanna  (New  Hebrides)  to 
eat  an  enemy  was  the  greatest  indignity  to  him,  worse  than  giving  up  his 
corpse  to  dogs  or  swine,  or  mutilating  it.  It  was  believed  that  strength 
was  obtained  by  eating  a  corpse.^  A  negro  chief  in  Yabunda,  French  Congo, 
told  Brunache  ^  that  "  it  was  a  very  fine  thing  to  enjoy  the  flesh  of  a  man 
whom  one  hates  and  whom  one  has  killed  in  a  battle  or  a  duel."  Martins 
attributes  the  cannibalism  of  the  Miranhas  to  the  enjoyment  of  a  "  rare, 
dainty  meal,  which  will  satisfy  their  rude  vanity,  in  some  cases  also,  blood 
revenge  and  superstition."  "^  Cannibalism  is  one  in  the  chain  of  causes 
which  keeps  this  people  more  savage  than  their  neighbors,  most  of  whom 
have  now  abandoned  it.  "  It  is  one  of  the  most  beastly  of  all  the  beastlike 
traits  in  the  moral  physiognomy  of  man."  It  is  asserted  that  cannibalism 
has  been  recently  introduced  in  some  places,  e.g.  Florida  (Solomon  Islands). 
It  is  also  said  that  on  those  islands  the  coast  people  give  it  up  [they  have 
fish],  but  those  inland  retain  it.  The  notion  probably  prevails  amongst  all 
that  population  that,  by  this  kind  of  food,  mana  is  obtained,  matia  being 
the  name  for  all  power,  talent,  and  capacity  by  which  success  is  won.*  The 
Melanesians  took  advantage  of  a  crime,  or  alleged  crime,  to  offer  the  culprit 
to  a  spirit,  and  so  get  fighting  ?nana  for  the  warriors.^  The  Chames  of 
Cochin  China  think  that  the  gall  of  slain  enemies,  mixed  with  brandy,  is  an 

1  Oliveira  Martins,  Rafas  Humanas,  II,  67.  ^  Wilken,  Volkenkunde,  23,  27. 

3  Marco  Polo,  I,  266  and  Yule's  note,  275.  *  JAI,  XIX,  108. 

5  Austral.  Ass.  Adv.  Set.,  1892,  649-663.  ^  Ce?it.  Afr.,  lo8. 

7  Ethnog.  Bras.,  53S.  »  JAI,  X,  305. 

^  Codrington,  Melanesians,  134. 


CANNIBALISM 


335 


excellent  means  to  produce  war  courage  and  skill. ^  The  Chinese  believe 
that  the  liver  is  the  seat  of  life  and  courage.  The  gall  is  the  manifestation 
of  the  soul.  Soldiers  drink  the  gall  of  slain  enemies  to  increase  their  own 
vigor  and  courage.^  The  mountain  tribes  of  Natal  make  a  paste  from 
powder  formed  from  parts  of  the  body,  which  the  priests  administer  to  the 
youth.^  Some  South  African  tribes  make  a  broth  of  the  same  kind  of 
powder,  which  must  be  swallowed  only  in  the  prescribed  manner.  It  "  must 
be  lapped  up  with  the  hand  and  thrown  into  the  mouth  ...  to  give  the 
soldiers  courage,  perseverance,  fortitude,  strategy,  patience,  and  wisdom."  * 

346.  Cannibalism  to  cure  disease.  Notions  that  the  parts  of 
the  human  body  will  cure  different  diseases  are  only  variants  of 
the  notion  of  getting  courage  and  skill  by  eating  the  same.  Cases 
are  recorded  in  which  a  man  gave  parts  of  his  body  to  be  eaten 
by  the  sick  out  of  love  and  devotion.^ 

347.  Reversions  to  cannibalism.  When  savage  and  brutal  emo- 
tions are  stirred,  in  higher  civilization,  by  war  and  quarrels,  the 
cannibalistic  disposition  is  developed  again.  Achilles  told  Hec- 
tor that  he  ^vished  he  could  eat  him.  Hekuba  expressed  a 
wish  that  she  could  devour  the  liver  of  Achilles.^  In  1564  the 
Turks  executed  Vishnevitzky,  a  brave  Polish  soldier  who  had 
made  them  much  trouble.  They  ate  his  heart.'  Dozy  ^  mentions 
a  case  at  Elvira,  in  890,  in  which  women  cast  themselves  on  the 
corpse  of  a  chief  who  had  caused  the  death  of  their  relatives, 
cut  it  in  pieces,  and  ate  it.  The  same  author  relates  ^  that  Hind, 
the  m^other  of  Moavia,  made  for  herself  a  necklace  and  bracelets 
of  the  noses  and  ears  of  Moslems  killed  at  Ohod,  and  also  that 
she  cut  open  the  corpse  of  an  uncle  of  Mohammed,  tore  out  the 
liver,  and  ate  a  piece  of  it.  It  is  related  of  an  Irish  chief,  of 
the  twelfth  century,  that  when  his  soldiers  brought  to  him  the 
head  of  a  man  whom  he  hated  "  he  tore  the  nostrils  and  lips  with 
his  teeth,  in  a  most  savage  and  inhuman  manner."  ^'^ 

1  Bijdrageii  tot.  T.  L.  en  V.-kitnde,  1895,  342. 

2  Globus,  LXXXI,  96.  *  JAI,  XXII,  11 1  ;  cf.  Isaiah  Ixv.  4. 

3  JAI,  XX,  116.  5  Intern.  Arch.  f.  EtJniol.,  IX,  S2ipple7n.  37. 

6  Iliad,  XXII,  346;   XXIV,  212. 
'^  Evarnitzky,  Zaporoge  Kossacks  (russ.),  I,  209. 
^  M7cssnhn.  d^ Espagne,  II,  226. 
9  Ibid.,  I,  47. 
1"  Gomme,  Ethnol.  in  Folklore,  149. 


336  FOLKWAYS 

348.  In  famine.  Reversion  to  cannibalism  under  a  total  lack 
of  other  food  ought  not  to  be  noted.  We  have  some  historical 
cases,  however,  in  which  during  famine  people  became  so  fa- 
miliarized with  cannibalism  that  their  horror  of  it  was  overcome. 
Abdallatif  ^  mentions  a  great  famine  in  Egypt  in  the  year  1200, 
due  to  a  failure  of  the  inundation  of  the  Nile.  Resort  was  had 
to  cannibalism  to  escape  death.  At  first  the  civil  authorities 
burned  alive  those  who  were  detected,  being  moved  by  astonish- 
ment and  horror.  Later,  those  sentiments  were  not  aroused. 
"  Men  were  seen  to  make  ordinary  meals  of  human  flesh,  to  use 
it  as  a  dainty,  and  to  lay  up  provision  of  it.  .  .  .  The  usage, 
having  been  introduced,  spread  to  all  the  provinces.  Then  it 
ceased  to  cause  surprise.  .  .  .  People  talked  of  it  as  an  ordinary 
and  indifferent  thing.  This  indifference  was  due  to  habit  and 
familiarity."  This  case  shows  that  the  horror  of  cannibalism  is 
due  to  tradition  in  the  mores.  Diodorus  says  that  the  ancient 
Egyptians,  during  a  famine,  ate  each  other  rather  than  any 
animal  which  they  considered  sacred.^ 

349.  Cannibalism  and  ghost  fear.  Human  sacrifice  and  canni- 
balism are  not  necessarily  conjoined.  Often  it  seems  as  if  they 
once  were  so,  but  have  been  separated.^  Whatever  men  want 
ghosts  want.  If  the  former  are  cannibals,  the  latter  will  be  the 
same.  Often  the  notion  is  that  the  gods  eat  the  souls.  In  this 
view,  the  men  eat  the  flesh  of  sacrificed  beasts  and  sacrifice  the 
blood,  in  which  is  the  life  or  soul,  to  the  gods.  This  the  Jews 
did.  They  also  burned  the  kidneys,  the  fat  of  the  kidneys,  and 
the  liver,  which  they  thought  to  be  the  seat  of  life.  These  they 
might  not  eat.*  When  men  change,  the  gods  do  not.  Hence 
the  rites  of  human  sacrifice  and  cannibalism  continue  in  religion 
long  after  they  disappear  from  the  mores,  in  spite  of  loathing. 
Loathing  is  a  part  of  the  sacrifice.^  The  self-control  and  self- 
subjugation  enter  into  the  sacrament.  All  who  participate,  in 
religion,   in  an   act   which   gravely  affects   the   imagination  as 

1  Relation  de  VEgypte,  360.  2  Diodorus,  I,  84. 

8  Ratzel,  Volkerkiinde,  II,  124  ;  Martius,  Ethnog.  Bras.,  129  ;  Globus,  LXXV,  260. 

*  W.  R.  Smith,  Relig.  of  the  Semites,  379. 

^  Lippert,  Kiiltiirgesch.,  II,  292. 


CANNIBALISM 


337 


horrible  and  revolting  enter  into  a  communion  with  each  other. 
Every  one  who  desires  to  participate  in  the  good  to  be  obtained 
must  share  in  the  act.  As  we  have  seen  above,  all  must  partici- 
pate that  none  may  be  in  a  position  to  reproach  the  rest.  Under 
this  view,  the  cannibal  food  is  reduced  to  a  crumb,  or  to  a  drop 
of  blood,  which  may  be  mixed  with  other  food.  Still  later,  the 
cannibal  food  is  only  represented,  e.g.  by  cakes  in  the  human 
form,  etc.  In  the  Middle  Ages  the  popular  imagination  saw  a 
human  body  in  the  host,  and  conjured  up  operations  on  the  host 
which  were  attributed  to  sorcerers  and  Jews,  which  would  only 
be  applicable  to  a  human  body.  Then  the  New  Testament  lan- 
guage about  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ  took  on  a  realistic 
sense  which  was  cannibalistic. 

350.  Cannibalism,  sorcery,  and  human  sacrifice.  Among  the  West  Afri- 
can tribes  sacrificial  and  ceremonial  cannibalism  in  fetich  affairs  is  almost 
universal.^  Serpa  Pinto  -  mentions  a  frequent  feast  of  the  chiefs  of  the 
Bihe,  for  which  a  man  and  four  women  of  specified  occupations  are  required. 
The  corpses  are  both  washed  and  boiled  with  the  flesh  of  an  ox.  Everything 
at  the  feast  must  be  marked  with  human  blood.  Cannibalism,  in  connection 
with  religious  festivals  and  human  sacrifice,  was  extravagantly  developed  in 
Mexico,  Central  America,  and  British  Columbia.  The  rites  show  that  the 
human  sacrifice  was  sacramental  and  vicarious.  In  one  case  the  prayer  of 
the  person  who  owned  the  sacrifice  is  given.  It  is  a  prayer  for  success  and 
prosperity.  Flesh  was  also  bitten  from  the  arm  of  a  living  person  and  eaten. 
A  religious  idea  was  cultivated  into  a  mania  and  the  taste  for  human  flesh 
was  developed.^  Here  also  we  find  the  usage  that  shamans  ate  the  flesh  of 
corpses,  in  connection  with  fasting  and  solitude,  as  means  of  professional 
stimulation.^  Preuss  emphasizes  the  large  element  of  sorcery  in  the  eating 
of  parts  of  a  human  sacrifice,  as  practiced  in  Mexico.^  The  combination  of 
sorcery,  religious  ritual,  and  cannibalism  deserves  very  careful  attention. 
The  rites  of  the  festival  were  cases  of  dramatic  sorcery.  At  the  annual 
festival  of  the  god  of  war  an  image  of  the  god  was  made  of  grain,  seeds, 
and  vegetables,  kneaded  with  the  blood  of  boys  sacrificed  for  the  purpose. 
This  image  was  broken  into  crumbs  and  eaten  by  males  only,  "  after  the 
manner  of  our  communion."^  The  Peruvians  ate  sacrificial  cakes  kneaded 
with  the  blood  of  human  victims,  "as  a  mark  of  alliance  with  the  Inca."'' 

1  Kingsley,  Travels  in  W.  Afr.,  287.  ^  Conio  En  Atravassei  Afr.,  I,  148. 

3  Bancroft,  Native  Races  of  the  Pacific  Coast,  I,  170  (III,  150) ;  II,  176,  395,  689, 
708;   III,  413.  ^  Ibid.,  Ill,  152. 

6  Globus,  LXXXVI,  109,  112.  6  Bur.  Ethnol.,  IX,  523. 

■^  Ibid.,  527. 


338  FOLKWAYS 

In  Guatemala  organs  of  a  slain  war  captive  were  given  to  an  old  prophetess 
to  be  eaten.  She  was  then  asked  to  pray  to  the  idol  which  she  served  to 
give  them  many  captives. ^  Human  sacrifices  and  sacramental  cannibalism 
exist  amongst  the  Bella-coola  Indians  in  northwestern  British  America. 
Children  of  the  poor  are  bought  from  their  parents  to  be  made  sacrifices. 
The  blood  is  drunk  and  the  flesh  is  eaten  raw.  The  souls  of  the  sacrificed 
go  to  live  in  the  sun  and  become  birds.  When  the  English  government 
tried  to  stop  these  sacrifices  the  priests  dug  up  corpses  and  ate  them. 
Several  were  thus  poisoned.^ 

351.  Cult  and  cannibalism.  The  cases  which  have  been  cited 
show  how  cult  kept  up  cannibaHsm,  if  no  beast  was  substituted. 
Also,  a  great  number  of  uses  of  blood  and  superstitions  about 
blood  appear  to  be  survivals  of  cannibalism  or  deductions  from 
it.  The  same  may  be  said  of  holiday  cakes  of  special  shapes, 
made  by  peasants,  which  have  long  lost  all  known  sense.  In  one 
part  of  France  the  last  of  the  harvest  which  is  brought  in  is 
made  into  a  loaf  in  human  shape,  supposed  to  represent  the 
spirit  of  corn  or  of  fertility.  It  is  broken  up  and  distributed 
amongst  all  the  villagers,  who  eat  it.^ 

A  Mogolian  lama  reported  of  a  tribe,  the  Lhopa  of  Sikkim  or 
Bhutan,  that  they  kill  and  eat  the  bride's  mother  at  a  wedding, 
if  they  can  catch  no  wild  man.* 

352.  A  burglar  in  West  Prussia,  in  1865,  killed  a  maid-servant 
and  cut  fiesh  from  her  body  out  of  which  to  make  a  candle  for 
use  in  later  acts  of  theft.  He  was  caught  while  committing 
another  burglary.  He  confessed  that  he  ate  a  part  of  the 
corpse  of  his  first-mentioned  victim  "  in  order  to  appease  his 
conscience."  ^ 

353.  Food  taboos.  It  is  most  probable  that  dislike  to  eat  the 
human  body  was  a  product  of  custom,  and  grew  in  the  mores 
after  other  foods  became  available  in  abundance.  Unusual 
foods  now  cost  us  an  effort.  Frogs'  legs,  for  instance,  repel 
most  people  at  first.  We  eat  what  we  learned  from  our  parents 
to  eat,  and  other  foods  are  adopted  by  "acquired  taste."  Light 
is  thrown  on  the  degree  to  which  all  food  preferences  and  taboos 

1  Brinton.  Nagualism,  34.  *  Rockhill,  Mongolm  and  Thibet,  144. 

2  MiU.  Berl.  Mils.,  1885,  184.  5  psM,  LIV,  217. 
3p§M.  XLVIII,  411. 


CANNIBALISM  339 

are  a  part  of  the  mores  by  a  comparison  of  some  cases  of  food 
taboos.  Porphyrius,  a  Christian  of  Tyre,  who  Hved  in  the  second 
half  of  the  second  century  of  the  Christian  era,  says  that  a  Phoeni- 
cian or  an  Egyptian  would  sooner  eat  man's  flesh  than  cow's 
flesh. ^  A  Jew  would  not  eat  swine's  flesh.  A  Zoroastrian  could 
not  conceive  it  possible  that  any  one  could  eat  dog's  flesh.  We 
do  not  eat  dog's  flesh,  probably  for  the  same  reason  that  we  do 
not  eat  cat's  or  horse's,  because  the  flesh  is  tough  or  insipid  and 
we  can  get  better,  but  some  North  American  Indians  thought 
dog's  flesh  the  very  best  food.  The  Banziris,  in  the  French 
Congo,  reserved  dog's  flesh  for  men,  and  they  surround  meals  of 
it  with  a  solemn  ritual.  A  man  must  not  touch  his  wife  with  his 
linger  for  a  day  after  such  a  feast. ^  The  inhabitants  of  Ponape 
will  eat  no  eels,  which  "  they  hold  in  the  greatest  horror."  The 
word  used  by  them  for  eel  means  "  the  dreadful  one."  ^  Dyaks 
eat  snakes,  but  reject  eels.*  Some  Melanesians  will  not  eat 
eels  because  they  think  that  there  are  ghosts  in  them.^  South 
African  Bantus  abominate  fish.^  Some  Canary  Islanders  ate  no 
fish.'^  Tasmanians  would  rather  starve  than  eat  fish.^  The 
Somali  will  eat  no  fish,  considering  it  disgraceful  to  do  so.^ 
They  also  reject  game  and  birds. ^'^  These  people  who  reject  eels 
and  fish  renounce  a  food  supply  which  is  abundant  in  their  habitat. 

354.  Food  taboos  in  ethnography.  Some  Micronesians  eat  no  fowl." 
Wild  Veddahs  reject  fowl.^-  Tuaregs  eat  no  fish,  birds,  or  eggs.^^''  In  eastern 
Africa  many  tribes  loathe  eggs  and  fowl  as  food.  They  are  as  much  dis- 
gusted to  see  a  white  man  eat  eggs  as  a  white  man  is  to  see  savages  eat 
offal. 1^  Some  Australians  will  not  eat  pork.i^  Nagas  and  their  neighbors 
think  roast  dog  a  great  delicacy.  They  will  eat  anything,  even  an  elephant 
which  has  been  three  days  buried,  but  they  abominate  milk,  and  find  the 
smell  of  tinned  lobster  too  strong.^*'  Negroes  in  the  French  Congo  "  have  a 
perfect  horror  of  the  idea  of  drinking  milk."  ^'' 

1  £>e  Abstinentia,  II,  11.  9  Paulitschke,  EtJmog.  N.O.  Afr.,  I,  155. 

2  Brunache,  Cent.  Afr.,  69.  10  Ibid.,  II,  27. 

^  Christian,  Caroline  Isl.,  73.  ^^  Finsch,  Ethnol.  Erfahr.,  Ill,  53. 

*  Perelaer,  Dyaks,  27.  12  j^.  s.  Ethnol.  Soc,  II,  304. 

^  Codrington,  ]\Ielanesians,  177.  ^^  Duveyrier,  Toiiaregs  du  Nord,  401. 

^  Fritsch,  Eingeh.  Sildafr.,  107.  1*  Volkens,  Kilimandscharo,  244. 

"^  N.  S.  Amer.  Anthrop.,  II,  454.  ^^  Smyth,   Victoria,  I,  237. 

8  Ling  Roth,  Tasmanians,  loi.  16  jaI,  XI,  63;   XXII,  245. 

1'  Kingsley,  J  Vest  Afr.  Studies,  451. 


340 


FOLKWAYS 


355.  Expiation  for  taking  life.  The  most  primitive  notion  we  can  find 
as  to  taking  life  is  that  it  is  wrong  to  kill  any  living  thing  except  as  a  sacri- 
fice to  some  superior  power.  This  dread  of  destroying  life,  as  if  it  was  the 
assumption  of  a  divine  prerogative  to  do  so,  gives  a  background  for  all  the 
usages  with  regard  to  sacrifice  and  food.  "  In  old  Israel  all  slaughter  was 
sacrifice,  and  a  man  could  never  eat  beef  or  mutton  except  as  a  religious 
act."  Amongst  the  Arabs,  "  even  in  modern  times,  when  a  sheep  or  camel 
is  slain  in  honor  of  a  guest,  the  good  old  custom  is  that  the  host  keeps  open 
house  for  all  his  neighbors."  ^  In  modern  Hindostan  food  which  is  ordinarily 
tabooed  may  be  eaten  if  it  has  been  killed  in  offering  to  a  god.  Therefore 
an  image  of  the  god  is  set  up  in  the  butcher's  shop.  All  the  animals  are 
slaughtered  nominally  as  an  offering  to  it.  This  raises  the  taboo,  and  the 
meat  is  bought  and  eaten  without  scruple. ^  Thus  it  is  that  the  taboo  on 
cannibalism  may  be  raised  by  religion,  or  that  cannibalism  may  be  made  a 
duty  by  religion.  Amongst  the  ancient  Semites  some  animals  were  under  a 
food  taboo  for  a  reason  which  has  two  aspects  at  the  same  time  :  they  were 
both  offensive  (ritually  unclean)  and  sacred.  What  is  holy  and  what  is 
loathsome  are  in  like  manner  set  aside.  The  Jews  said  that  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures rendered  him  who  handled  them  unclean.  Holy  and  unclean  have  a 
common  element  opposed  to  profane.  In  the  case  of  both  there  is  devotion 
or  consecration  to  a  higher  power.  If  it  is  a  good  power,  the  thing  is  holy ; 
if  a  bad  power,  it  is  unclean.  He  who  touches  either  falls  under  a  taboo, 
and  needs  purification.^  The  tabooed  things  could  only  be  eaten  sacrificially 
and  sacramentally,  i.e.  as  disgusting  and  unusual  they  had  greater  sacrificial 
force.*  This  idea  is  to  be  traced  in  all  ascetic  usages,  and  in  many  mediaeval 
developments  of  religious  usages  which  introduced  repulsive  elements,  to 
heighten  the  self-discipline  of  conformity.  In  the  Caroline  Islands  turtles 
are  sacred  to  the  gods  and  are  eaten  only  in  illness  or  as  sacrifices.'' 

356.  Philosophy  of  cannibalism.  If  cannibalism  began  in  the 
interest  of  the  food  supply,  especially  of  meat,  the  wide  rami- 
fications of  its  relations  are  easily  understood.  While  men  were 
unable  to  cope  with  the  great  beasts  cannibalism  was  a  leading 
feature  of  social  life,  around  which  a  great  cluster  of  interests 
centered.  Ideas  were  cultivated  by  it,  and  it  became  regulative 
and  directive  as  to  what  ought  to  be  done.  The  sentiments  of 
kinship  made  it  seem  right  and  true  that  the  nearest  relatives 

1  W.  R.  Smith,  Relig.  of  Semites,  142,  283. 

2  Wilkins,  Mod.  Hindiiis7?i,  16S. 

3  Bousset,  Relig.  des  Judent/mms,  124. 

*  W.  R.  Smith,  Relig.  of  Semites,  290;  Isaiah  Ixv.  4;  Ixvi.  3,  17  ;  swine,  dog, 
and  mouse. 

^  Kubary,  R'arolineti  Archipel,  168. 


CANNIBALISM 


341 


should  be  eaten.  Further  deductions  followed,  of  which  the 
cases  given  are  illustrations.  As  to  enemies,  the  contrary  senti- 
ments found  place  in  connection  with  it.  It  combined  directly 
with  ghost  fear.  The  sacramental  notion  seems  born  of  it. 
When  the  chase  was  sufficiently  developed  to  give  better  food 
the  taboo  on  human  flesh  seemed  no  more  irrational  than  the 
other  food  taboos  above  mentioned.  Swans  and  peacocks  were 
regarded  as  great  dainties  in  the  Middle  Ages.  We  no  longer  eat 
them.  Snakes  are  said  to  be  good  eating,  but  most  of  us  would 
find  it  hard  to  eat  them.  Yet  why  should  they  be  more  loath- 
some than  frogs  or  eels  ?  Shipwrecked  people,  or  besieged  and 
famine-stricken  people,  have  overcome  the  loathing  for  human 
flesh  rather  than  die.  Others  have  died  because  they  could  not 
overcome  it,  and  have  thus  rendered  the  strongest  testimony  to 
the  power  of  the  mores.  In  general,  the  cases  show  that  if  men 
are  hungry  enough,  or  angry  enough,  they  may  return  to  canni- 
balism now.  Our  horror  of  cannibalism  is  due  to  a  long  and 
broad  tradition,  broken  only  by  hearsay  of  some  far-distant  and 
extremely  savage  people  who  now  practice  it.  Probably  the 
popular  opinion  about  it  is  that  it  is  wicked.  It  is  not  forbidden 
by  the  rules  of  any  religion,  because  it  had  been  thrown  out  of 
the  mores  before  any  "  religion  "  was  founded. 


CHAPTER    IX 

SEX   MORES 

Meaning   of   sex   mores.  —  The    sex    difference.  —  Sex    difference    and 
evolution.  —  The  sex  distinction  ;  family  institution  ;  marriage  in  the  mores. 

—  Regulation  is  conventional,  not  natural.  —  Egoistic  and  altruistic  elements. 

—  Primary  definition  of  marriage  ;  taboo  and  conventionalization.  —  Family, 
not  marriage,  is  the  institution.  —  Endogamy  and  exogamy.  —  Polygamy 
and  polyandry.  —  Consistency  of  the  mores   under  polygamy  or  polyandry. 

—  Mother  family  and  father  family.  —  Change  from  mother  family  to  father 
family.  —  Capture  and  purchase  become  ceremonies.  —  Feminine  honor  and 
virtue;  jealousy.  —  Virginity. —  Chastity  for  men.  —  Love  marriage  ;  conjugal 
affection  ;  wife. —  Heroic  conjugal  devotion.  —  Hindoo  models  and  ideals.  — - 
Slavonic  sex  mores.  —  Russian  sex  mores.  —  Tribes  of  the  Caucasus.  — ■ 
Mediaeval  sex  mores.  —  The  standard  of  the  "  good  wife  "  ;   pair  marriage. 

—  "  One  flesh."  —  Pair  marriage.  —  Marriage  in  modern  mores.  —  Pair 
marriage,  its  technical  definition. — -Ethics  of  pair  marriage.  —  Pair  mar- 
riage is  monopolistic.  —  The  future  of  marriage.  —  The  normal  t}"pe  of  sex 
union.  —  Divorce. —  Divorce  in  ethnography.  —  Rabbis  on  divorce. — 
Divorce  at  Rome.  — Pair  marriage  and  divorce.  —  Divorce  in  the  Middle 
Ages.  —  Refusal  of  remarriage.  —  Child  marriage.  —  Child  marriage  in 
Hindostan.  —  Child  marriage  in  Europe.  —  Cloistering  women.  —  Second 
marriages  ;  widows.  —  Burning  of  widows.  —  Difficulty  of  reform  of  suttee  in 
India.  —  Widows  and  remarriage  in  the  Christian  church.  —  Remarriage 
and  other-worldliness.  —  Free  marriage.  —  The  Japanese  woman. 

357.   Meaning  of  sex  mores.    The  sex  mores  are  one  of  the 

greatest  and  most  important  divisions  of  the  mores.  They  cover 
the  relations  of  men  and  women  to  each  other  before  marriage 
and  in  marriage,  with  all  the  rights  and  duties  of  married  and 
unmarried  respectively  to  the  rest  of  the  society.  The  mores 
determine  what  marriage  shall  be,  who  may  enter  into  it,  in 
what  way  they  may  enter  into  it,  divorce,  and  all  details  of 
proper  conduct  in  the  family  relation.  In  regard  to  all  these 
matters  it  is  evident  that  custom  governs  and  prescribes.  When 
positive  institutions  and  laws  are  made  they  always  take  up, 
ordain,  and  regulate  what  the  mores  have  long  previously  made 
facts  in  the  social  order.  In  the  administration  of  law  also, 
especially  by  juries,   domestic   relations   are   controlled   by   the 

342 


SEX  MORES  343 

mores.  The  decisions  rendered  by  judges  utter  in  dogmatic  or 
sententious  form  the  current  notions  of  truth  and  right  about 
those  relations.  Our  terms  "endogamy,"  "mother  family," 
"polyandry,"  etc.,  are  only  descriptive  terms  for  a  summary  of 
the  folkways  which  have  been  established  in  different  groups 
and  which  are  capable  of  classification. 

358.  The  sex  difference.  The  economy  and  advantage  of  sex 
differentiation  are  primarily  physical.  "  As  structural  complexity 
increases,  the  female  generative  system  becomes  more  and  more 
complex.  All  this  involves  a  great  expenditure  of  energy,  and  we 
can  clearly  see  how  an  ovum-producing  organism  would  benefit 
by  being  spared  the  additional  effort  required  for  seeking  out 
and  impregnating  another  organism,  and  how,  on  the  other 
hand,  organisms  whose  main  reproductive  feature  is  simply  the 
production  of  spermatozoa  would  be  better  fitted  for  the  work 
of  search  and  impregnation  if  unhampered  by  a  cumbersome 
female  generative  system.  Hence  the  advantage  of  the  sexes 
being  separate."  ^  Here  we  have  the  reason  why  the  sexes  are 
independent  and  complementary,  but  why  "  equality  "  can  never 
be  predicated  of  them.  Power  in  the  family,  in  industry,  in 
civil  affairs,  war,  and  religion  is  not  the  same  thing  and  cannot 
be.  Each  sex  has  more  power  for  one  domain,  and  must  have 
less  power  for  another.  Equality  is  an  incongruous  predicate. 
"  Under  the  influence  of  the  law  of  battle  the  male  has  become 
more  courageous,  powerful,  and  pugnacious  than  the  female.  .  .  . 
So,  too,  the  male  has,  in  the  struggle,  often  acquired  great  beauty, 
success  on  his  part  depending  largely,  in  many  cases,  upon  the 
choice  of  the  females  who  are  supposed  to  select  the  most  beau- 
tiful mates.  This  is  thought  to  be  notably  the  case  with  birds."  ^ 
In  some  few  cases  the  female  seeks  the  male,  as  in  certain 
species  of  birds.  Some  male  fish  look  after  the  eggs,  and  many 
cock-birds  help  to  build  the  nest,  hatch  the  eggs,  and  tend  the 
young.'^  When  the  females  compete  for  the  males  the  female  is 
"  endowed  with  all  the  secondary  characters  of  the  polygamous 
male  ;  she  is  the  more  beautiful,  the  more  courageous,  the  more 

^  Campbell,  Differences  in  the  A^ervous  Orga)iization  of  Men  and  Wome?t,  29. 
2  Ibid.,  43.  3  j(,ij_^  -^4. 


344 


FOLKWAYS 


pugnacious."  This  seems  to  show  that  the  secondary  characters 
are  due  to  sex  selection. ^  Men  are  held  to  be  polygamous  by 
descent  and  in  their  "  instincts  as  at  present  developed."  "  The 
instinct  for  promiscuous  intercourse  is  much  stronger  among 
men  than  women,  and  unquestionably  the  husband  is  much 
more  frequently  all  in  all  to  the  wife  than  she  to  him."  ^ 

359.  Sex  difference  and  evolution.  According  to  the  cur- 
rent applications  of  the  evolution  philosophy  it  is  argued  that 
"  inheritable  characters  peculiar  to  one  sex  show  a  tendency 
to  be  inherited  chiefly  or  solely  by  that  sex  in  the  offspring."  ^ 
Women  are  said  to  be  mentally  more  adaptable.*  This  is  shown 
in  their  tact,  which  is  regarded  as  a  product  of  their  desire  to 
adapt  themselves  to  the  stronger  sex,  with  whose  muscular 
strength  they  cannot  cope.  If  a  woman  should  resist  her  husband 
she  would  provoke  him,  and  her  life  would  be  endangered. 
Passive  and  resigned  women  would  survive.  "  Here  at  any  rate 
we  may  have  one  of  the  reasons  why  women  are  more  pas- 
sive and  resigned  than  men."  ^  Their  tact  is  attributed  to  their 
quicker  perception  and  to  their  lack  of  egoism.  "  The  man,  being 
more  self-absorbed  than  the  woman,  is  often  less  alive  than  she 
to  what  is  going  on  around."  ^  The  man  has  a  more  stable  nervous 
system  than  the  woman.  Combativeness  and  courage  produce 
that  stability  ;  emotional  development  is  antagonistic  to  it.  "  In 
proportion  as  the  emotions  are  brought  under  intellectual  control, 
in  that  proportion,  other  things  being  equal,  will  the  nervous 
system  become  more  stable."  ''  Ages  of  subjection  are  also  said 
to  have  produced  in  women  a  sense  of  dependence.  Resignation 
and  endurance  are  two  of  women's  chief  characteristics.  "  They 
have  been  educated  in  her  from  the  remotest  times."  ^  Through- 
out the  animal  kingdom  males  are  more  variable  than  females. 
Man  varies  through  a  wider  scale  than  woman.  Dwarfs  and 
giants,  geniuses  and  idiots,  are  more  common  amongst  men 
than  amongst  women. ^  Women  use  less  philosophy  ;  they  do 
not  think  things  out  in  their  relations  and  analysis  as  men  do. 

^  Campbell,  Differ e7ices  in  the  N^ervous  Organization  of  Men  afid  Women,  46. 

2  Ibid.,  45.  4  Ibid.,  66.  6  Ibid.,  223.  8  jbid.,  90. 

3  Ibid.,  68.  6  jbid.^  53  f.  ^  Ibid.,  84.  »  Ibid.,  133. 


SEX   MORES 


345 


Miss  Kingsley  said  that  she  "had  met  many  African  men  who 
were  philosophers,  thinking  in  the  terms  of  fetich,  but  never  a 
woman  so  doing."  ^ 

On  the  facts  of  observation  here  enumerated  nearly  all 
will  agree.  The  traits  are  certainly  handed  down  by  tradition 
and  education.  Whether  they  are  evolutionary  is  far  more 
doubtful.  They  are  thought  to  be  such  by  virtue  of  applica- 
tions of  some  generalizations  of  evolutionary  philosophy  whose 
correctness,  and  whose  application  to  this  domain,  have  never 
been  proved. 

360.  The  sex  distinction  ;  family  institution  ;  marriage  in  the 
mores.  The  division  of  the  human  race  into  two  sexes  is  the 
most  important  of  all  anthropological  facts.  The  sexes  differ  so 
much  in  structure  and  function,  and  consequently  in  traits  of 
feeling  and  character,  that  their  interests  are  antagonistic.  At 
the  same  time  they  are,  in  regard  to  reproduction,  complemen- 
tary. There  is  nothing  in  the  sex  relation,  or  in  procreation,  to 
bring  about  any  continuing  relation  between  a  man  and  a  woman. 
It  is  the  care  and  education  of  children  which  first  calls  for  such 
a  continuing  relation.  The  continuing  relation  is  not  therefore 
"in  nature."  It  is  institutional  and  conventional.  A  man  and  a 
woman  were  brought  together,  probably  against  their  will,  by  a 
higher  interest  in  the  struggle  for  existence.  The  woman  with 
a  child  needed  the  union  more,  and  probably  she  was  more 
unwilling  to  enter  it.  It  is  almost  impossible  to  find  a  case  of  a 
group  in  which  marriage  does  not  exist,  and  in  which  the  sex 
relation  is  one  of  true  promiscuity.  We  are  told  that  there  is 
no  family  institution  amongst  the  Bako,  dwarfs  in  Kamerun. 
They  obey  animal  instincts  without  restriction.^  This  means 
that  the  origin  of  the  family  institution  lies  in  the  period  before 
any  group  formations  now  open  to  our  study,  and  promiscuity 
is  an  inference  as  to  what  preceded  what  we  can  find.  A  woman 
with  a  child  entered  into  an  arrangement  with  a  man,  whether 
the  father  or  not  was  immaterial,  by  which  they  carried  on  the 
struggle  for  existence  together.  The  arrangement  must  have 
afforded  advantages  to  both.    It  was  produced  by  an  agreement. 

1  JVesi  Afr.  Studies,  ^75.  2  Globus.  LXXXIII,  285. 


346  FOLKWAYS 

The  family  institution  resulted  and  became  customary  by  imi- 
tation. Marriage  was  the  form  of  agreement  between  the  man 
and  the  woman  by  which  they  entered  into  the  family  institution. 
In  the  most  primitive  form  of  life  known  to  us  (Australians  and 
Bushmen)  the  man  roams  abroad  in  search  of  meat  food.  His 
wife  or  wives  stay  by  the  fire  at  a  trysting  place,  care  for  the 
children,  and  collect  plant  food.  Thus  the  combination  comes 
under  the  form  of  antagonistic  cooperation.  It  presents  us  the 
germ  of  the  industrial  organization.  It  is  a  product  of  the  folk- 
ways, being  the  resultant  custom  which  arises,  in  time,  out  of 
the  ways  of  satisfying  interests  which  separate  individuals,  or 
pairs,  invent  and  try.  It  follows  that  marriage  in  all  its  forms 
is  in  the  mores  of  the  time  and  place. 

361.  Regulation  is  conventional,  not  natural.  The  sex  passion 
affects  the  weal  or  woe  of  human  beings  far  more  than  hunger, 
vanity,  o"  ghost  fear.  It  has  far  more  complications  with  other 
interests  than  the  other  great  motives.  There  is  no  escaping 
the  good  and  ill,  the  pleasure  and  pain,  which  inhere  in  it.  It 
has  two  opposite  extremes,  —  renunciation  and  license.  In 
neither  one  of  these  can  peace  and  satisfaction  be  found,  or 
escape  from  the  irritation  of  antagonistic  impulses.  There  is 
no  ground  at  all  for  the  opinion  that  "  nature  "  gave  men  an 
appetite  the  satisfaction  of  which  would  be  peaceful  and  satis- 
factory, but  that  human  laws  and  institutions  have  put  it  under 
constraints  which  produce  agony. ^  The  truth  is  that  license 
stimulates  desire  without  limit,  and  ends  in  impotent  agony. 
Renunciation  produces  agony  of  another  kind.  Somewhere 
between  lies  temperance,  which  seems  an  easy  solution,  but 
there  is  no  definition  of  temperance  which  is  generally  applicable, 
and,  wherever  the  limit  may  be  set,  there,  on  either  side  of  it, 
the  antagonistic  impulses  appear  again,  —  one  of  indulgence,  the 
other  of  restraint,  —  producing  pitfalls  of  vice  and  ruin,  and  ever 
renewing  the  strain  and  torment  of  the  problem  of  right  and 
duty.  Therefore  regulation  is  imperatively  called  for  by  the  facts 
of  "  nature,"  and  the  regulation  must  come  from  intelligence 
and  judgment.    No  determination  of  what  the  regulation  should 

1  Bebel,  Die  Fran,  73. 


SEX  MORES 


347 


be  has  ever  yet  been  found  in  law  or  ethics  which  does  not 
bear  harshly  on  great  numbers,  and  in  all  stages  of  civilization 
numbers  are  found  who  violate  the  regulations  and  live  outside 
of  them. 

362.  Egoistic  and  altruistic  elements.  Here,  then,  is  the 
case  :  the  perpetuation  of  the  species  requires  the  cooperation 
of  two  complementary  sexes.  The  sex  relation  is  antagonistic 
to  the  struggle  for  existence,  and  so  arouses  egoistic  sentiments 
and  motives,  while  it  is  itself  very  egoistic.  It  is  sometimes 
said  that  the  struggle  for  existence  is  egoistic  and  reproduction 
altruistic,  but  this  view  rests  upon  a  very  imperfect  analysis.  It 
means  that  a  man  who  has  won  food  may  eat  it  by  himself, 
while  reproduction  assumes  the  cooperation  of  others.  So  far, 
well ;  but  the  struggle  for  existence  assumes  and  demands  co- 
operation in  the  food  quest  and  a  sharing  of  the  product  in 
all  but  a  very  small  class  of  primitive  cases  ;  and  the  sex  passion 
is  purely  egoistic,  except  in  a  very  small  class  of  cases  of  high 
refinement,  the  actuality  of  which  may  even  be  questioned. 
The  altruistic  element  in  reproduction  belongs  to  the  mores, 
and  is  due  to  life  with  children,  affection  for  them,  with  sacri- 
fice and  devotion  to  them,  as  results  produced  by  experience. 
It  is  clear  that  a  division  between  the  food  quest  as  egoistic 
and  reproduction  as  altruistic  cannot  be  made  the  basis  of 
ethical  constructions.  To  get  the  good  and  avoid  the  ill  there 
is  required  a  high  play  of  intelligence,  good  sense,  and  of  all 
altruistic  virtues.  Under  such  a  play  of  interests  and  feelings, 
from  which  no  one  is  exempt,  mass  phenomena  are  produced  by 
the  ways  of  solving  the  problem  which  individuals  and  pairs 
hit  upon.  The  wide  range  and  contradictoriness  of  the  folkways 
in  regard  to  family  life  show  how  helpless  and  instinctive  the 
struggle  to  solve  the  problem  has  been.  Our  own  society  shows 
how  far  we  still  are  from  a  thorough  understanding  of  the 
problem  and  from  a  satisfactory  solution  of  it.  It  must  be  added 
that  the  ruling  elements  in  different  societies  have  molded  the 
folkways  to  suit  their  own  interests,  and  thus  they  have  disturbed 
and  confused  the  process  of  making  folkways,  and  have  spoiled 
the  result. 


348 


FOLKWAYS 


363.  Primary  definition  of  marriage  ;  taboos  and  conventional- 
ization. The  definition  of  marriage  consists  in  stating  what,  at 
any  time  and  place,  the  mores  have  imposed  as  regulations  on 
the  relations  of  a  man  and  woman  who  are  cooperatively  carry- 
ing on  the  struggle  for  existence  and  the  reproduction  of  the 
species.  The  regulations  are  always  a  conventionalization  which 
sets  the  terms,  modes,  and  conditions  under  which  a  pair  may 
cohabit.  It  is,  therefore,  impossible  to  formulate  a  definition  of 
marriage  which  will  cover  all  forms  of  it  throughout  the  history 
of  civilization.  In  all  lower  civilization  it  is  a  tie  of  a  woman  to 
a  man  for  the  interests  of  both  (or  of  the  man).  It  follows  that 
the  sex  relation  has  been  a  great  arena  for  the  use  and  perfec- 
tion of  the  mores,  since  personal  experience  and  reflection  never 
ceased,  and  a  great  school  for  the  education  of  the  race  in  the 
use  of  intelligence,  the  development  of  sympathetic  sentiments, 
and  in  a  sense  of  the  utility  of  ethical  regulations.  The  sex 
taboo  is  the  set  of  inhibitions  which  control  and  restrain  the 
intercourse  of  the  sexes  with  each  other  in  ordinary  life.  At 
the  present  time,  in  civilized  countries,  that  intercourse  is  limited 
by  taboo,  not  by  law.  The  nature  and  degree  of  the  taboo  are 
in  the  mores.  Spanish,  French,  English,  and  American  women, 
in  the  order  named,  are  under  less  and  less  strict  limitations  in 
regard  to  ordinary  social  intercourse  with  men.  The  sex  taboo 
could,  therefore,  be  easily  pursued  and  described  through  the 
whole  history  of  civilization  and  amongst  all  nations.  It  seems 
to  be  arbitrary,  although  no  doubt  it  has  always  been  due,  in  its 
origin,  to  correct  or  incorrect  judgments  of  conditions  and 
interests.  It  is  always  conventional.  That  it  has  been  and  is 
recognized  is  the  sum  of  its  justification.  When  Augustine  met 
the  objection  that  Jacob  had  four  wives  he  replied  that  that 
was  no  crime,  because  it  was  under  the  custom  {mos)  of  Jacob's 
time.^  This  was  a  complete  answer,  but  it  was  an  appeal  to  the 
supreme  authority  of  the  mores. 

364.  Family,  not  marriage,  is  the  institution.  Although  we 
speak  of  marriage  as  an  institution,  it  is  only  an  imperfect  one. 
It  has  no  structure.    The  family  is  the  institution,  and  it  was 

1  Decret.  Gratiani,  II,  c.  XXXII,  qu.  iv,  c.  7. 


SEX  MORES 


349 


antecedent  to  marriage.  Marriage  has  always  been  an  elastic 
and  variable  usage,  as  it  now  is.  Each  pair,  or  other  marital  com- 
bination, has  always  chosen  its  own  "ways"  of  living  within 
the  limits  set  by  the  mores.  In  fact  the  use  of  language  reflects 
the  vagueness  of  marriage,  for  we  use  the  word  "  marriage  "  for 
wedding,  nuptials,  or  matrimony  (wedlock).  Only  the  last  could 
be  an  institution.  Wedlock  has  gone  through  very  many  phases, 
and  has  by  no  means  evolved  along  lines  of  harmonious  and 
advancing  development.  In  the  earliest  forms  of  the  higher 
civilization,  in  Chaldea  and  Egypt,  man  and  wife  were,  during 
wedlock,  in  a  relation  of  rational  free  cooperation.  Out  of  this 
two  different  forms  of  wedlock  have  come,  the  harem  system 
and  pair  marriage.  The  historical  sequences  by  which  the  former 
has  been  produced  could  be  traced  just  as  easily  as  those  which 
have  led  up  to  the  latter.  There  is  no  more  necessity  in  one 
than  in  the  other.  Wedlock  is  a  mode  of  associated  life.  It  is 
as  variable  as  circumstances,  interests,  and  character  make  it 
within  the  conditions.  No  rules  or  laws  can  control  it.  They 
only  affect  the  condition  against  which  the  individuals  react. 
No  laws  can  do  more  than  specify  ways  of  entering  into  wedlock, 
and  the  rights  and  duties  of  the  parties  in  wedlock  to  each 
other,  which  the  society  will  enforce.  These,  however,  are  but 
indifferent  externals.  All  the  intimate  daily  play  of  interests, 
emotions,  character,  taste,  etc.,  are  beyond  the  reach  of  the 
bystanders,  and  that  play  is  what  makes  wedlock  what  it  is  for 
every  pair.  Nevertheless  the  relations  of  the  parties  are  always 
deeply  controlled  by  the  current  opinions  in  the  society,  the 
prevalent  ethical  standards,  the  approval  or  condemnation  passed 
by  the  bystanders  on  cases  between  husbands  and  wives,  and  by 
the  precepts  and  traditions  of  the  old.  Thus  the  mores  hold 
control  over  individual  taste  and  caprice,  and  individual  experi- 
ence reacts  against  the  control.  All  the  problems  of  marriage 
are  in  the  intimate  relations.  When  they  affect  large  numbers 
they  are  brought  under  the  solution  of  the  mores.  Therefore  the 
history  of  marriage  is  to  be  interpreted  by  the  mores,  and  its 
philosophy  must  be  sought  in  the  fact  that  it  is  an  ever-moving 
product  of  the  mores. 


350  FOLKWAYS 

365.  Endogamy  and  exogamy.  Although  it  seems,  at  first 
consideration,  that  savages  could  not  have  perceived  the  alleged 
evils  of  inbreeding,  yet  a  full  examination  of  the  facts  is  con- 
vincing that  they  did  do  so.  In  like  manner,  they  were  led  to 
try  to  avert  overpopulation  by  folkways.  They  acted  "  instinc- 
tively," or  automatically,  not  rationally.  Inbreeding  preserves 
a  type  but  weakens  the  stock.  Outbreeding  strengthens  the 
stock  but  loses  the  type.  In  our  own  mores  each  one  is  forbidden 
to  marry  within  a  certain  circle  or  outside  of  another  circle.  The 
first  is  the  consanguine  group  of  first  cousins  and  nearer.  The 
latter  is  the  race  to  which  we  belong.  Royal  and  noble  castes 
are  more  strictly  limited  within  the  caste.  Amongst  savage 
peoples  there  were  two  ideas  which  were  in  conflict :  (i)  all  the 
women  of  a  group  were  regarded  as  belonging  to  all  the  men  of 
that  group  ;  (2)  a  wife  conquered  abroad  was  a  possession  and 
a  trophy.  Endogamy  and  exogamy  are  forms  of  the  mores  in 
which  one  of  these  policies  has  been  adopted  to  the  exclusion 
of  the  other.  Of  that  we  have  an  example  in  civilized  society, 
where  royal  persons,  in  order  to  find  fitting  mates,  marry  cousins, 
or  uncles,  or  nieces,  and  bring  on  the  family  the  evils  of  close 
inbreeding  (Spain) ;  or  they  take  slave  women  as  wives  and 
breed  out  the  blood  of  their  race  (Athenians,  Arabs).  The  due 
adjustment  of  inbreeding  and  outbreeding  is  always  a  difificult 
problem  of  policy  for  breeders  of  animals.  It  is  the  same  for  men. 
The  social  interests  favor  inbreeding,  by  which  property  is  united 
or  saved  from  dispersion,  and  close  relationship  seems  to  assure 
acquaintance.  At  Venice,  in  the  time  of  glory  and  luxury,  great 
dowers  seemed  to  threaten  to  dissipate  great  family  fortunes. 
It  became  the  custom  to  contract  marriages  only  between  fami- 
lies which  could  give  as  much  as  they  got.  "This  was  not  the 
least  of  the  causes  of  the  moral  and  physical  decline  of  the 
Venetian  aristocracy."  ^ 

366.  Polygamy  and  polyandry.  Polygamy  and  polyandry  are 
two  cases  of  family  organization  which  are  expedient  under  cer- 
tain life  conditions,  and  which  came  into  existence  or  became 
obsolete  according  to  changes  in  the  life  conditions,  although 

1  Molmenti,   Venezia  ncUa  Vita  Privata,  393. 


SEX  MORES  351 

there  are  also  cases  of  survival,  due  to  persistence  of  the  mores, 
after  the  hfe  conditions  have  so  changed  that  the  custom  has 
become  harmful.  Population,  so  far  as  we  know,  normally  con- 
tains equal  numbers  of  the  two  sexes,  except  that  there  are 
periods  in  which,  for  some  unknown  reason,  births  of  one  sex 
greatly  preponderate  over  those  of  the  other. ^  There  are  also 
groups  in  which  the  food  quest,  or  other  duty,  of  the  men  is 
such  that  many  lives  are  lost  and  so  the  adults  of  the  two  sexes 
are  unequal  in  number.^  Therefore,  in  a  normal  population,  polyg- 
amy would  compel  many  men,  and  polyandry  many  women,  to 
remain  unmarried.  Polyandry  might  then  be  supplemented  by 
female  infanticide.  That  any  persons  in  a  primitive  society 
should  be  destined  to  celibacy  is  so  arbitrary  and  strange  an 
arrangement  that  strong  motives  for  it  must  be  found  in  the 
life  conditions.  Two  forms  of  polygamy  must  be  distinguished. 
(a)  In  primitive  society  women  are  laborers,  and  the  industrial 
system  is  often  such  that  there  is  an  economic  advantage  in 
having  a  number  of  v/omen  to  one  man.  In  those  cases  polyg- 
amy becomes  interwoven  with  the  whole  social  and  political 
system.  Other  customs  will  also  affect  the  expediency  of  polyg- 
amy. Every  well-to-do  man  of  the  Bassari,  in  Togo,  has  three 
wives,  because  children  are  suckled  for  three  years. ^  (d)  In  higher 
civilization,  with  surplus  wealth,  polygamy  is  an  affair  of  luxury, 
sensuality,  and  ostentation.  It  is  only  in  the  former  case  that 
polygamy  is  socially  expedient,  and  that  women  welcome  more 
wives  to  help  do  the  work  and  do  not  quarrel  with  each  other. 
In  the  latter  case,  polygamy  is  an  aberration  of  the  mores,  due 
to  selfish  force.  There  are  very  many  examples  of  polygamy  in 
which  the  two  motives  are  combined.  These  are  transition  stages. 
Polyandry  is  due  to  a  hard  struggle  for  existence  or  to  a  policy 
of  not  dividing  property.  A  Spartan  who  had  a  land  allotment 
was  forced  to  marry.  His  younger  brothers  lived  with  him  and 
sometimes  were  also  husbands  to  his  wife.  Wives  were  also 
lent  out  of   friendship  or  in  order  to  get  vigorous  offspring.* 

1  For  cases  see  JAI,  XXIII,  364.  2  c/odits,  LXXXVII,  179  (Caroline  Isl.). 

3  GM>its,  LXXXIII,  312. 

*  Xenophon,  Lacedcemon,  I,  7,  8;  Plutarch,  Lycurgiis,  15. 


352  FOLKWAYS 

Here  state  policy  or  the  assumed  advantage  of  physical  vigor 
overrode  the  motives  of  monogamy  which  prevailed  in  the  sur- 
rounding civilization.  In  Plautus's  comedy  Stichus  a  case  is 
referred  to  in  which  two  slaves  have  one  woman  (wife).  Roman 
epitaphs  are  cited  in  which  two  men  jointly  celebrate  a  common 
wife.^  These  are  cases  of  return  to  an  abandoned  usage,  under 
the  stress  of  poverty.  An  emigrating  group  must  generally  have 
contained  more  men  than  women.  Polyandry  was  very  sure  to 
occur.  It  is  said  that  immigrant  groups  can  be  found  in  the 
United  States  in  which  polyandry  exists,  being  produced  in  this 
way.  Many  aboriginal  tribes  in  India,  amongst  which  the  Todas 
are  the  best  known,  practice  polyandry.  Przewalsky  says  that 
in  Tibet  polyandry  is  attributed  to  a  tax  on  houses  in  which 
there  is  a  married  woman. ^  Primarily  it  is  due  to  poverty  and  a 
hard  habitat.  Two,  three,  or  even  four  brothers  have  a  wife  in 
common.  The  Russian  traveler  adds  that  rich  men  have  a  wife 
each,  or  even  two,  and  Cunningham  ^  confirms  this  ;  that  is  to 
say,  then,  that  the  number  of  wives  follows  directly  the  economic 
power  of  the  man.  The  case  only  illustrates  the  close  inter- 
dependence of  capital  and  marriage  which  we  shall  find  at  every 
stage.  In  the  days  of  Venetian  glory  "often  four  or  five  m^en 
united  to  maintain  one  woman,  in  whose  house  they  met  daily 
to  laugh,  eat,  and  jest,  without  a  shadow  of  jealousy.  If,  how- 
ever, the  cleverness  of  a  woman  brought  a  young  patrician  into 
a  mesalliance,  the  state  promptly  dissolved  the  bond  in  its  own 
way."  *  The  polyandry  of  the  Nairs,  on  the  Malabar  coast,  has 
been  cited  to  prove  that  polyandry  is  not  due  to  poverty.  It  is 
due  to  the  unwillingness  to  subdivide  the  property  of  the  family, 
which  is  of  the  modified  mother-family  form,  all  the  immediate 
kin  holding  together  and  keeping  the  property  undivided.  Sub- 
divisions of  this  people  differ  as  to  details  of  the  custom  and  it 
is  now  becoming  obsolete.  Of  course  "moral  doctrines"  have 
been  invented  to  bring  the  custom  under  a  broad  principle.^  It 
appears,  however,  that  the  husbands,  in  the  Nair  system,  are 

1  Pellison,  Roman  Life  in  Pliny'' s  Time,  lOO. 

^  Third  Journey  {russ.),  259.  *  Molmenti,   Venezia  nella  J'ita  Privaia,  386. 

3  Ladak,  306.  ^  Madras  Gov.  Mus.,  Ill,  227. 


SEX  MORES 


353 


successive,  not  contemporaneous.  The  custom  is  due  to  the 
Vedic  notion  that  every  virgin  contains  a  demon  who  leaves  her 
with  the  nuptial  blood,  causing  some  risk  to  her  husband.  Hence 
a  maiden  was  married  to  a  man  who  was  to  disappear  after  a  few 
hours,  having  incurred  the  risk.^  Here,  then,  we  have  a  case  of 
aberrant  mores  due  to  a  superstitious  explanation  of  natural 
facts.  Polygamy  of  the  second  form  above  defined  is  limited  by 
cost.  Although  polygamy  is  allowed  under  Mohammedan  law, 
it  is  not  common  for  a  Mohammedan  to  have  more  than  one 
wife,  on  account  of  expense  and  trouble.  Lane  estimated  at  not 
more  than  one  in  twenty  the  number  of  men  in  Egypt,  in  the 
first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century,  who  had  more  than  one  wife. 
If  a  woman  is  childless,  her  husband  may  take  another  wife, 
especially  if  he  likes  the  first  one  too  well  to  divorce  her.^  That 
is  to  say,  polygamy  and  divorce  are  alternatives.  Other  author- 
ities state  that  polygamy  is  more  common  and  real  amongst 
Mohammedans  than  would  appear  from  Lane's  statement.  In 
the  cities  of  Arabia  more  than  one  wife  is  the  rule,  and  the 
Arabs  in  Jerusalem  take  three  or  four  wives  as  soon  as  they 
have  sufficient  means.    The  poorest  have  at  least  two.^ 

367.  Consistency  of  the  mores  under  polygamy  or  polyandry. 
When  the  life  conditions,  real  or  imagined,  produce  polygamy, 
monogamy,  or  polyandry,  all  the  mores  conform  to  the  one  sys- 
tem or  the  other,  and  develop  it  on  every  side.  All  the  concepts 
of  right  and  wrong  —  rights,  duties,  authority,  societal  policy,  and 
political  interest  —  are  implicit  in  the  mores.  They  must  neces- 
sarily all  be  consistent.  A  Nair  woman  is  no  more  likely  to 
overstep  the  mores  of  her  society  than  an  English  woman  is  to 
overstep  the  mores  of  hers.  "  The  relations  between  the  sexes 
in  Malabar  are  unusually  happy."  ^  Tibetan  men  are  said  to 
be  courteous  to  women. ^  Tibetan  women  like  polyandry.  They 
sneer  at  the  dullness  and  monotony  of  monogamic  life.^  Thus 
the  ethics  follow  the  customs. 

1  Zimmer,  Altind.  Leben,  313;   JASB,  II,  316,  319;   JAI,  XII,  291. 

2  Lane,  Jllodern  Egyptians,  I,  274.     Cf.  Snouck-Hurgronje,  Mekka,  II,  106  ff. 

*  Hauri,  Islam,  135.  ^  Rockhill  in  U.  S.  Nat.  Ahts.,  1893,  677- 

*  Madras  Gov.  Mus.,  Ill,  229.  ^  Bishop,  Among  the  Thibetans,  92. 


354 


FOLKWAYS 


368.  Mother  family  and  father  family.  The  ultimate  reasons 
for  the  mother  family  and  for  a  change  to  the  father  family  are 
in  the  life  conditions,  industrial  arts,  war,  pressure  of  population, 
etc.  In  fact,  our  terms  are  only  names  for  a  group  of  mores  which 
cover  some  set  of  interests,  and  we  need  to  be  on  our  guard 
against  the  category  fallacy,  that  is,  against  arguing  from  the 
contents  of  the  classification  which  we  have  made.  The  term 
"  matriarchate  "  encouraged  this  fallacy  and  has  gone  out  of  use. 
By  the  mother  family  we  mean  the  system  in  which  descent  and 
kin  are  reckoned  through  women,  not  through  men.  In  that  form 
of  the  family  the  relation  of  man  and  wife  is  one  of  contract. 
The  woman  must  be  thought  of  as  at  her  home,  with  her  kin, 
and  the  husband  comes  to  her.  She  has  great  control  of  the 
terms  on  which  he  is  accepted,  and  she  and  her  kin  can  drive 
him  away  again,  if  they  see  fit.  The  children  will  be  hers  and 
will  remain  with  her.  The  property  will  remain  hers,  while  her 
husband  must  abandon  his  property  when  he  comes  to  her.  The 
next  male  friend  of  a  woman  will  be  her  brother,  not  her  hus- 
band, and  the  next  male  guardian  of  a  child  will  be  his  mother's 
brother,  not  his  father.  Words  of  relationship,  address,  etc., 
must  all  conform  to  the  fundamental  notion  which  rules  the 
family.  Religion,  political  control,  modes  of  warfare  and  alliance, 
and  education  are  all  constructed  to  fit  the  family-form.  At 
puberty  boys  are  taken  into  the  political  organization  (tribe)  to 
which  the  father  belongs  and  get  political  status  from  that.  By 
birth  each  one  is  a  member  of  a  blood-kin  group  (clan)  on  which 
depend  blood  revenge  and  other  duties  and  by  which  marriage  is 
regulated.  All  this  grows  up  as  a  part  of  the  folkways,  instinc- 
tively, without  plan  or  guidance  of  intelligent  control.  Yet  it 
has  been  wrought  out,  along  the  same  logical  lines  of  custom  and 
rule,  all  over  the  world  by  savage  peoples.  We  meet  with  many 
variations  of  it  in  transitional  forms,  or  in  combination  with  later 
institutions,  but  they  belong  to  the  time  when  this  arrangement 
is  breaking  down,  and  passing  into  the  father  family.  The 
mother  family  system  is  definite  and  complete  when  flourishing 
and  normal.  By  the  totem  device  the  mother  family  is  made 
capable  of  indefinite  extension,  and  a  verification  is  provided  for 


SEX  MORES  355 

its  essential  facts.  The  status  of  women,  in  the  mother  family, 
was  strong  and  independent.  Often  important  societal  functions 
were  entrusted  to  them,  and  their  influence  was  so  high  that  it 
produced  great  results,  like  the  conferring  of  glory  on  braves, 
and  the  election  of  war  chiefs.  In  cases,  as  for  instance  the 
ancient  Lycians,  the  men  were  treated  with  harshness  and  abuse. 
The  distribution  of  social  power  between  the  sexes  gave  oppor- 
tunity for  this,  and  the  opportunity  was  seized. ^ 

369.  Change  from  mother  family  to  father  family.  It  may 
well  be  believed  that  the  change  from  the  mother  family  to  the 
father  family  is  the  greatest  and  most  revolutionary  in  the  history 
of  civilization.  By  changes  in  the  life  conditions  it  becomes 
possible  for  the  man  to  get  his  wife  to  himself  away  from  her 
kin,  and  to  become  the  owner  of  his  children.  In  the  mother 
family  those  arrangements  could  only  be  suggested  to  him  as 
modifications  of  his  experience  which  would  be  eagerly  to  be 
desired,  i.e.  as  objects  of  idealization.  When  the  life  conditions 
so  changed  that  it  became  possible,  the  father  family  displaced 
the  mother  family.  All  the  folkways  followed  the  change. 
Family  arrangements,  kin,  industry,  war,  political  organization, 
property,  rights,  must  all  conform  to  the  change.  The  wife  is 
obtained  by  capture,  purchase,  or  later  by  contract.  By  capture 
or  purchase  she  passes  under  her  husband's  dominion,  and  she 
may  not  be  a  consenting  party.  She  loses*  status  by  the  change. 
In  the  earlier  period  the  man  might  get  a  wife  by  capture.  She 
would  be  either  a  work-wife  or  a  love-wife.  Now  a  real  status- 
wife  would  be  obtained  by  real  or  fictitious  capture  and  get  her 
status  from  that  fact ;  that  is,  she  becomes  very  much  at  the 
mercy  of  her  husband.  The  same  is  true  of  a  purchased  wife. 
The  relation  of  a  wife  to  her  husband  is  analogous  to  property. 
The  same  is  true  of  the  relation  of  children  to  their  father.  The 
husband  gives,  sells,  or  lends  wife  or  daughters  as  he  sees  fit, 
although  an  interference  with  his  dominion  over  them  without 
his  consent  would  be  a  thing  to  be  earnestly  resented.  Loyalty 
and  fidelity  to  husband  became  the  highest  duties  of  wives,  which 
the  husband  enforced  by  physical  penalties.    Female  honor,  for 

1  Herod.,  I,  173. 


356  FOLKWAYS 

wives,  consisted  in  chastity,  which  meant  self-submission  to  the 
Hmitations  which  men  desired  in  wives  and  which  the  mores  had 
approved,  for  the  mores  teach  the  women  what  conduct  on  their 
part  is  "  right,"  and  teach  them  that  it  is  "  right  "  that  they 
should  be  taken  as  wives  by  capture  or  purchase.  Female  virtue 
and  honor,  therefore,  acquire  technical  definitions  out  of  the 
mores,  which  are  not  parallel  to  any  definitions  of  virtue  and 
honor  as  applied  to  males.  In  Deut.  xxi.  lo  the  case  of  a  man 
enamored  of  a  captive  woman  is  considered,  and  rules  are  set 
for  it.  The  woman  may  not  be  sold  for  money  after  she  has 
been  "humbled."  It  is  evident  that  the  notions  of  right  and 
wrong,  and  of  rights  in  marriage  and  the  family,  are  altogether 
contingent  and  relative.  In  the  mores  of  any  form  of  the  family 
the  ideas  of  rights,  and  of  right  and  wrong,  will  conform  to  the 
theory  of  the  institution,  and  they  may  offer  us  notions  of  moral 
things  which  are  radically  divergent  or  antagonistic. 

370.  Capture  and  purchase  become  ceremonies.  As  population 
increases  and  tribes  are  pushed  closer  together,  capture  loses 
violence  and  is  modified  by  a  compromise,  with  payment  of 
money  as  a  composition,  and  by  treaty,  until  it  becomes  a  cere- 
mony. Then  purchase  degenerates  into  a  ceremony,  partly  by 
idealization,  i.e.  the  purchase  ceremony  is  necessary,  but  the 
arrangement  would  seem  more  honorable  if  some  other  construc- 
tion were  put  on  it.  The  father,  if  he  takes  the  customary  bride 
price  but  is  rich  and  loves  his  daughter,  so  that  he  wants  to 
soften  for  her  the  lot  of  a  wife  as  women  generally  find  it,  gives 
a  dowry  and  by  that  binds  her  husband  to  stipulations  as  to  the 
rights  and  treatment  which  she  shall  enjoy.  In  Homer's  time, 
no  man  of  rank  and  wealth  gave  his  daughter  without  a  dowry, 
although  he  took  gifts  for  her,  even,  if  she  was  in  great  demand, 
to  a  greater  value. ^  What  the  rich  and  great  do  sets  the  fashion 
which  others  follow  as  far  as  they  can.  In  the  laws  of  Manu  we 
see  purchase  not  yet  obsolete,  but  already  regarded  as  shameful, 
if  it  really  is  a  sale,  and  so  subjected  to  idealization  ;  that  is,  they 
try  to  put  another  construction  on  it.  The  ceremonies  of  pur- 
chase and  capture  lasted  for  a  very  long  time,  because  there  was 

1  Schoemann,  Griech.  Alterthiimer,  I,  51. 


SEX  MORES  357 

no  other  way  to  indicate  the  bond  of  wedlock  until  the  promise 
came  into  use.  That  has  never  furnished  a  bond  of  equal  reality 
to  that  of  capture  or  purchase. 

371.  Feminine  honor  and  virtue.  Jealousy.  As  the  old  cere- 
monies become  obsolete  the  property  idea  fades  out  of  the 
marital  relation,  and  the  woman's  exclusive  devotion  to  her 
husband  is  no  longer  a  rational  inference  from  capture  or  pur- 
chase by  him,  but  becomes  a  sentiment  of  sex.  Idealization 
comes  into  play  again  and  sets  a  standard  of  female  honor  and 
duty  which  rests  on  womanhood  only,  and  therefore  does  not 
apply  to  men.  It  is  the  lot  of  every  woman  to  stand  beside  some 
man,  and  to  give  her  strength  and  life  to  help  him  in  every  way 
which  circumstances  offer  opportunity  for.  Out  of  this  relation 
come  her  ideas  of  her  honor,  duties,  and  virtue.  Jealousy  on  the 
part  of  the  husband  also  changes  its  sense.  He  thinks  it  an 
abomination  to  lend,  sell,  or  give  his  wife.  Jealousy  is  not  now 
the  sentiment  of  a  property  owner,  but  it  is  a  masculine  sex 
sentiment  which  corresponds  to  the  woman's  sex  honor  and 
duty.  What  she  gives  to  him  alone  he  accepts  on  the  same 
basis  of  exclusiveness. 

Darwin  ^  argued  from  the  strength  of  jealousy  amongst  animals  "  as  well 
as  from  the  analogy  of  the  lower  animals,  more  particularly  of  those  which 
come  nearest  to  man,"  that  promiscuity  could  not  have  prevailed  shortly 
before  man  "attained  his  present  rank  in  the  zoological  scale."  Then  he 
refers  to  the  anthropoid  apes,  which  are  either  monogamous,  or  pair  off 
for  a  limited  time,  or  are  polygamous  in  separate  families,  or  still  again 
polygamous  but  living  in  a  society.  The  jealousy  of  the  males,  and  their 
special  weapons  for  battling  with  their  rivals,  make  promiscuity  in  a  state 
of  nature  extremely  improbable.  "It  does  not  seem  possible  for  us  to  appre- 
hend the  emotion  here  called  '  jealousy  '  when  shown  by  an  animal.  Amongst 
uncivilized  men  the  sentiment  is  that  of  the  property  holder.  To  lend  or 
give  a  wife  is  consistent  with  that  sentiment,  not  a  violation  of  it.  Hence 
it  does  not  prove  that  jealousy  does  not  exist."  ^  The  Veddahs  are  very  care- 
ful of  their  wives.  They  will  not  allow  strangers  in  their  villages,  and  do 
not  even  let  their  brothers  approach  their  wives  or  offer  them  food.^  They 
have  pure  marital  customs.  Their  neighbors,  the  Singhalese,  have  not 
pure   marital    customs  and   are   not   jealous."*    In  the   East    Indies,  not   in 

"    1  Descent  of  Man,  590.  ^  Sarasin,  Veddahs,  462. 

2  Westermarck,  Marriage,  130.  *  Schmidt,  Ceylon,  277. 


358  FOLKWAYS 

all  tribes  but  in  jnany,  betrothed  persons  are  separated  until  their  marriage.^ 
Kubary  says  that  the  jealousy  of  the  Palau  Islanders  is  less  a  sign  of  wounded 
feelings  than  of  care  for  external  propriety.'-^  An  oa  ape  (a  gibbon)  showed 
jealousy  whenever  a  little  Malay  girl,  his  playmate,  was  taken  away  from  him.^ 
Wellhausen  *  says  that  "  the  suspicious  jealousy,  not  of  the  love  of  their 
wives,  but  of  their  own  property  rights,  is  a  prominent  cliaracteristic  of  the 
Arabs,  of  which  they  are  proud."  The  blood  kin  guard  their  property 
right  in  the  maiden  as  jealously  as  the  man  guards  his  property  right  in  his 
wife.  A  Papuan  kills  an  adulterer,  not  on  account  of  his  own  honor,  but  to 
punish  an  infringement  of  his  property  rights.  The  former  idea  is  foreign 
to  him.  He  does,  however,  show  jealousy  of  a  handsome  young  man  who 
captivates  the  women.^  In  1898  a  pair  of  wolves  were  kept  as  public  pets 
in  the  Capitol  at  Rome.  The  male  killed  a  cub,  his  own  offspring,  out  of 
jealousy  of  the  affection  of  the  female  for  it.  Then  the  female  died  of 
grief.^  These  cases  show  very  different  forms  of  jealousy.  The  jealousy 
of  husband  and  wife  is  similar,  but  not  the  same  as  any  one  of  them,  and  it 
differs  at  different  stages  of  civilization.  It  depends  on  the  exclusiveness 
and  intenseness  of  devotion  which  spouses  are  held  to  owe  each  other. 
Beasts  do  not  manifest  an  emotion  of  jealousy  so  uniform  or  universal  as 
Darwin  assumes  in  his  argument,  nor  any  sentiment  like  that  of  a  half- 
civilized  man.  The  latter  can  always  coerce  the  woman  to  himself,  but 
jealousy  arises  when  the  woman  is  left  free  to  dispose  of  her  own  devotion 
or  attention,  and  she  is  supposed  to  direct  it  to  her  husband,  out  of  affection 
and  preference.  It  is  the  breach  of  this  affection  and  preference  which 
constitutes  the  gravamen. 

372.  Virginity.  We  have  many  examples  of  peoples  amongst 
whom  girls  are  entirely  free  until  married,  on  the  rational  ground 
that  they  are  under  obligations  to  nobody.  They  are  under  no 
taboo,  marriage  being  the  first  application  of  the  sex  taboo. 
Farnell"  says  that  the  first  sense  oi  parthenos  was  not  "  virgin," 
but  unmarried.  The  Oriental  goddess  of  impure  love  was  par- 
thenos. Artemis  was  perhaps,  at  first,  a  goddess  of  people  who 
had  not  yet  settled  marriage  mores,  but  had  the  mother  family, 
amongst  whom  women  were  powerful.  In  the  development  of 
the  father  family  fathers  restricted  daughters  in  order  to  make 

1  Bijdragen  tot  T.  L.  en  V.-kunde,  XXXV,  215. 

^  Soc.  Eiiirichtuiigen  der  Pelaiter,  59. 

3  Umschau,  VI,  52,  after  Haeckel,  Aus  Insiditide. 

*  Ehe  bei  den  Aral>er?i,  447. 

^  Krieger,  A''e7i  Gtcinea,  300,  321. 

^  London  Graphic,  1902,  534. 

'^  Cults  of  the  Greek  States,  448. 


SEX   MORES 


359 


them  more  valuable  as  wives.  Here  comes  in  the  notion  of 
virginity  and  pre-nuptial  chastity.  This  is  really  a  negative  and 
exclusive  notion.  It  is  an  appeal  to  masculine  vanity,  and  is  a 
singular  extension  .of  the  monopoly  principle.  His  wife  is  to  be 
his  from  the  cradle,  when  he  did  not  know  her.  Here,  then,  is 
a  new  basis  for  the  sex  honor  of  women  and  the  jealousy  of  men. 
Chastity  for  the  unmarried  meant  —  no  one  ;  for  the  married  — 
none  but  the  husband.  The  mores  extended  to  take  in  this 
doctrine,  and  it  has  passed  into  the  heart  of  the  mores  of  all 
civilized  peoples,  to  whom  it  seems  axiomatic  or  "natural."  It 
has  often  been  declared  absurd  that  sex  honor,  especially  for 
women,  should  be  made  to  depend  on  a  negative.  It  seems  to 
make  an  ascetic  and  arbitrary  standard  for  everyday  life.  In  fact, 
however,  the  negation  is  imposed  by  the  nature  of  the  sex  passion 
and  by  the  conditions  of  human  life.  The  passion  tends  to  ex- 
cess. What  is  "natural"  is  therefore  evil.  Negation,  restraint, 
renunciation,  are  imposed  by  expediency.  Perhaps  it  is  the  only 
case  in  which  man  is  driven  to  error  and  evil  by  a  great  force  in 
his  nature,  and  is  thus  forced,  if  he  would  live  well,  to  find  a 
discipline  for  himself  in  intelligent  self-control  and  in  arbitrary 
rules.  This  would  justify  the  current  usage  of  language  in  which 
"  morals  "  refers  especially  to  the  sex  relation. 

373.  Chastity"  for  men.  In  modern  times  there  is  a  new  exten- 
sion of  idealization,  by  which  it  is  attempted  to  extend  to  men 
the  same  standard  of  chastity  and  duty  of  chastity  as  to  women. 
Two  questions  are  here  confused  :  (a)  whether  unmarried  men 
and  women  are  to  be  bound  by  the  same  obligation  of  chastity  ; 
(d)  whether  married  men  and  women  are  to  be  bound  by  the 
same  rule  of  exclusion.  The  Hindoo  lawgivers  demand  the  same 
fidelity  from  husband  and  wife.^  In  the  treatise  on  Econoviics 
which  is  ascribed  to  Aristotle,^  although  there  is  no  dogmatic 
statement  of  law  or  duty,  all  the  prescriptions  for  the  husband 
and  wife  are  the  same,  and  the  man  is  said  to  injure  the  wife  by 
infidelity.  Aristotle  ^  propounds  the  rule  of  taboo  on  all  sex  rela- 
tions except  in  marriage,  which  is  the  doctrine  of  pair  marriage 

1  Strange,  Hindu  Law,  I,  57. 
2  Economica,  I,  4.  ^  Politics,  VII,  16. 


36o  FOLKWAYS 

(sec.  383).  In  the  Economicns  of  Xenophon  ^  the  relations  of 
husband  and  wife  are  expounded  at  length  in  terms  of  great  re- 
spect and  esteem  for  a  wife.  The  work  seems  to  be  rhetorical  and 
dramatic,  not  actual,  and  it  is  represented  as  very  exceptional 
and  astonishing  that  such  relations  should  exist  between  any  man 
and  his  wife.  In  Plutarch's  Morals  the  tract  on  "  Conjugal  Pre- 
cepts "  is  written  in  an  elevated  tone.  It  is  not  specific  and  seems 
open  to  the  suspicion  of  being  a  "pose."  However,  the  doctrine 
is  that  of  equal  duty  for  husband  and  wife,  and  it  may  be  taken 
to  prove  that  that  was  the  doctrine  of  the  neostoics.  Seneca 
wrote,  "  You  know  that  it  is  a  base  thing  that  he  who  demands 
chastity  of  his  wife  should  himself  corrupt  the  wives  of  others."  ^ 
And  again,  "  Let  him  know  that  it  will  be  the  worst  kind  of  an 
injury  to  his  wife  for  him  to  have  a  mistress."^  Augustine  tells 
a  story  that  Antoninus  Pius  granted  a  man  a  divorce  for  adultery 
of  his  wife,  provided  the  man  could  show  that  he  had,  by  his 
mode  of  life,  maintained  fidelity  to  his  wife,  and  that  the  emperor 
added  the  dictum  that  "  it  would  be  unjust  that  a  man  should  be 
able  to  exact  a  fidelity  which  he  did  not  himself  observe."  * 
Augustine  himself  maintained  the  full  equality  of  spouses  in 
rights  and  duties.  Ulpian  said  that  "it  seems  to  be  very  unjust 
that  a  man  demands  chastity  of  his  wife  while  he  himself  does 
not  show  an  example  of  it."  This  dictum  got  into  the  Digest 
where  the  jurists  of  all  succeeding  ages  could  have  it  before  their 
eyes.^  It  did  not  often  arrest  their  attention.  These  utterances, 
so  far  as  they  are  sincere  expressions  of  convictions,  do  not  repre- 
sent the  conduct  of  any  school,  and  perhaps  not  even  that  of  the 
men  who  recorded  them.  They  belong  to  a  period  of  great  cor- 
ruption of  the  sex  mores  of  the  upper  classes,  and  of  rapid  exten- 
sion of  such  corruption  to  the  lower  classes.  A  character  in 
Plautus's  comedy  of  The  MercJia^it^  complains  of  the  differ- 
ence in  codes  for  unchaste  husbands  and  unchaste  wives.  If 
every  woman  has  to  be  content  with  one  husband,  why  should 
not  every  man  be  forced  to  be  content  with  one  wife  1    Jerome 

1  VII-TX.  .       *  opera  (Paris,  1635),  VI,  358. 

2  Epist.,  XCIV,  26.  5  Digest,  XLVIII,  13,  5. 
8  Ibid.,  XCV,  39.  6  Act  IV,  scene  8. 


SEX   MORES  361 

made  the  most  explicit  statement  of  the  Christian  rule  :  "  Amongst 
us  [Christians]  what  is  not  permitted  to  women  is  not  permitted 
to  men.  The  same  obligation  is  held  to  rest  on  equal  conditions."  ^ 
This  is  the  assertion  of  a  celibate  and  an  ascetic.  Perhaps  it  may 
be  held  to  apply  to  pre-marital  duty,  but  it  is  doubtful  whether 
he  had  that  in  mind.  All  the  other  statements  quoted  apply  only 
to  the  miutuality  of  conjugal  duty.  Of  all  of  them  it  must  be  said 
that  the}^  are  isolated  flights  of  moral  enthusiasm,  and  by  no 
means  present  the  prevailing  code  or  the  mores  of  the  time. 
They  do  not  express  the  life  rules  which  have  ever  yet  been 
observed  by  any  but  selected  and  limited  classes  in  any  society. 
The  writings  of  Chrysostom  and  Augustine  show  plainly  that 
the  Christians  of  Jerome's  time  did  not  practice  the  doctrine 
which  he  uttered.  It  has  never  yet  been  a  part  of  the  mores  of 
any  society  that  the  same  standards  of  chastity  should  be  enforced 
against  both  sexes  before  marriage.  "At  the  present  day,  although 
the  standard  of  morals  is  far  higher  than  in  pagan  Rome,  it  may 
be  questioned  whether  the  inequality  of  the  censure  which  is 
bestowed  on  the  two  sexes  is  not  as  great  as  in  the  days  of  pagan- 
ism."^ Conjugal  affection  has  been  the  great  cause  of  masculine 
fidelity  in  marriage.  Laertes  refused  to  take  Eurykleia  lest  he 
should  hurt  his  wife's  feelings.^  Plutarch,  in  his  tract  on  "  Love," 
dwells  upon  its  controlling  power,  its  exclusiveness,  and  the  devo- 
tion it  cultivates.  Observation  and  experience  of  this  kind  may 
have  produced  the  modern  conviction  that  a  strong  affection 
between  spouses  is  the  best  guarantee  of  happiness  and  truth. 
This  conviction,  with  the  code  which  belongs  with  it,  have  spread 
further  and  further,  through  wider  and  wider  classes,  and  it  is 
now  the  accepted  moral  principle  that  there  ought  to  be  no  sex 
gratification  except  inside  of  pair  marriage.  What  that  means  is 
that  no  one  could  formulate  and  maintain  in  public  discussion 
any  other  rule  as  more  reasonable  and  expedient  to  be  the  guid- 
ing principle  of  the  mores,  although  it  has  not  yet  become  such. 
Also,  "  the  fundamental  truth  that  the  same  act  can  never  be  at 
once  venial  for  a  man  to  demand  and  infamous  for  a  woman  to 

^  Migne,  Patrol.  Latina,  XXII,  691.  "  Lecky,  Eur.  Morals,  II,  346. 

^  OJ.,  I,  433- 


362  FOLKWAYS 

accord,  though  nobly  enforced  by  the  early  Christians,  has  not 
passed  into  the  popular  sentiment  of  Christendom."  ^  Passing 
by  the  assertion  that  the  early  Christians  enforced  any  such  rule, 
which  may  well  be  questioned,  we  ask  :  Why  are  these  views  not 
in  the  mores  ?  Undoubtedly  it  is  because  they  are  dogmatic  in 
form,  invented  and  imposed  by  theological  authority  ^  or  philo- 
sophical speculation.  They  do  not  grow  out  of  the  experience  of 
life  and  cannot  be  verified  by  it.  Woman  bears  an  vmequal  share 
of  the  responsibilities  and  duties  of  sex  and  reproduction  just  as 
certainly  and  justly  as  man  bears  an  vmequal  share  of  the  respon- 
sibilities and  duties  of  property,  war,  and  politics.  The  reasons 
are  in  ultimate  physiological  facts  by  virtue  of  which  one  is  a 
woman  and  the  other  is  a  man. 

374.  Love  marriage.  Conjugal  affection.  "Wife."  It  must  be 
assumed  that  even  in  the  lowest  form  of  society  a  man  may  have 
preferred  one  woman  to  others,  but  love  between  a  man  and  a 
woman  is  not  a  phenomenon  of  uncivilized  society.  It  begins 
with  wealth  and  luxury.  Love  stories  can  be  found  in  very  early 
folklore,  legends,  and  poetry,  but  they  belong  to  idealization,  to 
romance  and  unreality.  Realistic  love  stories  are  now  hardly  a 
century  old.  It  is  evident  that  they  lead  idealization.  They  put 
cases  and  solve  them,  and  every  reader  forms  a  judgment  whether 
the  case  has  actuality  and  whether  the  solution  is  correct.  Love 
in  half-civilization  and  in  antiquity  was  erotic  only.  The  Greeks 
conceived  of  it  as  a  madness  by  which  a  person  was  afflicted 
through  the  caprice  or  malevolence  of  some  god  or  goddess. 
Such  a  passion  is  necessarily  evanescent.  The  ancient  peoples 
in  general,  and  the  Semites  in  particular,  did  not  think  this  pas- 
sion an  honorable  or  trustworthy  basis  of  marriage.  The  Kaffirs 
think  that  a  Christian  wife,  married  for  love,  is  shameful.  They 
compare  her  to  a  cat,  the  only  animal  which,  amongst  them,  has 
no  value,  but  is  obtained  as  a  gift.^  The  gaiidharva  marriage 
of  the  Hindoos  was  a  love  marriage,  and  was  not  honorable. 
It  was  free  love  and  became,  in  practice,  an  entirely  informal 
union  without  institutional  guarantees.*    This  would  be,  at  best, 

1  Lecky,  Erir.  Morals,  II,  347.  3  Globus,  LXXV,  271. 

2  Ibid.,  135.  4  Wilkins,  Modem  Hindnis7ti,  159. 


SEX  MORES  363 

a  conscience  marriage,  to  which  a  man  would  adhere  from  a 
sense  of  duty,  the  strength  of  which  would  depend  on  personal 
character  only. 

In  all  these  cases  the  views  entertained  were  justified,  if  love 
meant  only  erotic  passion.  On  the  other  hand,  we  have  seen 
(sec.  362)  that  conjugal  love  controls  the  will  by  the  highest 
motives.  It  is  based  on  esteem,  confidence,  and  habit.  It  pre- 
sents all  varieties  and  degrees,  from  exploitation  on  one  side  and 
servility  on  the  other,  to  good-fellowship  on  both  sides.  It  depends 
on  the  way  in  which  each  pair  arranges  its  affairs,  develops  its 
sentiments,  and  forms  its  habits.  Conjugal  affection  makes  great 
demands  on  the  good  sense,  spirit  of  accommodation,  and  good 
nature  of  each.  These  are  very  great  pre-conditions.  It  is  no 
wonder  that  they  often  fail.  In  no  primitive  or  half-civilization 
does  the  word  "wife"  bear  the  connotations  which  it  bears  to  us. 
In  Levit.  xxi.  i  a  case  may  be  seen  in  which  a  man's  blood  kin 
takes  precedence  of  his  wife.  Arabs,  in  the  time  of  Mohammed, 
did  not  think  that  the  conjugal  tie  could  be  as  serious  and  strong 
as  the  kin  tie,  because  the  former  is  institutional  only  ;  that  is,  it 
is  a  product  of  convention  and  contract. ^  Public  demonstrations 
of  love  they  thought  offensive  and  insulting  to  the  woman.  People 
of  rank  often  admitted  no  suitors  for  their  daughters.  It  was 
thought  a  disgrace  to  give  a  daughter  into  the  power  of  an  out- 
sider. They  killed  female  infants,  not,  like  the  poor,  because 
they  could  not  afford  to  rear  them,  but  from  fear  of  incurring 
disgrace  from  them.^  By  veiling  the  women  are  excluded  from 
all  social  intercourse  with  men  and  from  any  share  in  intellectual 
interests.^  They  cannot  win  conjugal  affection  —  certainly  not 
from  educated  men.  Erotic  passion  fills  Mohammedan  poetry 
and  is  cultivated  at  home.  The  few  cultivated  women  of  the 
higher  classes  emancipate  themselves  from  moral  restraints,  often 
without  concealment.'*  In  Mohammed's  last  sermon  he  said : 
"  You  have  rights  against  your  wives  and  they  have  rights  against 
you.  They  are  bound  not  to  violate  marital  fidelity  and  to  com- 
mit no  act  of  public  wrong.    If  they  do  so,  you  have  the  power 

1  Wellhausen,  Ehe  bei  den  Arabern,  450.  ^  piauri,  Islam,  124. 

2  Ibid.,  432.  *  Ibid.,  131. 


364  FOLKWAYS 

to  beat  them,  yet  without  danger  to  their  lives."  ^  Islam  is  not 
a  field  in  which  conjugal  affection  could  be  expected  to  develop.^ 
"A  Japanese  who  should  leave  his  father  and  mother  for  his 
wife  would  be  looked  upon  as  an  outcast,"  Therefore  the  Bible 
"is  regarded  as  irreligious  and  immoral."^  The  notion  that  a 
man's  wife  is  the  nearest  person  in  the  world  to  him  is  a  rela- 
tively modern  notion,  and  one  which  is  restricted  to  a  com- 
paratively small  part  of  the  human  race. 

375.  Heroic  conjugal  devotion.  In  general,  the  European  anal- 
ogy for  the  relation  of  husband  and  wife  in  the  rest  of  the 
world,  now  or  in  past  ages,  would  be  rather  that  of  master  and 
servant.  The  erotic  sentiment  has  generally  been  thought  of  as 
independent  of  marriage,  possible  in  it,  generally  outside  of  it ; 
and  it  has  often  been  thought  of  as  improper  and  disgusting 
between  husband  and  wife.  There  is  a  poetical  suggestion  in 
Homer  that  marriages  are  made  in  heaven.  Zeus  is  said  to  select 
a  man's  wife  with  a  view  to  the  fate  allotted  to  him.^  Achilles 
says  that  every  wise  and  noble  man  cherishes  his  wife.^  Ulysses 
says,  "  Nothing  is  better  or  more  conducive  to  prosperity  than 
that  husband  and  wife  should  live  together  in  concord."  ^  Hector 
and  Andromache  manifested  faultless  conjugal  affection.  Penelope 
was  a  type  of  the  devoted  wife,  a  type  which  must  be  ranked 
lower  than  that  of  Andromache,  because  it  does  not  imply  equality 
of  the  spouses.  Valerius  Maximus  (fl.  25  a.d.) '' gave  a  chapter 
to  "  Conjugal  Love."  He  found  a  few  cases  in  which  spouses, 
both  male  and  female,  had  died  for  or  on  account  of  each  other. 
They  do  not  represent  the  mores.  There  is  a  tragic  or  heroic 
element  in  them  all.  That  is  the  way  in  which  conjugal  love 
would  strike  the  mind  of  an  ancient  man  in  his  most  serious 
moments.  Apuleius  ^  gives  the  case  of  Charites  who  had  intense 
love  for  her  husband.  Her  base  lover  was  a  victim  of  erotic  pas- 
sion. Stobaeus  (fifth  or  sixth  century  a.d.)  collected  and  classi- 
fied passages  from  Greek  authors  on  various  topics.    Titles  63 

1  Hauri,  Islam,  121.  *  Ca'.,  XVI,  392  ;  XX,  74  ;  XXI,  162. 

2  Cf.  Snouck-Hurgronje,  Mekka,  II,  1 10  ff.  ^  JUad,  IX,  341. 

3  Smithso7i.  Rep.,   1895,  673.  6  Qd.,  VI,  180. 

"^  Factorum  et  Dictoriim  Meni07-abiliuni  libri  tiovem,  IV,  6. 
8  Met  am  or.  VIII. 


SEX   MORES 


365 


to  73  are  about  women  and  marriage.  The  views  expressed  run 
to  both  extremes  of  approval  and  disapproval.  No  one  of  the 
writers  has  apparently  any  notion  of  conjugal  affection.  In  some 
cases  under  the  tyrannical  Roman  emperors  of  the  first  century 
women  showed  extreme  wifely  devotion. ^  Roman  tombstones 
(not  unimpeachable  witnesses)  testify  to  conjugal  affection  be- 
tween spouses.^  In  the  Icelandic  sagas  women  show  heroic  devo- 
tion to  their  husbands,  although  they  make  their  husbands  much 
trouble  by  self-will  and  caprice  .^  The  barbarian  invaders  of  the 
Roman  empire  are  reported  to  have  been  remarkable  for  conjugal 
fidelity.    Salvianus  excepts  the  Alemanni. 

376.  Hindoo  models  and  ideals.  In  the  Mahabharata,  the  heroic 
poem  of  Brahminism  dating  from  about  the  beginning  of  the 
Christian  era,  much  attention  is  given  to  beauty  and  love. 
Many  marriages  are  made  for  love,  which  is  regarded  as  the 
best  motive.  A  love  relation  needed  the  approval  of  the  girl's 
parents,  otherwise  it  ran  down  to  the  gandharva  form.  A  hero, 
who  abducted  a  girl  for  his  brother,  released  her  when  she 
pleaded  that  she  loved  another  to  whom  she  had  given  her 
promise,  although  her  father  did  not  yet  know  it.  The  favored 
lover  renounced  her  on  account  of  the  abduction,  but  she  said 
that  she  would  never  choose  another.  "  Whether  he  lives  long 
or  only  a  short  time,  whether  he  is  rich  in  virtue  or  poor,  the 
husband  is  chosen  once  for  all.  When  once  the  heart  has 
decided  and  the  word  has  been  spoken,  let  the  thing  be  done."  * 
These  words  are  now  regarded  in  Hindostan  as  the  completest 
and  noblest  possible  expression  of  marriage  and  the  woman's  atti- 
tude to  it.  A  model  wife  in  the  heroic  period  was  amiable  to  all, 
and  made  herself  beloved  by  politeness  and  friendliness,  and  by 
her  virtue  and  proper  behavior.  She  gave  great  attention  to  her 
parents-in-law.  She  was  reserved  in  speech  and  submissive,  and 
she  charmed  her  husband  by  her  grace,  wit,  and  tenderness.^ 
The  Mahabharata  contains  episodes  of  strong  devotion  of  men 
to  their  wives  and  of    heroic  self-sacrifice  of  wives   for  their 

1  Pliny,  Letters.  '  ^  E.g.  Burnt  NJal,  238. 

2  Friedlander,  Stttengesch.,  II,  410.  *  Holtzmann,  Ind.  Sagen,  I,  253. 

5  Ibid.,  256. 


366 


FOLKWAYS 


husbands.  In  Hindostan  now  the  relations  of  husband  and  wife 
are  not  mutual.  The  man's  mother  must  always  be  the  first  to 
him.  "  This  is  in  full  accordance  with  the  national  sentiment 
which  stigmatizes  affection  which  asks  for  equal  return  as  shop- 
keeping."  ^  "  Who  talks  of  vulgar  equality,"  asks  the  Hindoo 
wife,  "  when  she  may  instead  have  the  unspeakable  blessed- 
ness of  offering  worship."  ^ 

377.  Slavonic  sex  mores.  The  southern  Slavs  and  people  of 
the  Caucasus  have  allowed  their  sex  mores  to  run  into  some 
extreme  forms  which  to  outsiders  seem  vicious.  Young  married 
women  contract  a  very  intimate  relation  to  their  bride  attendants, 
of  whom  two  attend  a  bride  on  her  wedding  day.  She  is  but  a 
girl,  and  is  given  to  a  man  whom  she  never  saw  before,  does  not 
like,  and  never  can  like  ;  she  comes  into  a  strange  house  where 
it  is  of  the  first  importance  for  the  rest  of  her  life  that  she  shall 
please  her  parents-in-law  by  the  greatest  humility  and  submission  ; 
she  is  forbidden  by  custom  to  approach  her  husband  freely ;  she 
scarcely  sees  him  during  the  day  ;  yet  she  may  freely  converse 
with  his  brothers,  who  were  her  bride  attendants.  The  elder  one, 
if  he  is  married,  and  if  he  is  polite  to  her,  becomes  her  best  friend. 
An  Albanian  who  has  been  away  at  work  will  not  bring  back  a 
gift  for  his  wife.  He  shows  more  attention  to  the  wife  of  his 
elder  brother.  The  Servian  bride  is  ashamed  of  her  marital 
relation,  and  thinks  it  indecent  to  address  her  husband  in  public, 
even  after  she  has  borne  him  children.  He  remains  a  stranger  to 
her,  and  her  relation  to  him  is  scarcely  more  than  that  of  sex. 
Her  brother  she  loves  beyond  any  other.  She  will  mourn  for  him 
with  the  deepest  sorrow,  but  it  would  be  a  shame  for  a  woman  to 
mourn  for  her  husband,  much  more  for  a  bride  to  mourn  for  her 
bridegroom.  In  former  times  it  was  improper  for  a  man  to  begin 
conjugal  life  immediately  after  marriage.  The  bride  attendants, 
brothers  of  the  groom,  spent  the  first  night  by  the  side  of  the 
bride,  and  for  the  next  three  nights  the  mother  or  sister  of  the 
groom  slept  with  the  bride.  The  groom  is  reluctant.  A  Servian 
woman  is  derided  if  she  has  a  child  within  a  year  after  mar- 
riage.   In   some  districts  sex  morality  is  very  high,  in  others 

1  Nivedita,   Web  of  Indian  Life,  33.  ^  Ibid.,  45. 


SEX  MORES  367 

very  low.  In  Carinthia  it  is  worst.  There,  in  the  Gurkthal,  the 
illegitimate  births  are  twice  as  numerous  as  the  legitimate,  so 
that  the  marriage  institution  hardly  exists.  In  Slavonic  Croatia 
persons  who  marry  are  indifferent  to  each  other's  previous  con- 
duct with  others.  Amongst  other  southern  Slavs,  at  a  wedding, 
the  groom  must  neither  talk  nor  eat,  out  of  shame,  and  the  bride 
must  weep  while  being  dressed.  It  is  reported  from  Bocca  di 
Cattaro,  in  the  Balkan  peninsula,  that  public  contempt  is  so 
severe  against  illicit  acts  by  men  before  marriage  that  such  acts 
are  very  rare  amongst  those  who  have  any  reputation  or  posi- 
tion to  lose.i 

378.  Russian  sex  mores.  A  custom  widely  prevalent  through 
parts  of  Great  Russia  and  the  adjacent  Slavonic  regions,  until  the 
nineteenth  century,  was  that  the  father  married  his  son,  as  a  boy, 
to  a  marriageable  young  woman,  whom  the  father  then  took  as 
his  own  concubine.  When  the  son  grew  up  his  wife  was  advanced 
in  life  and  the  mother  of  several  children.  He  then  did  what  his 
father  had  done.  The  large  house  and  joint  family  offered  temp- 
tation to  this  custom,  and  has  generally  been  believed  to  be  to 
blame  for  it.  Rhamm  contradicts  that  opinion.^  The  same  cus- 
tom existed  amongst  the  Bulgarians.^  Another  motive  for  it  is 
suggested,  that  the  father  wanted  to  increase  the  number  of 
laborers  in  the  big  house.  In  1623,  in  Poland,  the  death  penalty 
was  provided  for  a  man  who  should  so  abuse  his  daughter-in-law.* 
The  same  custom  is  reported  from  the  Tamils  of  southeast  India. ^ 
In  the  mountains  on  the  southwestern  frontier  of  Russia  there 
was,  in  the  eighteenth  century,  an  almost  entire  lack  of  sex  mores. 
Amongst  all  the  Slavonic  peoples  females  are  in  a  very  inferior 
status  and  owe  formal  deference  to  males.  In  Bulgaria  the 
wives  are  from  five  to  ten  years  older  than  the  husbands,  because 
boys  of  fourteen  begin  to  make  love,  but  to  adult  marriageable 
women.^  All  these  facts  make  it  a  phenomenon  worthy  of 
special  mention  that  the  people  of  the  Ukrain  are  very  continent, 
cherish  a  high  ideal  of  love  between  the  sexes,  and  greatly  dislike 

1  Globus,  LXXXII,  104,  187-194,  279.  *  Glolms,  LXXIX,  155. 

2  Ibid.,  322.  s  Madras  Gov.  Mus.,  II,  162. 

3  Stiausz,  Die  Uulgarai,  309.  ^  Globus,  LXXXII,  323. 


368  FOLKWAYS 

all  improprieties  in  language  and  conversation.^  The  popular 
Russian  wedding  songs  are  sad.  The  bride  is  addressed  as  a 
happy  child,  free  in  her  father's  house,  with  a  sad  future  before 
her,  of  which  she  is  blissfully  ignorant.^  In  Karelia  "a  bride 
radiant  with  happiness  is  an  unknown  sight.  With  the  betrothal 
begins  the  time  of  tears,  which  lasts  until  the  marriage  feast  in  the 
house  of  the  bridegroom.  Even  if  she  is  happy  and  contented 
the  mores  require  that  she  shall  shed  tears  and  affect  sad- 
ness." ^  The  "  waller  "  is  a  functionary  in  a  Russian  village.  She 
teaches  the  bride  to  bewail  the  loss  of  her  "maiden  freedom."^ 

379.  Tribes  of  the  Caucasus  and  Sahara.  The  Cherkess  of 
the  Caucasus  live  in  big  houses,  in  a  joint  family,  under  the 
authority  of  a  patriarch.  Wives  were  bought  or  captured  in 
common,  but  so  many  as  the  men.  Darinsky  thinks  that  those 
who  could,  and  wanted  to,  buy  separate  wives  threatened  the 
arrangement.  Hence  the  men,  in  a  body,  opposed  monogamic 
unions.  Such  unions  were  a  crime  against  the  crowd.  Hence 
the  customs  arose  which  are  now  prevalent,  —  the  concealment  of 
all  marital  relations,  the  public  ignoring  of  each  other  by  the 
spouses,  and  the  practical  jokes  and  horseplay  at  weddings  by 
boys  and  neighbors.  It  is  a  survival  of  old  manifestations  of 
opposition  and  disapproval.^  The  men  of  the  tribes  in  Sahara 
are  often  absent  for  days  together.  This  gives  the  women 
liberty.  The  men  begrudge  this  and  punish  the  women  for 
assumed  infidelity.    Some  of  the  women  are  famous  prostitutes.^ 

380.  Mediaeval  sex  mores.  The  mediaeval  sex  mores  were  pro- 
duced out  of  two  opposite  currents  of  thought,  —  that  women 
were  evil  and  dangerous  and  to  be  shunned,  and  that  women  were 
lovely  and  adorable,  and  worthy  of  reverence  and  worship.  Both 
of  these  sets  of  ideas  degenerated  into  folly  and  vice,  and  became 
modes  of  selfishness  and  luxury.  Elaborate  hypocrisy  and  insin- 
cerity became  common.  Technical  definitions  of  terms  were  used 
to  obscure  their  ethical  significance.  Mhme  came  to  have  a  bad 
meaning  and  was  used  for  erotic  passion.    Coiirtoisie  became  a 

1  Globus,  LXXXII,  321.  4  Ralston,  as  above,  65. 

2  Ralston,  Songs  of  the  Rtiss.  People,  7.  ^  ztsft.f.  vergl.  Rechts-ii<snsft.,  XIV,  180. 
8  Globtis,  LXXVI,  316.                                    6  E;:ole  d'Anthrop.  de  Parts,  XIV,  41 1. 


SEX  MORES  369 

term  for  base  solicitation. ^  Gower,  in  the  Vox  Clamantis  (1382), 
tried  to  distinguish  and  specify  sensual  love.  He  inclines  to  the 
monkish  view  of  women,  but  he  describes  good  and  noble  women. 
Alanus  ab  Insulis  (+  1203)  in  his  De  Planctii  Naturae'^  bewailed 
the  vices  of  mankind  and  the  vicious  relations  of  men  and  women. 
His  aim  is  to  distinguish  between  good  and  evil  love.  He  wrote  at 
the  height  of  the  woman  cult.  In  the  Roinaunt  de  la  Rose  the  thing 
discussed  seems  to  be  positive  vice.  It  is  said  that  the  way  to  win 
women  is  by  lavish  gifts.  The  meretriciousness  of  women  and  their 
love  of  luxury  are  denounced.  If  a  marriage  turns  out  badly,  the 
men  say  that  God  made  it,  but  God  is  good,  and  evil  is  due  to  man.^ 
In  the  Paston  Letters  (fifteenth  century)  marriage  appears  to  be 
entirely  mercenary.*  A  girl  tells  her  lover  what  her  father  will 
give  with  her.  If  he  is  not  satisfied  he  must  discontinue  his  suit.^ 
"  My  master  asked  mockingly  if  a  man  might  not  beat  his  own 
wife."^  The  one  love  match  in  the  book  is  that  of  Margaret 
Paston  with  a  man  who  was  a  servant  in  the  family.  Margaret's 
mother,  the  most  interesting  person  in  the  Letters,  although  she 
left  ;^20  to  her  grandson  by  this  marriage,  left  nothing  to  her 
daughter.  Schultz''  thinks  that  marriages  turned  out  as  well  in 
the  Middle  Ages  as  now,  and  that  adultery  was  no  more  frequent ; 
also  that  ecclesiastics  were  not  then  more  licentious  than  now. 
He  quotes  freely  from  Geiler  and  Murner,  who  were  leading 
moral  preachers  of  the  fifteenth  century.  Geiler  preached  in 
Strasburg  Cathedral.  Murner  was  a  Franciscan.  Geiler  is  in- 
credibly coarse  and  outspoken.  He  pretended  to  state  cases 
within  his  knowledge  of  men  who  made  gain  of  their  wives,  and 
of  wives  who  entered  into  arrangements  with  their  husbands  to 
make  gain  for  both.  He  preached  from  these  as  illustrative  cases 
and  tried  to  dissuade  both  men  and  women  from  matrimony.^ 
Chateau  life  was  monotonous  and  stupid,  especially  for  women, 
who  were  moreover  partly  secluded  in  special  apartments.  The 
young  men  and  women  had  very  little  chance  to  meet.    The 

1  Schultz,7%/.Ze'^^;/,I,58i,andthewholeof  Chap.VII;  Scherr,  Z?./'.  IK,1,220. 

2  Migne,  Patrol.  Lat.,  Vol.  210.  ^  III,  171. 

3  Line  18,580.  6  I,  150. 

*  I,  90,  92,  251  ;  III,  103,  104  (in  spite  of  "^  D.  L.,  271,  276,  277. 

love),  109,  167,  278.  *  Schultz,  D.  Z.,  259,  271-277. 


370 


FOLKWAYS 


hope  of  happiness  for  women  was  in  marriage.^  Although 
the  woman's  consent  was  necessary,  she  was  controlled  by  her 
male  relatives,  even  if  a  widow,  but  she  had  little  individuality 
and  generally  welcomed  a  suitor  at  once.^  The  jongleurs  of  the 
twelfth  century  were  vulgar  vagabonds.  Love,  in  their  concep- 
tion, is  sensual,  and  women  are  treated  by  them  with  great  levity. 
The  women,  in  their  songs,  woo  the  men.  In  the  thirteenth 
century  women  are  described  as  more  dignified  and  self-respect- 
ing. Siegfried  flogged  his  wife  black  and  blue.^  Brunhild  was 
also  beaten  by  her  husband.  The  women  manifest  great  devotion 
to  their  husbands,  especially  in  adversity,  even  fighting  for  them 
like  men.*  We  are  constantly  shocked  at  the  bad  taste  of  behavior. 
At  Lubeck,  if  a  young  widow  was  married,  the  crowd  made  an 
uproar  in  front  of  the  house  and  the  bridegroom  was  forced  to 
stand  at  show  on  a  certain  four-cornered  stone  in  the  midst  of 
noisy  music  "  in  order  to  establish  the  good  name  of  himself  and 
wife."  ^  The  carnival  was  an  occasion  of  license  for  all  the  gross- 
ness  and  obscenity  in  the  popular  taste  .^  The  woman  cult  was  a 
cult  of  free  love  and  was  hostile  to  honorable  marriage.  Even  in 
the  twelfth  century  there  were  complaints  of  corruption  by  bad 
literature.  The  nobles  and  knights  degenerated  in  the  crusades 
and  in  the  Italian  wars  of  the  Hohenstaufen."  "The  doctrine  of 
the  church  appeared  to  be  a  support  of  the  family,  but  it  was  not 
such.  On  the  contrary,  the  bonds  of  the  family  were  more 
loosened  than  strengthened  by  the  ascetic-hierarchical  religi- 
osity of  the  church."^  Dulaure^  quotes  Gerson  and  Nicolas  de 
Clemangis  that  convents  in  the  fifteenth  century  were  places  of 
debauch.  Geiler,  in  a  sermon  in  Strasburg  Cathedral,  gave  a 
shocking  description  of  con  vents. ^*^  A  convent  is  described  as  a 
brothel  for  neighboring  nobles. ^^  At  the  end  of  the  fifteenth 
century  the  revolt  and  change  in  the  mores  which  produced  the 

1  lAdciteViherger,  Foeme  des  Nil>eluiigen,T,?,o.  ^  Schultz,  D.  L.,  414. 

2  Ibid.,  390.  ■^  Weinhold,  D.  F.,  II,  209. 

3  Nibelungen,  line  837.  ^  Eicken,  Mittelalt.  Weltanschau- 
*  Lichtenberger,  36S,  375,  391,  400;  ?/«j^,  467. 

Uhland,  Dichhing  und  Sage,  315.  ^  Hist,  de  Faris,  268. 

6  Barthold,  Haiisa,  III,  178.  10  Schultz,  D.  L.,  277. 

11  Ibid;  283  ;  cf.  Janssen,  VIII,  391. 


SEX  MORES 


Z7^ 


Protestant  schism  caused  the  social  confusion  on  which  Janssen 
lays  such  stress  in  his  seventh  and  eighth  volumes.  It  was  a  case 
of  revolution.  The  old  mores  broke  down  and  new  ones  were 
not  yet  formed.  The  Protestants  of  the  sixteenth  century  derided 
and  denounced  the  Roman  Catholics  for  the  contradictions  and 
falsehoods  of  celibacy,  and  the  Catholics  used  against  the  Protes- 
tants the  looseness  as  to  marriage.    Both  were  right. 

381.  The  standard  of  the  <<  good  wife."  Pair  marriage.  It  is 
safe  to  believe  that  if  any  woman  ever  entered  into  a  marriage 
which  was  not  repugnant  to  her  she  entered  it  with  a  determina- 
tion to  be  a  ''good  wife."  Her  education  under  the  mores  of  the 
society  around  her  gave  her  the  notion  and  standard  of  a  good 
wife.  The  modern  sentiments  of  love  and  conjugal  affection 
have  been  produced  in  the  middle  class.  They  probably  have 
their  roots  in  the  mores  of  the  bourgeoisie  of  the  Middle  Ages 
and  in  those  of  the  lowest  class  of  free  people  in  the  Greco- 
Roman  empire.  This  middle  class  is  the  class  which  has  taken 
control  of  modern  society,  and  whose  interests  are  most  favored 
by  modern  economic  developments.  They  have  set  aside  the  old 
ideas  of  male  dominion  and  of  ascetic  purity.  In  the  middle  of 
the  nineteenth  century  the  poems  of  Coventry  Patmore  and  the 
novels  of  Anthony  Trollope  perhaps  best  expressed  the  notions 
of  conjugal  affection  which  English-speaking  people  entertained 
at  that  time;  It  seems  that  now  those  notions  are  thought  to  be 
philistine,  and  there  is  a  reaction  towards  the  old  aristocratic 
standards.  The  "good  husband,"  as  correlative  to  the  good  wife, 
belongs  to  modern  pair  marriage.  The  erotic  element  has  been 
refined  and  suppressed,  or  at  least  disavowed.  The  ideals  which 
have  been  accepted  and  favored  have  disciplined  and  concentrated 
masculine  waywardness,  and  they  have  made  the  sex  sentiments 
more  durable.  All  this  has  integrated  the  family  more  firmly, 
and  the  family  mores  have  cultivated  and  preserved  the  senti- 
ments. We  have  seen  many  cases  in  which,  out  of  the  uncon- 
scious and  unpremeditated  action  of  the  mores,  results  have  been 
produced  which  have  been  most  important  for  the  weal  or  woe 
of  men,  but  it  is  one  of  the  most  marvelous  of  these  cases  that 
conjugal  affection,  perhaps  the  noblest  of  all  sentiments,  should 


372  FOLKWAYS 

have  been  developed  out  of  the  monopolistic  tyranny  of  men  over 
women,  and  out  of  the  ascetic  negation  of  sex,  the  common 
element  in  which  is  a  prurient  and  unhealthy  sensuality. 

382.  <<  One  flesh."  The  notion  or  figure  of  "one  flesh  "  is  not 
peculiar  to  the  Jewish  or  Christian  religion.  In  the  Old  Testa- 
ment it  clearly  refers  to  carnal  union.  It  has  been  used  to 
express  the  ideal  that  marriage  should  be  the  fusion  of  two  lives 
and  interests.  It  is  instructive  to  notice,  in  all  the  discussions  of 
marriage  which  are  to  be  found  in  all  ages,  how  few  and  common- 
place are  the  things  which  have  been  said,  and  how  largely 
refuge  has  been  taken  in  figures  of  speech.  "One  flesh,"  if  not 
carnal,  is  only  ritual,  but  ritual  conceptions  are  only  conventional 
conceptions,  —  good  amongst  those  who  agree  to  repeat  the 
formulas  and  perform  the  ritual  acts.  They  are  not  realities. 
The  problem  of  marriage  is  that  two  human  beings  try  to  live 
together.  They  are  two  and  not  one.  Since  they  are  two,  their 
tastes,  desires,  characters,  and  wills  are  two.  Ethical  philosophers 
or  jurists  may  be  able  to  define  the  "one-flesh"  idea  by  trans- 
lating it  into  rights  and  duties,  but  no  state  authority  can  enforce 
such  a  definition.  Therefore  it  is  nugatory.  The  idea  belongs 
in  an  arena  beyond  state  or  family,  where  two  make  a  world.  It 
is  beyond  the  mores  also,  except  so  far  as  the  mores  have  edu- 
cated the  man  and  woman  to  a  sense  of  the  conduct  which  is 
necessary  to  marital  harmony,  by  the  judgments  which  are  current 
on  the  hundreds  of  cases,  real  or  imaginary,  which  come  up  for 
discussion.  How  then  shall  two  wills  be  one  will  ?  The  old  way 
was  that  one  will  (the  woman's)  always  was  bound  to  yield. 
Since  that  no  longer  seems  right,  the  modern^way  is  endless 
discussion,  a  defeat  for  one,  and  all  the  inevitable  consequences 
in  daily  experience  and  effect  on  character. 

383.  Pair  marriage.  Pair  marriage  is  the  union  of  one  man 
and  one  woman  in  which  all  the  rights,  duties,  powers,  and 
privileges  are  equal  and  alike  for  both,  the  relationship  being 
mutual  and  reciprocal  in  all  points.  It  therefore  produces  a  com- 
plete fusion  of  two  lives  and  interests.  Pair  marriage  and  all  its 
attendant  mores  are  products  of  monopoly.    Herodotus  ^  says  of 

^  Herod.,  IV,  104. 


SEX   MORES  373 

the  Agathyrsi  that  they  practiced  communalism  of  women  in 
order  that  they  might  all  be  brethren,  without  envy  or  enmity  to 
each  other.  That  is  one  solution.  In  it  peace  and  harmony  are 
given  a  higher  place  than  sex  interests.  Pair  marriage  aims  at 
the  highest  satisfaction  of  sex  interests  by  monopoly.  It  sacri- 
fices peace  and  harmony.  Any  monopoly  exists  for  the  benefit 
of  those  who  are  embraced  in  it.  Its  evil  effects  are  to  be  found 
by  turning  to  those  who  fail  to  get  entrance  to  it.  While  our 
mores  now  require  that  a  man  and  woman  shall  come  together 
through  love,  and  therefore  make  a  selection  of  the  most  special 
and  exclusive  kind,  we  have  no  apparatus  or  intelligent  method 
for  making  such  a  selection.  The  notion  that  such  a  selection  is 
necessary,  therefore,  adds  a  new  difficulty  and  obstacle.  Pair 
marriage  also,  partly  on  account  of  the  intenser  sentiment  of 
parenthood  and  the  more  integrated  family  institution,  increases 
expense,  and  makes  the  economic  conditions  of  marriage  more 
severe.  ■  Pair  marriage  forces  a  large  fraction  of  the  population 
to  celibacy,  and  it  is  they  who  are  the  excluded  who  suffer  by 
that  arrangement.  This  bears  chiefly  on  women.  Everything 
which  violates  the  taboo  in  the  mores  is  vice,  and  is  disastrous 
to  all  who  participate  in  it.  The  more  real  pair  marriage  is,  the 
more  disastrous  is  every  illicit  relation.  The  harm  is  infinitely 
greater  for  women  than  for  men.  Within  the  taboo,  unmarried 
women  lead  aimless  existences,  or  they  are  absorbed  in  an  effort 
to  earn  a  living  which  is  harassed  by  especial  obstacles  and  diffi- 
culties. This  is  the  price  which  has  to  be  paid  for  all  the  gain 
which  women  get  from  pair  marriage  as  compared  with  any  other 
form  of  sex  relation.  It  assumes  that  every  man  and  woman  can 
find  a  mate,  which  is  not  true.  Very  little  serious  attention  is 
paid  to  this  offset  to  the  advantages  of  pair  marriage.  The  mores 
teach  unmarried  women  that  it  is  "  right  "  that  things  should  be 
so,  and  that  any  other  arrangement  would  contain  abominations 
which  are  not  to  be  thought  of.  Probably  the  unmarried  women 
rarely  think  of  themselves  as  victims  of  the  arrangement  by 
which  their  married  sisters  profit.  They  accept  a  life  ce.reer  which 
is  destitute  of  self-realization,  except  for  those  few  who  are  so 
gifted  that  they  can  make  independent  careers  in  the  struggle 


174 


FOLKWAYS 


for  existence.  Nearly  all  our  discussions  of  our  own  social  order 
run  upon  questions  of  property.  It  is  under  the  sex  relation  that 
all  the  great  problems  really  present  themselves. 

384.  Marriage  in  modern  mores.  It  is  very  remarkable  that 
marriage  amongst  us  has  become  the  most  distinct  example 
there  is,  and  the  most  widespread,  of  ritual  (what  is  said  in  the 
marriage  ceremony,  in  its  rational  sense,  is  of  little  importance, 
and  people  rarely  notice  it.  What  force  attaches  to  "obey".?), 
of  religious  intervention  in  private  affairs,  and  of  the  importance 
attached  to  a  ceremony.  If  two  people  cohabit,  the  question  of 
right  and  wrong  depends  on  whether  they  have  passed  through 
a  certain  ceremony  together  or  not.  That  determines  whether 
they  are  "  married  "  or  not.  The  reason  is,  because  if  they  have 
passed  through  the  ceremony  together,  no  matter  what  was  said 
or  done,  they  have  expressed  their  will  to  come  into  the  status 
of  wedlock,  as  the  mores  make  it  and  as  the  state  enforces  it, 
at  the  time  and  place.  The  woman  wants  to  "  feel  that  she  is 
married."  Very  many  women  would  not  feel  so  in  a  civil  mar- 
riage ;  others  want  a  "  fully  choral  "  ceremony  ;  others  want  the 
communion  with  the  wedding  ceremony.  Perhaps  the  daughter 
of  a  great  nobleman  might  not  feel  married  without  a  marriage 
settlement.  Thus  the  active  effect  of  the  mores  may  be  ob- 
served in  contemporary  custom,  and  it  is  seen  how  completely 
the  notion  of  being  duly  married  is  produced  by  the  mores  of  the 
society,  or  of  a  class  or  sect  in  it. 

385.  Pair  marriage  ;  its  technical  definition.  Polyandry  passed 
over  into  polygamy  when  sufficient  property  was  at  command.^ 
There  was  a  neutral  middle  point  where  one  m^  had  one  wife. 
It  follows  that  monogamy  is  not  a  specific  term.  It  might  be 
monogamy  if  one  man  had  one  wife  but  also  concubines  and 
slaves,  or  he  might  have  but  one  wife  in  fact,  although  free  to 
have  more  if  he  chose.  The  term  "  pair  marriage  "  is  needed  as  a 
technical  term  for  the  form  of  marriage  which  is  as  exclusive 
and  permanent  for  the  man  as  for  the  woman,  which  one  enters 
on  the  same  plane  of  free  agreement  as  the  other,  and  in  which 
all  the  rights  and  duties  are  mutual.    In  such  a  union  there  may 

^  See  sec.  366. 


SEX   MORES 


375 


be  a  complete  fusion  of  two  lives  and  interests.  In  no  other 
form  of  union  is  such  a  fusion  possible.  This  pair  marriage  is 
the  ideal  which  guides  the  marital  usages  of  our  time  and  civili- 
zation, gives  them  their  spirit  and  sense,  and  furnishes  standards 
for  all  our  discussions,  although  it  is  far  from  being  universally 
realized.  The  ideal  is  made  an  object  of  "pathos"^  in  our 
popular  literature.  Whence  did  it  come  .-*  In  truth,  we  can 
hardly  learn.  It  existed,  by  necessity  of  poverty  and  humble 
social  status,  in  the  classes  amongst  whom  Christianity  took  root. 
It  found  expression  in  the  canon  law.  It  resisted,  in  the  lower 
classes,  the  attempt  of  the  church  to  suppress  it  in  order  to 
aggrandize  the  corporation.  It  resisted,  in  the  same  classes,  the 
corruption  of  the  Renaissance.  It  has  risen  with  those  classes  to 
wealth  and  civil  power.  In  modern  times  "  moral"  has  been  used 
technically  for  what  conforms  to  the  code  of  pair  marriage. 

386.  Ethics  of  pair  marriage.  Pair  marriage  has  excluded 
every  other  form  of  sex  relation.  To  modern  people  it  is  hard 
to  understand  how  different  forms  of  sex  relation  could  exist 
side  by  side  and  all  be  right.  The  explanation  is  in  the  mores. 
A  concubine  may  be  a  woman  who  has  a  defined  and  legally 
guaranteed  relation  to  one  man,  if  the  mores  have  so  determined. 
Her  circumstances  have  not  opened  to  her  the  first  rank,  that  of 
a  wife,  but  she  has  another  which  is  recognized  in  the  society 
as  honorable.  The  same  may  be  said  of  a  slave  woman,  or  of  a 
morganatic  wife.  Amongst  the  Hebrews,  Greeks,  and  Romans 
of  the  empire  concubines  were  a  recognized  class.  A  concubine 
was  not  a  woman  who  had  cast  off  her  own  honor  until  after  the 
thirteenth  century,^  and  although  her  position  became  doubtful, 
it  was  not  disreputable  for  two  or  three  centuries  more.  Mor- 
ganatic marriages  for  princes  have  continued  down  to  our  own 
time.  Whatever  is  defined  and  provided  for  in  the  mores  as  a 
way  of  solving  the  problem  of  life  interests  is  never  wrong. 
Hence  the  cases  of  sacral  harlotry,  of  temporary  marriage  (as  in 
China,  Korea,  Japan,  and  ancient  Arabia),  of  royal  concubines 
(since  the  king  was  forced  to  accept  a  status  wife  of  prescribed 
rank,  etc.),  and  all  the  other  peculiar  arrangements  which  have 

1  See  sec.  178.  2  Lg^^  Sacerd.  Celibacy,  203,  note. 


376  FOLKWAYS 

existed  in  history  are  accounted  for.  Pair  marriage,  however, 
has  swept  all  other  forms  away.  It  is  the  system  of  the  urban- 
middle-capitalist  class.  It  has  gained  strength  in  all  the  new 
countries  where  all  men  and  women  were  equal  within  a  small 
margin  and  the  women  bore  their  share  of  the  struggle  for 
existence.  The  environment,  in  the  new  countries,  favored  the 
mores  of  the  class  from  which  the  emigrants  came.  In  the  old 
countries  the  mores  of  the  middle  class  have  come  into  conflict 
with  the  mores  of  peasants  and  nobles.  The  former  have  steadily 
won.  The  movement  has  been  the  same  everywhere,  although 
the  dates  of  the  steps  in  it  have  been  different.  As  to  women, 
the  countries  which  are  at  the  rear  of  the  modern  movement 
keep  the  old  mores  ;  those  which  are  at  the  head  of  it  have 
emancipated  women  most,  and  have  swept  away  from  their 
legislation  all  toleration  for  anything  but  pair  marriage.  Vice, 
of  course,  still  affects  facts,  and  the  growth  of  wealth  and  luxu- 
rious habits  seems  to  be  developing  a  tendency  to  take  up  again 
some  old  customs  which  bear  an  aristocratic  color.  It  must  be 
expected  that  when  the  economic  facts  which  now  favor  the 
lower  middle  classes  pass  away  and  new  conditions  arise  the 
marriage  mores  will  change  again.  Democracy  and  pair  marriage 
are  now  produced  by  the  conditions.  Both  are  contingent  and 
transitory.  In  aristocratic  society  a  man's  family  arrangements 
are  his  own  prerogative.  When  life  becomes  harder  it  will  become 
aristocratic,  and  concubinage  may  be  expected  to  arise  again. 

It  seems  clear  that  pair  marriage  has  finally  set  aside  the 
notion  which,  in  the  past,  has  been  so  persistently  held,  —  that 
women  are  bad  by  nature,  so  that  one  half  of  the  human  race  is 
permanently  dragging  down  the  other  half.  The  opposite  notion 
seems  now  to  be  gaining  currency,  —  that  all  women  are  good, 
and  can  be  permanently  employed  to  raise  up  the  men.  These 
fluctuations  only  show  how  each  sway  of  conditions  and  inter- 
ests produces  its  own  fallacies. 

387.  Pair  marriage  is  monopolistic.  It  has  been  shown  that 
pair  marriage  is  monopolistic.  It  produces  an  exclusive  family, 
and  nourishes  family  pride  and  ambition.  It  is  interwoven  with 
capital,  and  we  have  hardly  yet  reached  the  point  where  we' can 


SEX   MORES  377 

see  what  it  will  become  with  great  wealth,  and  under  the  treat- 
ment of  a  plutocratic  class.  From  what  has  been  said  it  is 
evidently  most  important  that  man  and  wife  should  have  been 
educated  in  the  same  mores.  Pair  marriage  is  also  individual- 
istic. It  is  the  barrier  against  which  all  socialism  breaks  into 
dust.  As  the  cost  of  a  family  increases,  the  connection  between 
family  and  capital  becomes  more  close  and  vital.  Every  socialist 
who  can  think  is  forced  to  go  on  to  a  war  on  marriage  and  the 
family,  because  he  finds  that  in  marriage  and  the  family  lie  the 
strongholds  of  the  "  individualistic  vices"  which  he  cannot  over- 
come. He  has  to  mask  this  battery,  however,  because  he  dare 
not  openly  put  it  forward. 

388.  The  future  of  marriage.  It  is  idle  to  imagine  that  our 
mores  about  marriage  have  reached  their  final  stage.  Since 
marriage  is  free  and  individualistic  as  it  exists  in  our  mores, 
there  is  little  care  or  pity  for  those  who  cannot  adapt  themselves 
to  it,  or  it  to  their  circumstances.  They  are  allowed  divorce, 
but  not  without  some  feeling  of  annoyance  with  them  if  they 
use  it.  It  is  also  idle  to  imagine  that  those  who  are  now  satis- 
fied will  alone  control  the  changes  which  the  future  will  bring  in 
the  mores.  It  is  not  difficult  to  make  marriage  such  that  men 
will  refuse  it.  Women  have  revolted  against  it  in  the  past.^  It 
is  not  beyond  imagination  that  they  might  do  so  again. 

389.  Normal  type  of  sex  union.  It  may  be,  as  Lecky  says,^ 
that  "  we  have  ample  grounds  for  maintaining  that  the  lifelong 
union  of  one  man  and  one  woman  should  be  the  normal  or 
dominant  type  of  intercourse  between  the  sexes.  We  can  prove 
that  it  is,  on  the  whole,  most  conducive  to  the  happiness,  and 
also  to  the  moral  elevation,  of  all  parties.  But  beyond  this  point 
it  would,  I  conceive,  be  impossible  to  advance,  except  by  the 
assistance  of  a  special  revelation.  It  by  no  means  follows  that 
because  this  should  be  the  dominant  type,  it  should  be  the  only 
one,  or  that  the  interests  of  society  demand  that  all  connections 
should  be  forced  into  the  same  die." 

390.  Divorce.  In  the  mother  family  the  woman  could  dismiss 
her  husband.    This  she  could  also  do  in  all  the  transition  forms 

1  JAI,  XXIV,  119.  2  Eur.  Morals,  II,  348. 


378  FOLKWAYS 

in  which  the  husband  went  to  Uve  with  the  wife  at  her  childhood 
home.  In  the  father  family  the  wife,  obtained  by  capture  or 
purchase,  belonged  to  her  husband  on  the  analogy  of  property. 
The  husband  could  reject  or  throw  away  his  property  if  he  saw 
fit.  It  is  clear  that  the  physical  facts  attendant  on  the  two  cus- 
toms— one  that  the  man  went  to  live  with  his  wife,  the  other  that 
he  took  her  to  his  home  —  made  a  great  difference  in  the  status  of 
the  woman.  In  the  latter  case  she  fell  into  dependence  and  sub- 
jection to  the  dominion  of  her  husband.   She  could  not  divorce  him. 

391.  In  Chaldea  a  man  could  divorce  his  wife  by  saying,  "  Thou  art  not 
my  wife,"  by  repaying  her  dowry,  and  giving  her  a  letter  to  her  father.  If 
she  said  to  him,  "  Thou  art  not  my  husband,"  she  was  drowned.  An  adulter- 
ous woman  was  driven  into  the  street  clothed  only  in  a  loin  cloth,  at  the 
mercy  of  the  passers.^  In  this  view,  which  ran  through  the  Jewish  system 
and  came  down  into  that  of  Mohammed,  a  wife  has  duties,  to  which  her 
husband  has  no  correlative  obligations.  She  must  do  her  duty  or  be  thrust 
out.  There  is  no  adultery  for  a  man  and  no  divorce  for  a  woman.  The  most 
complete  negation  of  divorce  is  in  Hindostan,  where  a  woman  (perhaps  a 
child  of  five  or  six),  if  married  to  a  man,  is  his  only,  for  time  and  eternity, 
no  matter  what  may  happen.  He  is  hers  until  she  dies,  but  then  he  can  have 
another  wife.  Romulus  allowed  divorce  to  the  man,  if  the  woman  poisoned 
infants,  drank  strong  wine,  falsified  keys,  or  committed  adultery.^  By  a  law 
of  Numa  a  man  who  had  as  many  children  as  he  wanted  could  cede  his 
wife,  temporarily  or  finally,  to  another.^  These  laws  seem  to  have  been  for- 
gotten. If  they  ever  really  existed  they  did  not  control  early  Roman  society. 
By  the  later  law  a  sentence  for  crime  which  produced  civil  death  set  free 
the  other  spouse.  In  the  last  century  B.C.  divorce  became  very  easy  and 
customary.  The  mores  gradually  relaxed  to  allow  it.  Augustus  compelled 
the  husband  of  Livia  to  divorce  her  because  he  wanted  her  himself.  She 
was  about  to  become  a  mother.*  Cato  the  younger  gave  his  wife  to  his  friend 
Hortensius,  and  took  her  back  after  Hortensius's  death.^  Sempronius  Sophus 
divorced  his  wife  because  she  went  to  the  games  without  his  consent.^ 
Women  also  divorced  their  husbands  in  the  first  century  of  the  Christian  era. 
Juvenal  mentions  a  woman  who  had  eight  husbands  in  five  years."  Tertullian, 
writing  from  the  standpoint  of  a  Christian  ascetic,  said  that  "  divorce  is  the 
product  of  marriage."  ^  Jerome  knew  of  a  woman  who  had  married  her 
twenty-third  husband,  she  being  his  twenty-first  wife.^    Seneca  said  that  the 

1  Maspero,  Peiiples  de  P Orient,  I,  736.  "  Valer.  Maxim.,  VI,  3,  12. 

"^  Plutarch,  Romulus,  22.  '^  Sat.,  VI,  230. 

^  Plutarch,  Comp.  of  A'uma  and  Lykurgus.  *  Apolog.,  6. 

*  Tacitus,  Annals,  I,  10.  ^  Epist.,  2. 
s  Plutarch,  Cato. 


SEX   MORES  379 

women  reckoned  the  years  by  their  husbands,  not  by  the  consuls.^  The  women 
got  equahty  by  leveHng  downwards.  "  The  new  woman  of  Juvenal  boldly 
claims  a  vicious  freedom  equal  to  her  husband's."  ^  These  cases  belong  to 
the  degeneration  of  the  mores  at  the  period.  As  they  are  astonishing,  we 
are  in  danger  of  giving  them  too  much  force  in  the  notion  we  form  of  the 
mores  of  that  time.  All  the  writers  repeat  them.  "  In  the  Agricola,  and  in 
Seneca's  letters  to  Marcia  and  Helvia,  we  can  see  that,  even  at  the  darkest 
hour,  there  were  homes  with  an  atmosphere  of  old  Roman  self-restraint  and 
sobriety,  where  good  women  wielded  a  powerful  influence  over  their  hus- 
bands and  sons,  and  where  the  examples  of  the  old  republic  were  used,  as 
Biblical  characters  with  us,  to  fortify  virtue."  ^ 

392.  Rabbis  on  divorce.  The  school  of  the  Rabbi  Shammai 
said,  "  A  man  must  not  repudiate  his  wife  unless  he  find  in  her 
actual  immodesty."  Rabbi  Jochanan  said,  "  Repudiation  is  an 
odious  thing."  Rabbi  Eliezer  said,  "When  a  first  wife  is  put 
away  the  very  altar  sheds  tears."* 

393.  The  early  Roman  mores  about  marriage  were  very  rigid 
and  pitiless.  It  was  in  the  family,  and  therefore  under  the  con- 
trol of  the  head  of  the  family.  No  law  forbade  divorce,  because 
such  a  law  would  have  been  an  invasion  of  the  authority  of  the 
male  head  of  the  family,  but  the  censors,  in  the  name  of  public 
opinion,  long  prevented  any  frivolous  dissolution  of  marriage. 
Few  divorces  occurred,  and  then  only  for  weighty  reason,  after 
the  family  council  had  found  them  sufficient.  There  was  some 
stain  attaching  to  a  second  marriage,  after  the  death  of  the  first 
spouse.    Even  men  were  subject  to  this  stain .^ 

394.  Pair  marriage  and  divorce.  With  the  rise  of  pair  marriage 
came  divorce  for  the  woman,  upon  due  reason,  as  much  as  for 
the  man.  Hence  freer  divorce  goes  with  pair  marriage.  Such 
must  inevitably  be  the  case,  if  it  be  admitted  that  any  due  reason 
for  divorce  ever  can  exist.  The  more  poetical  and  elevated  the 
ideas  are  which  are  clustered  around  marriage,  the  more  probable 
it  is  that  experience  will  produce  disappointment.  If  one  spouse 
enters  wedlock  with  the  belief  that  the  other  is  the  most  super- 
lative man  or  woman  living,  the  cases  must  be  very  few  in  which 

1  Epist.,  95;   Consolation,  to  Jiis  Mother,  16.  ^  Ibid.,  188. 

2  Dill,  Nero  to  M.  Aiirel.,  87.  *  Cook,  Fathers  of/esics,  II,  142. 

^  Grupp,  Kulttirgesch.  der  Riim.  Kaiserzeit,  113. 


380  FOLKWAYS 

disappointment  and  disillusion  will  not  result.  Moreover,  pair 
marriage,  by  its  exclusiveness,  risks  the  happiness  of  the  parties 
on  a  very  narrow  and  specific  condition  of  life.  The  coercion  of 
this  arrangement  for  many  persons  must  become  intolerable. 

In  the  ancient  German  law  there  was  absolute  freedom  of 
divorce  by  agreement.  The  pair  could  end  the  relation  just  as 
they  formed  it.  In  the  laws  of  the  German  nations  there  was 
little  provision  for  divorce  upon  the  complaint  of  the  woman. 
The  law  of  the  Langobards  allowed  it  to  her  for  serious  bodily 
injury.^ 

395.  Divorce  in  the  Middle  Ages.  It  is  pretended  that  the 
mediaeval  church  allowed  no  divorce.  This  is  utterly  untrue. 
Under  the  influence  of  asceticism  the  church  put  marriage  under 
more  and  more  arbitrary  restrictions,  going  far  beyond  any  rules 
to  be  found  in  the  Scriptures,  or  in  the  usages  of  the  early  church. 
Divorce  was  made  more  and  more  difficult.  These  two  tend- 
encies contradicted  each  other,  for  the  greater  the  restrictions  on 
marriage,  the  greater  the  probability  that  any  marriage  would  be 
found  to  have  violated  one  of  them,  and  therefore  to  be  ab  initio 
void.  This  set  it  aside  more  absolutely  than  any  divorce  a  vinculo 
could  undo  it.  Also,  when  there  was  an  ample  apparatus  of  dis- 
pensation by  which  the  rich  and  great  could  have  their  marriages 
dissolved,  by  the  use  of  money  or  political  power,  the  "  law  of 
the  church  "  was  no  law.  Still  further,  the  mediaeval  church, 
while  it  had  a  doctrine  of  perfection  and  ideality  for  marriage, 
had  also  a  practical  system  of  concession  to  human  weakness, 
by  which  it  could  meet  cases  of  unhappy  marriage.  In  the 
canon  law,  divorce  and  remarriage  of  the  innocent  party  has 
been  allowed  to  the  man,  in  case  of  adultery,  physical  incapacity, 
leprosy,  desertion,  captivity,  disappearance,  and  conspiracy  to 
murder  the  husband,  on  the  part  of  the  wife ;  and  to  the  wife, 
when  the  husband's  misconduct  rendered  living  with  him  impos- 
sible. However,  a  dispensation  from  the  ecclesiastical  authority 
was  required.^ 

396.  The  point  of  this  is  that  no  society  ever  has  existed  or 
ever  can  exist  in  which  no  divorce  is  allowed.    In  all  stages  of 

^  Heusler,  Dent.  Privati-echt,  II,  291.  ^  Reichel,  Canon  Law,  I,  343. 


SEX   MORES  381 

the  father  family  it  has  been  possible  for  a  man  to  turn  his  wife 
out  of  doors,  and  for  a  wife  to  run  away  from  her  husband.  They 
divorce  themselves  when  they  have  determined  that  they  want 
to  do  so.  It  would  be  an  easy  solution  of  marriage  problems  to 
assert  that  the  society  will  use  its  force  to  compel  all  spouses 
who  disagree,  or  for  whom  the  marriage  relation  has  become 
impossible  through  the  course  of  events,  nevertheless  to  continue 
to  live  in  wedlock.  Such  a  rule  would  produce  endless  misery, 
shame,  and  sin.  There  are  reasons  for  divorce.  Adultery  is 
recognized  as  such  a  reason  in  the  New  Testament.  It  is  a  rational 
reason,  especially  under  pair  marriage.  There  are  other  rational 
reasons.  Some  of  them  are  modern  forms  of  the  reasons  allowed 
in  the  canon  law,  as  above  cited.  The  exegesis  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment is  not  simple.  It  does  not  produce  a  simple  and  consistent 
doctrine,  and  therefore  inference  and  deduction  have  been  applied 
to  it.  2  Cor.  vi.  14  contradicts  i  Cor.  vii.  12.  The  mores  decide 
at  last  what  causes  shall  be  sufficient.  The  laws  in  the  United 
States  once  went  very  far  in  an  attempt  to  satisfy  complaining 
married  people.  They  were  no  better  satisfied  at  last  than  at 
first.  Scandalous  cases  produced  a  conviction  that  "we  have 
gone  too  far,"  and  the  present  tendency  is  to  revoke  certain  con- 
cessions. The  fact  that  a  divorce  has  been  legally  obtained  does 
not  satisfy  some  former  friends  of  the  divorced  so  that  they  will 
continue  social  intimacy.  A  code  grows  up  to  fit  the  facts.  Sects 
help  to  make  such  codes.  Perhaps  they  make  a  code  which  is 
too  stringent.  The  members  of  the  sect  do  not  live  by  it.  They 
seek  remarriage  in  other,  less  scrupulous  sects,  or  by  civil  author- 
ity, or  they  change  domicile  in  order  to  get  a  divorce.  Thus  the 
mores  control.  When  the  law  of  the  state  or  of  ecclesiastical 
bodies  goes  with  the  mores  it  prevails  ;  when  it  departs  from  the 
mores  it  fails.  The  mores  are  also  sure  to  act  in  regard  to  a 
matter  which  presents  itself  in  a  large  class  of  cases,  and  which 
calls  for  social  and  ethical  judgments.  At  last,  comprehensive 
popular  judgments  will  be  formed  and  they  will  get  into  legislation. 
They  will  adjust  interests  so  that  people  can  pursue  self-realization 
with  success  and  satisfaction,  under  social  judgments  as  to  the 
rules  necessary  to  preserve  the  institutions  of  wedlock  and  the 


382  FOLKWAYS 

family.  The  pursuit  of  happiness,  either  in  the  acquisition  of 
property  or  in  the  enjoyment  of  family  life,  is  only  possible  in 
submission  to  laws  which  define  social  order,  rights,  and  duties, 
and  against  which  the  individual  must  react  at  every  point.  It 
is  the  mores  which  constantly  revise  and  readjust  the  laws  of 
social  order,  and  so  define  the  social  conditions  within  which  self- 
realization  must  go  on. 

397.  Refusal  of  remarriage.  The  laws  of  every  State  in  the 
United  States,  except  South  Carolina,  allow  marriage  by  a  minis- 
ter of  religion  or  by  magistrates.  This  does  not  mean  that  the 
legislatures  meant  to  endow  ministers  of  religion  with  authority 
to  say  who  may  marry  and  who  may  not.  Ministers  who  agree 
not  to  marry  divorced  persons  assume  authority  which  does  not 
belong  to  them.  In  England,  with  an  established  church,  the 
fact  has  recently  been  ascertained  that  a  clergyman  cannot  refuse 
to  marry  persons  who  may  marry  by  the  civil  law  as  it  stands. 
With  us  the  number  of  sects  and  denominations  is  such  that  no 
hardship  arises  if  one  sect  chooses  to  adopt  stricter  laws  for  the 
sake  of  making  a  demonstration  or  exercising  educational  influ- 
ence, and  decides  to  run  the  risk  of  driving  its  own  members  to 
other  sects.  What  the  next  result  of  such  action  will  be  remains 
to  be  learned. 

398.  Child  marriage.  Child  marriage  illustrates  a  number  of 
points  in  regard  to  the  mores,  especially  the  possibility  of  perver- 
sity and  aberration.  Wilutzky  ^  thinks  that  child  marriage  amongst 
savages  began  in  the  desire  of  a  man  to  get  a  wife  to  himself 
(monandry)  out  of  the  primitive  communalism,  without  violating 
the  customs  of  ancestors.  Girls  of  ten  or  twelve  years  are  married 
to  men  of  twenty-five  or  thirty  on  the  New  Britain  Islands.  The 
missionary  says,  "  The  result  of  such  an  early  union,  for  the  girl, 
has  been  dreadful."  ^  On  Malekula  girls  are  married  at  six  or 
eight .^  Similar  cases  are  reported  from  Central  and  South  Amer- 
ica where  girls  of  ten  are  mothers.*  Rohlfs  reports  mothers  of 
ten  or  twelve  at  Fesan.^    The  Eskimo  practice  child  betrothal, 

1  Mann  nnd  IVetb,  32.  *  Schomburgk,    Brit.    Guiana,   I,    122, 

2  JAI,  XVIII,  288.  164  ;  JAI,  XXIV,  205. 

"  Austral.  Assoc.  Adv.  Set.,  1892,  704.  ^  Peterm.  Mittlgen,  Erg.  heft,  XXV,  9. 


SEX  MORES  383 

so  that  wedlock  begins  at  once  at  puberty .^  Schwaner  reports,^ 
from  the  Barito  Valley,  that  children  are  often  betrothed  and 
married  by  the  fathers  when  the  latter  are  intoxicated.  The 
motives  of  the  match  are  birth,  kinship,  property,  and  social 
position,  and  the  marriage  is  hastened,  lest  the  parents  should 
see  their  plans  to  satisfy  these  motives  frustrated  by  the  chil- 
dren if  they  should  delay.  The  intimacy  of  the  children  is  left 
to  chance.  Wilken  says  that  child  marriage  seems  to  be,  in 
the  Dutch  East  Indies,  an  exercise  of  absolute  paternal  author- 
ity, especially  seeing  that  they  have  marriage  by  capture.  The 
father  wants  to  secure,  in  time,  the  realization  of  plans  which  he 
has  made.  Especially,  the  purpose  is  to  make  the  man  take  the 
status-wife  appointed  for  him  by  the  marriage  rule, — his  mother's 
brother's  daughter.  Wilken  also  explains  child  betrothal  and  mar- 
riage by  the  fact  that  girls  have  entire  liberty  until  betrothed, 
and  the  future  husband  wants  to  put  an  end  to  this.  Girls  are 
often  betrothed  at  birth  and  married  at  six,  although  they  remain 
with  their  parents.  In  some  parts  of  the  East  Indies  the  custom 
is  declining;  in  others  it  is  extinct.  In  some  places  it  continues, 
although  marriage  by  capture  is  extinct.  Where  marriage  by 
capture  exists,  the  reason  for  child  marriage  is  the  fear  that  the 
girl  may  be  stolen  by  another  than  the  desired  husband.^ 

399.  Child  marriage  in  Hindostan.  By  the  laws  of  Manu  *  a 
man  may  give  his  daughter  in  marriage  before  she  is  eight  years 
old  to  a  man  of  twenty-four,  or  a  girl  of  twelve  to  a  man  of 
thirty,  and  he  loses  his  dominion  over  her  if  he  has  not  found  a 
husband  for  her  by  the  time  that  she  might  be  a  mother  ;  yet 
intercourse  before  puberty  is  especially  forbidden.^  The  Hindoos, 
including  Mohammedans,  practice  child  marriage  and  cling  to  it, 
in  spite  of  the  efforts  of  the  English  to  dissuade  them  from  it, 
and  in  spite  of  the  opinion  of  their  own  most  enlightened  men 
that  it  is  a  harmful  custom.  It  is  deeply  rooted  in  their  mores. 
The  modern  Hindoo  father  or  brother  considers  it  one  of  the 

1  Holm,  Anginagslikerne,  52;   Nelson  in  Bur.  Et/i.,  XVIII,  Part  i,  292. 

2  Borneo,  I,  194. 

^  Bijdragen  tot  T.  L.  en  V.-kiinde,  XXXV,  161,  165  ;   Wilken,  Volkenkimde,  277. 
*  IX,  88,  93,  94.  5x1,59,171. 


384  FOLKWAYS 

gravest  faults  he  can  commit  to  allow  a  daughter  or  sister  to 
arrive  at  puberty  (generally  eight  years)  before  a  husband  has 
been  found  for  her.  It  is  a  disgrace  for  a  family  to  have  in  it  an 
unmarried  marriageable  girl.  What  is  proper  is  that,  from  five 
to  sixteen  days  after  puberty,  the  previously  married  husband 
shall  beget  with  her  a  child  in  a  solemn  ceremonial  which  is  one 
of  the  twelve  (or  sixteen)  sacraments  of  Hindoo  life.^  The  idea 
of  child  marriage  was  that  the  woman  should  be  already  married 
to  her  chosen  husband,  so  that  she  might  be  given  to  him  at  the 
proper  time.^  Moreover,  "  marriage  completes,  for  the  man,  the 
regenerating  ceremonies,  expiatory,  as  is  believed,  of  the  sinful 
taint  which  every  child  is  supposed  to  contract  in  the  mother's 
womb  ;  and  being,  for  sudras  and  for  women,  the  only  [ceremony 
for  this  purpose]  which  is  allowed,  its  obligatoriness  is,  as  to  the 
latter,  one  of  the  ordinances  of  the  Veda."  ^ 

400.  The  wife  of  the  missionary  Gehring  was  present  at  the 
marriage  of  a  girl  of  ten  to  an  adult  man  amongst  the  Tamil 
Mohammedans.  The  story  of  the  child's  shrinking  terror  is  very 
pathetic.  When  her  veil  was  withdrawn  she  fainted  from  nervous- 
ness and  excitement.  Those  present  showed  no  pity  for  her,  but 
crowded  around  to  enjoy  the  opportunity  of  gazing  at  her.  They 
saw  no  reason  why  she  was  to  be  pitied.* 

401.  If  a  girl  has  had  no  husband  provided  for  her  by  her 
responsible  male  relative,  she  may  act  for  herself,  but  then  she 
forfeits  her  share  in  the  family  property.  She  may  be  abducted 
with  impunity.  In  Manu  ^  it  is  said  that  three  years  must  elapse 
before  she  gets  the  right  of  self-disposition.  The  right  is  long 
since  a  dead  letter.  The  "  Law  of  Manu  "  can  lose  its  authority 
where  it  is  favorable  to  women  !  or  when  it  runs  counter  to  the 
mores,  for  Hindoo  women  have  no  training  to  take  up  self-dis- 
position, if  the  case  occurs.^  Female  virtue  is  rated  low,  and 
must  be  secured  by  marriage.  Independent  action  by  a  boy  and 
girl  is  against  the  mores  and  could  only  lead  to  inferior  forms 

^  Jolly,  Recht  und  Sitte  de7-  Tndo-Arier,  54,  58. 

2  Jolly,  Stellung  der  Frauefi  bei  den  alien  Indern,  425. 

3  Strange,  Hindu  Law,  I,  35.  ^  IX,  90. 

4  Gehring,  Siid-Indien,  78,  80.  ^  Jo.  Soc.  Comp.  Legisl.,  y\^.  S.,  VIII,  253. 


SEX   MORES  385 

of  marriage,  by  love  or  capture. ^  Finally,  religion  bears  its  share 
in  furnishing  motives  for  child  marriage.  The  souls  of  ancestors 
cannot  stay  in  heaven  unless  there  are  male  descendants  to  keep 
up  the  sacrifices.  It  is,  therefore,  impossible  to  provide  male 
descendants  too  soon.  Among  the  Tamil-speaking  Malaialis  of 
the  Kollimallais  hills  a  man  takes  an  adult  wife  for  his  little  son, 
and  with  her  he  begets  a  son  who  will  perform  this  religious 
duty  for  himself  and  his  son.  This  goes  on  from  generation  to 
generation.^ 

402.  Nevertheless,  it  is  held  to  be  proved  that  in  ancient  India 
child  marriages  were  unknown  and  that  women  were  often  far 
beyond  puberty  before  they  were  married.  The  human  husband 
was  also  held  to  be  the  fourth.  Three  gods  had  preceded  him 
in  each  case.^  The  custom  of  child  marriage  has  now  spread  to 
the  lowest  classes,  and  in  the  lowlands  of  the  Ganges  cohabita- 
tion follows  at  once  upon  child  marriage,  with  very  evil  results 
on  the  physique  of  the  population.* 

There  was  child  marriage  in  Chaldea  2200  years  b.c.^ 

403.  Child  marriage  in  Europe.  The  marriage  of  children  was 
not  in  the  mores  of  the  ancient  Germans.  The  mediaeval  church 
allowed  child  marriage  for  princes,  etc.  The  motive  was  political 
alliance,  or  family  or  property  interest.^  The  fable  was  that 
Joseph  was  an  old  man  and  the  Virgin  Mary  only  a  girl.  This 
story  was  invented  to  make  the  notion  of  a  virgin  wife  and 
mother  easier.  The  marriage  was  only  a  child  marriage.  In 
England,  from  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  to  late  in  the  seven- 
teenth century,  cases  of  child  marriage  occurred,  at  first  in  the 
highest  classes,  later  in  all  classes,  and  finally  most  frequently 
in  the  highest  and  lowest  classes.  In  Scotland  premature  mar- 
riages were  so  common  that,  in  1600,  they  were  forbidden,  the 
limits  being  set  at  fourteen  and  twelve  years  for  males  and  fe- 
males respectively.  The  chief  motive  was  to  avoid  feudal  dues 
on  the  part  of  tenants  in  chief  of  the  crown,  if  the  father  should 

1  Jolly,  Recht  und  Sitte,  54.  *  Pol.- A  nth.  Rev.,  Ill,  711. 

2  Madras  Gm.  Alits.,  II,  162.  ^  Winckler,  Gesetze  des  Hammu- 

3  Monier- Williams,  Brahmanism  and  rati,  22. 

Hinduis7n,  354.  ^  Grimm,  Rechts-Alt.,  436. 


386  FOLKWAYS 

die  and  leave  infants  who  would  become  wards  liable  to  forced 
marriages  or  to  mulcts  to  avoid  the  same.-^ 

404.  Child  marriage  is  due,  then,  to  the  predominance  of 
worldly  considerations  in  marriage,  especially  when  the  interests 
considered  are  those  of  the  parents,  not  of  the  children ;  also  to 
abuse  of  parental  authority  through  vanity  and  self-will ;  also  to 
superstitious  notions  about  the  other  world  and  the  interests  of 
the  dead  there  ;  also  to  attempts,  in  the  interest  of  the  children, 
to  avoid  the  evil  consequences  of  other  bad  social  arrangements. 

405.  Cloistering.  The  custom  of  cloistering  women  has  spread, 
within  historic  times,  from  some  point  in  central  Asia.  The 
laws  of  Hammurabi  show  that,  2200  years  B.C.,  men  and 
women,  in  the  Euphrates  Valley,  consorted  freely  and  equally 
in  life.  Later,  in  the  Euphrates  Valley,  we  find  the  custom  of 
cloistering  amongst  the  highest  classes.  It  became  more  and 
more  vigorous  amongst  the  Persians  and  spread  to  the  common 
people.  It  was  not  an  original  custom  of  the  Arabs  and  was  not 
introduced  by  the  Mohammedan  religion.  It  was  learned  and 
assumed  from  the  Persians.^  Seclusion  of  women,  to  a  greater 
or  less  degree,  has  prevailed  in  the  mores  of  many  nations.  In 
fact,  there  is  only  a  question  of  degree  between  an  excessive 
harem  system  and  our  own  code  of  propriety  which  lays 
restraints  on  women  to  which  men  are  not  subject.  The  most 
probable  explanation  of  the  customs  of  veiling  and  cloistering  is 
that  they  are  due  to  the  superstition  of  the  evil  eye.  Pretty 
women  attracted  admiration,  which  was  dangerous,  as  all  pros- 
perity, glory,  and  preeminence  were  dangerous  under  that  notion. 
When  pretty  women  were  veiled  or  secluded,  the  custom  was 
sure  to  spread  to  others.  The  wives  and  daughters  of  the  rich 
and  great  were  secluded  in  order  to  shield  them  from  easy 
approach,  and  to  pet  and  protect  them.  This  set  the  fashion 
which  lesser  people  imitated  so  far  as  they  could.  The  tyranny 
of  husbands  and  fathers  also  came  into  play,  and  another  force 
acting  in  the  same  direction  was  the  seduction  exerted  on 
women  themselves  by  the  flattering  sense  of  being  cared  for 

1  Fumival,  Child-marriages,  XXVII,  XXXIX,  XL. 
-  Hauri,  Islam,  731. 


SEX  MORES  387 

and  petted.  Lane-'  tells  us  that  "an  Egyptian  wife  who  is 
attached  to  her  husband  is  apt  to  think,  if  he  allows  her  unusual 
liberty,  that  he  neglects  her,  and  does  not  sufficiently  love  her ; 
and  to  envy  those  wives  who  are  kept  and  watched  with  greater 
strictness."  "  They  look  on  the  restraint  [imposed  by  husbands] 
with  a  degree  of  pride,  as  evincing  the  husband's  care  for  them, 
and  value  themselves  on  being  hidden  as  treasures."  Women 
who  earn  their  own  living  have  to  go  into  the  streets  and  the 
market  and  to  come  in  contact  with  much  from  which  other 
classes  of  women  are  protected.  The  protected  position  is 
aristocratic,  and  it  is  consonant  with  especial  feminine  tastes. 
The  willingness  to  fall  into  it  has  always  greatly  affected  the 
status  of  women. 

406.  Second  marriages.  Widows.  Second  marriages  affect 
very  few  people  beyond  those  immediately  concerned,  and  they 
are  not  connected  with  any  social  principle  or  institution  so  as 
to  create  what  is  sometimes  called  a  "societal  interest,"  unless 
there  is  current  in  the  society  some  special  notion  about  ghosts 
and  the  other  world.  Nevertheless,  the  bystanders  have,  until 
very  recent  times,  pretended  to  a  right  to  pass  judgment  and 
exert  an  influence  on  the  remarriage  of  widows,  and  less  fre- 
quently of  widowers.  The  story  of  the  status  of  widows  is  one 
of  the  saddest  in  the  history  of  civilization.  In  vmcivilized  society 
a  widow  is  considered  dangerous  because  the  ghost  of  her  husband 
is  supposed  to  cleave  to  her.  Under  marriage  by  capture  or 
purchase  she  is  the  property  of  her  husband,  and,  like  his  other 
property,  ought  to  accompany  him  to  the  other  world.  When 
she  is  spared  she  has  no  rational  place  in  the  society  ;  therefore 
widows  were  a  problem  which  the  mores  had  to  solve.  In  no 
other  case  have  societies  shown  so  much  indifference  to  mis- 
fortune and  innocent  misery.  If  a  widow  has  value  for  any  pur- 
pose, she  falls  to  the  heir  and  he  may  exploit  her.  On  the  Fiji 
Islands  a  wife  was  strangled  on  her  husband's  grave  and  buried 
with  him.  A  god  lies  in  wait  on  the  road  to  the  other  world  who 
is  implacable  to  the  unmarried.  Therefore  a  man's  ghost  must 
be  attended  by  a  woman's  ghost   to  pass   in  safety.^    Mongol 

1  Modern  Egyptians,  I,  268,  466.  2  jaI,  X,  138. 


388  FOLKWAYS 

widows  could  find  no  second  husbands,  because  they  would  have 
to  serve  their  first  husbands  in  the  next  world.  The  youngest 
son  inherited  the  household  and  was  bound  to  provide  for  his 
father's  widows.  He  could  take  to  wife  any  of  them  except  his 
own  mother,  and  he  did  so  because  he  was  willing  that  they 
should  go  to  his  father  in  the  next  world.^  In  the  laws  of  Ham- 
murabi the  widow  was  secured  a  share  in  her  husband's  property 
and  was  protected  against  the  selfishness  of  her  sons.  If  she 
gave  up  to  her  sons  what  she  had  received  from  her  husband, 
she  could  keep  what  her  father  gave  her  and  could  marry  again. 
In  later  Chaldea  annuities  were  provided  for  widows  by  payments 
to  temples. 2  In  the  Mahabharata  the  morning  salutation  to  a 
woman  is,  "May  you  not   undergo  the  lot  of  a  widow."  ^ 

407.  Burning  of  widows.  It  appears  certain  that  the  primitive 
Aryans  practiced  the  burning  of  widows,  perhaps  by  the  choice 
of  the  widows,  and  that  the  custom  declined  in  the  Vedic  period 
of  India.  The  burning  of  widows  and  the  levirate  could  not  exist 
together.*  As  Manu^  gives  rules  for  the  behavior  of  widows  (not 
name  any  man  but  the  deceased  husband  ;  not  remarry),  he  assumes 
that  they  will  live.  The  custom  of  suttee  was  strongest  in  the 
lower  castes.^  Akbar,  the  Mogul  emperor,  forbade  suttee  about 
1600.'''  He  acted  from  the  Mohammedan  standpoint.  His  ordi- 
nance had  no  effect  on  the  usage.  The  English  put  an  end  to 
the  custom  in  1830.  This  did  not  affect  the  native  states,  where 
the  latest  instance  reported  took  place  in  1880.^  A  man  who 
knows  India  well  says  that  it  was  no  kindness  to  widows  to  put 
a  stop  to  suttee  because,  if  they  live  on,  their  existence  is  so 
wretched  that  death  would  be  better.  Wilkins  ^  quotes  a  Hindoo 
widow's  description  of  the  treatment  she  received,  which  included 
physical  abuse  and  moral  torture.  She  was  addressed  as  if  she 
was  to  blame  for  the  death  of  her  husband.  The  head  of  a  widow 
is  shaved,  although  Hindoo  women  care  very  much  for  their  hair. 
She  is  allowed  but  one  meal  a  day  and  must  fast  frequently. 

1  Rubruck,  Eastern  Pat-ts,  78.  ^  V,  157,  161-164. 

"^  Kohler  and  Peiser,  II,  9.  ^  Jolly,  Stellung  der  Frane7i,  448. 

^  Holtzmann,  Ind.  Sagen,  I,  258.  "^  AHneteenth  Cejit.,  XLV,  769. 

*  Zimmer,  AH-ind.  Leben,  328-331.  ^  Wilkins,  Moderft  Hindiiis7n,  391. 

"9  Ibid.,  365. 


SEX  MORES  389 

She  is  shunned  as  a  creature  of  ill  omen.  Inasmuch  as  girls  are 
married  at  five  or  six,  all  this  may  happen  to  a  child  of  ten  or 
twelve,  if  her  husband  dies,  although  she  never  has  lived  with 
him.  In  1856  the  English  made  a  law  by  which  widows  might 
remarry,  but  the  higher  classes  very  rarely  allow  it.  If  they  do 
allow  it,  the  groom  is  forced  to  marry  a  tree  or  a  doll  of  cotton, 
so  that  he  too  may  be  widowed.  The  mores  resist  any  change 
which  is  urged,  although  not  enforced,  by  people  of  other  mores. 
The  reforms  proposed  in  the  treatment  of  widows  have  no  foot- 
ing at  all  in  the  experience  and  the  judgment  of  Hindoos,  if  we 
except  a  few  theists  in  Calcutta,  and  they  have  never  taken  a 
united  and  consistent  position.  Monier-Williams  ^  describes  the 
case  of  a  man  who  married  a  widow.  He  was  boycotted  so  com- 
pletely that  all  human  fellowship  was  denied  him.  He  had  to 
go  to  a  distant  place  and  take  a  position  under  the  government. 
Among  the  lower  castes  of  the  Bihari  Hindoos  a  widow  may 
marry  the  younger  brother  of  her  deceased  husband,  to  whom 
her  relation  is  always  one  of  especial  intimacy  and  familiarity.^ 
408.  Difficulty  of  reform.  It  appears  that  the  difficulty  about 
the  remarriage  of  widows  is  due  to  the  fact  that  it  runs  counter  to 
fundamental  religious  ideas.  The  Hindoo  reformers  are  charged 
with  using  forms  of  wedding  ceremony  which  are  inconsistent 
with  facts.  Some  widows  are  virgins,  but  there  is  not  always 
a  father  or  mother  to  give  them  away  by  the  formula  of  "vir- 
gin gift."  The  women  all  have  a  notion,  taken  from  the  words 
of  a  heroine  in  the  Mahabharata,  that  a  woman  can  be  given  but 
once.^  They  cling  to  the  literal  formula.  By  the  form  of  first 
marriage  also  a  woman  passes  into  the  kin  of  her  husband  for 
seven  births  (generations),  the  limit  of  degrees  of  consanguinity. 
It  is  irreligious  and  impossible  to  change  the  kin  again,  because 
consequences  have  been  entailed  which  run  seven  generations 
into  the  future.*  This  is  all  made  to  depend,  not  on  the  consum- 
mation of  the  marriage,  but  on  the  wedding  or  even  betrothal. 
The  census  shows  that  the  taboo  on  the  remarriage  of  widows 
and  the  custom  of  child  marriage  extend  and  increase  together.^ 

1  BraJinianisni  and  Hinduism,  472.  *  JASB,  VI,  376. 

2  JASB,  VI,  1 19.  3  Cf.  sec.  376.  ^  Jolly,  Recht  und Sitte,  61. 


390 


FOLKWAYS 


Where  husbands  are  scarce  girls  are  married  in  childhood  in 
order  to  secure  them,  and  widows  are  not  allowed  to  remarry.^ 
By  the  remarriage  of  widows  rajpoots  and  rajpoot  families  lose  their 
rank  and  precedence. ^  In  Homer  the  remarriage  of  men  is  rare, 
and  only  one  stepmother  is  mentioned.'^  The  prejudice  against 
second  marriages  continued  amongst  the  Greeks,  even  for  men, 
for  whom  second  marriage  was  restrained,  in  some  parts  of 
Greece  by  political  disabilities,  if  the  man  had  children.  The 
reason  given  was  that  a  man  who  had  so  little  devotion  to  his 
family  would  have  little  devotion  to  his  country ."^  In  the  classical 
period  widows  generally  married  again.  Sometimes  the  dying 
husband  bequeathed  his  widow.  In  later  times  some  widows 
contracted  their  own  second  marriages.^  Marcus  Aurelius  would 
not  take  a  second  wife  as  a  stepmother  for  his  children.  He  took 
a  concubine.  Julian,  after  the  death  of  his  wife,  lived  in  con- 
tinence.^ On  Roman  tombstones  of  women  the  epithet  "  wife 
of  one  husband  "  was  often  put  as  praise.' 

409.  Widows  and  remarriage  in  the  Christian  church.  The 
pagan  emperors  of  Rome  encouraged  second  marriages  as  they 
encouraged  all  marriage,  but  the  Christian  emperors  of  the  fourth 
century  took  up  the  ascetic  tendency.  About  300  the  doctrine 
was,  "Every  second  marriage  is  essentially  adultery."^  Augus- 
tine, in  his  tract  on  "Continence,"  uttered  strong  and  sound  doc- 
trine about  self-control  and  discipline  of  character.  In  the  tract  on 
the  "  Benefit  of  Marriage  "  he  defended  marriage,  intervening  in  a 
controversy  between  Jerome  and  Jovinian,  in  which  the  former 
put  forth  the  most  extravagant  and  contradictory  assertions 
about  virginity.  Augustine's  formula  is  :  "  Marriage  and  forni- 
cation are  not  two  evils  of  which  the  second  is  worse,  but  mar- 
riage and  continence  are   two  goods,  of  which   the   second  is 

1  JAI,  XII,  290. 

2  Ethnol.  App.  Census  of  India,  1901,  74-75. 

3  Keller,  Homeric  Society,  227  ;  Iliad,  XXII,  477  ;  V,  389. 

*  Diodorus  Siculus,  XII,  12. 

5  Becker-Hermann,  Charikles,  III,  289. 

6  Lecky,  Etc?-.  Morals,  II,  316. 

"^  Friedlander,  Sittengesch.,  I,  411. 

*  Athenagoras,  Apolog.,  28 ;   Consiit.  Apost.,  Ill,  2. 


SEX  MORES 


391 


better."  Although  this  statement  is  very  satisfactory  rhetoric- 
ally, it  carries  no  conclusion  as  to  the  rational  sense  of  regula- 
tion of  the  sex  passion,  or  as  to  the  limit  within  which  regulation 
is  beneficial.  Augustine  laid  great  stress  on  i  Cor.  vii.  36.  In  a 
tract  on  "Virginity"  he  glorified  that  state  according  to  the  taste 
of  the  period.  In  a  tract  on  "Widowhood"  (chaps.  13  and  14), 
he  repudiated  the  extreme  doctrine  about  second  and  subsequent 
marriages,  but  he  exhorted  widows  to  continence.  The  church 
fathers,  like  the  mediaeval  theologians,  had  a  way  of  admitting 
points  in  the  argument  without  altering  their  total  position  in 
accordance  with  the  admissions  or  concessions  which  they  had 
made.  The  positions  taken  by  Augustine  in  these  tracts  about 
the  sex  mores  cannot  be  embraced  in  an  intelligible  and  con- 
sistent statement.  "At  a  period  of  early,  although  uncertain, 
date  the  rule  became  firmly  and  irrevocably  established,  that  no 
digamiis,  or  husband  of  a  second  wife,  was  admissible  to  Holy 
Orders  ;  and  although  there  is  no  reason  for  supposing  that  mar- 
riage after  taking  orders  was  prohibited  to  a  bachelor,  it  was 
strictly  forbidden  to  a  widower."  ^  So  it  came  about  that,  inas- 
much as  marriage  was,  in  any  case,  only  a  concession  and  a  com- 
promise, and  in  so  far  a  departure  from  strict  rectitude,  a  second 
marriage  was  regarded  with  disfavor,  and  any  subsequent  ones 
were  regarded  with  reprobation  which  increased  in  a  high  pro- 
gression. This  has  remained  the  view  of  the  Eastern  church,  in 
which  a  fourth  marriage  is  unlawful.  The  Western  church  has 
not  kept  the  early  view,  and  has  set  no  limit  to  remariiage,  but 
orthodox  and  popular  mores  have  frowned  upon  it  after  the 
second  or,  at  most,  the  third.  In  Arabia,  before  the  time  of 
Mohammed,  widows  were  forced  into  seclusion  and  misery  for 
a  year,  and  they  became  a  class  of  forlorn,  almost  vagabond, 
dependents.  It  was  a  shame  for  a  man  if  his  mother  contracted 
a  second  marriage.^  In  the  Middle  Ages  "popular  reprobation 
was  manifested  by  celebrations  which  were  always  grotesque  and 
noisy,  and  sometimes  licentious.  They  were  called  charivaris. 
They  were   enacted  in  case  of   the  remarriage  of   widows  and 

1  Lea,  Sacerd.  Celibacy^  35. 

2  Wellhausen,  Ehe  bei  den  Arabern,  433,  455. 


392  FOLKWAYS 

sometimes  in  the  case  of  widowers.  They  are  said  to  have  been 
a  very  ancient  custom  in  Provence. ^  This  might  mean  that 
opposition  to  second  marriages  was  due  to  Manichasan  doctrines 
which  were  widely  held  in  that  region.  The  customs  of  popu- 
lar reprobation  were,  however,  very  widespread,  and  nowadays 
amongst  us  the  neighbors  sometimes  express  in  this  way  their 
disapproval  of  any  sex  relations  which  are  in  any  way  not  in 
accord  with  the  mores.  In  the  Salic  law  it  was  provided  that 
any  woman  who  married  a  second  time  must  do  so  at  night .^  The 
other  laws  of  the  barbarian  nations  contain  evidence  of  dis- 
approval.^ Innocent  III  ruled,  in  12 13,  that  a  man  did  not  incur 
the  ecclesiastical  disabilities  of  second  marriage,  "  no  matter  how 
many  concubines  he  might  have  had,  either  at  one  time  or  in 
succession."^  The  medieeval  coiitumes  of  northern  France  are 
indifferent  to  second  marriages.^  The  ancient  German  custom 
approved  of  the  self-immolation  of  a  widow  at  her  husband's 
death,  but  did  not  require  it.  The  remarriage  of  widows  was  not 
approved  and  the  widows  did  not  desire  it.  This  was  a  conse- 
quence of  the  ancient  German  notion  of  marriage,  according  to 
which  a  wife  merged  her  life  in  that  of  her  husband  for  time  and 
for  eternity.^  The  usage,  however,  was  softened  gradually.  The 
widow  got  more  independence,  and  more  authority  over  her 
children  and  property,  over  the  marriage  of  her  daughters,  and 
at  last  the  right  to  contract  a  second  marriage  after  a  year  of 
mourning.''  In  England,  in  the  eleventh  century,  a  widow's 
dower  could  not  be  taken  to  pay  her  husband's  taxes,  although 
the  exchequer  showed  little  pity  for  anybody  else.  The  reason 
given  is  that  "it  is  the  price  of  her  virginity."^  The  later 
law  also  exempted  a  wife's  dower  from  confiscation  in  the  case 
of  any  criminal  or  traitor.^  In  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth 
centuries,  in  France,  "  a  period  in  which,  perhaps,  people  sup- 
ported widowhood  less  willingly  than  in  any  other,"  the  actual 
usages  departed  from  the  acknowledged  standards  of  right  and 

1  Jolly,  Seconds  RIariages,  194.  ^  Tacitus,  Germ.,  19. 

2  Ibid.,  177.  "^  Stammler,  SteUung  der  Fraiieii  hn  alien 
^  Ibid.,  193.  Deutschen  Recht,  37. 

*  Lea,  Sacerd.  Celib.,  283.  ^  Dialog,  of  the  Excheqite}-,  B  2,  XVIII. 

^  Jolly,  Seconds  Alariages,  193.  ^  Pike,  Crime  in  England,  I,  428. 


SEX  MORES 


393 


propriety.^  The  same  was  true  in  a  greater  or  less  degree 
elsewhere  in  Europe,  and  the  widowed  probably  destroyed  the 
prejudice  against  remarriage  by  their  persistency  and  courage 
in  violating  it.  In  the  American  colonies  it  was  by  no  means 
rare  for  a  widow  or  widower  to  marry  again  in  six  or  even  in 
three  months. 

410.  Remarriage  and  other-worldliness.  It  is  evident  that  the 
customs  in  regard  to  the  treatment  of  widows,  second  marriages, 
etc.,  are  largely  controlled  by  other-worldliness.  If  the  other 
world  is  thought  of  as  close  at  hand,  and  the  dead  as  enjoying 
a  conscious  life,  with  knowledge  of  all  which  occurs  here,  then 
there  is  a  rational  reluctance  to  form  new  ties  by  which  the 
dead  may  be  offended.  If  the  other  world  and  its  inhabitants 
are  not  so  vividly  apprehended,  the  living  pursue  their  own 
interests,  and  satisfy  their  own  desires. 

411.  Tree  marriage.  In  several  cases  which  have  been  pre- 
sented, we  have  seen  how  the  folkways  devise  means  of  satisfy- 
ing interests  in  spite  of  existing  (inherited)  institutions  which 
bear  injuriously  on  interests.  A  remarkable  case  of  this  kind  is 
tree  marriage  amongst  the  Brahmins  of  southern  India.  The 
established  opinion  is  that  a  younger  brother  ought  not  to  marry 
before  an  older  one.  The  latter  may  be  willing.  That  is  imma- 
terial. The  device  is  employed  of  marrying  the  older  brother  to 
a  tree,  or  (perhaps  the  idea  is)  to  a  spirit  which  resides  in  the 
tree.  He  is  then  out  of  the  way  and  the  younger  brother  may 
marry. ^ 

412.  The  Japanese  woman.  The  Japanese  woman  has  been 
formed  in  an  isolated  state,  of  a  militant  character,  with  strong 
and  invariable  folkways.  "  Before  this  ethical  creature,  criticism 
should  hold  its  breath  ;  for  there  is  here  no  single  fault,  save  the 
fault  of  a  moral  charm  unsuited  to  any  world  of  selfishness  and 
struggle.  .  .  .  How  frequently  has  it  been  asserted  that,  as  a 
moral  being,  the  Japanese  woman  does  not  seem  to  belong  to 
the  same  race  as  the  Japanese  man  !  .   .  .    Perhaps  no  such  type 

^  Jolly,  Seconds  Mariages,  202. 

2  Jolly,  Recht  tttid  Sitte  der  hido-Arier,  59  ;  Hopkins,  Religions  of  India,  541  ; 
Kohler,  Urgesch.  der  Ehe,  28. 


394  FOLKWAYS 

of  woman  will  appear  again  in  this  world  for  a  hundred  thousand 
years  :  the  conditions  of  industrial  civilization  will  not  admit  of 
her  existence.  .  .  .  The  Japanese  woman  can  be  known  only  in 
her  own  country,  —  the  Japanese  woman  as  prepared  and  per- 
fected by  the  old-time  education  for  that  strange  society  in 
which  the  charm  of  her  moral  being,  • — -  her  delicacy, 'her  supreme 
unselfishness,  her  childlike  piety  and  trust,  her  exquisite  tactful 
perception  of  all  ways  and  means  to  make  happiness  about  her, 

—  can  be  comprehended  and  valued.  .  .  .  Even  if  she  cannot 
be  called  handsome  according  to  western  standards,  the  Japanese 
woman  must  be  confessed  pretty,  —  pretty  like  a  comely  child  ; 
and  if  she  be  seldom  graceful  in  the  occidental  sense,  she  is  at 
least  in  all  her  ways  incomparably  graceful :  her  every  motion, 
gesture,  or  expression  being,  in  its  own  oriental  manner,  a  perfect 
thing,  — an  act  performed,  or  a  look  conferred,  in  the  most  easy, 
the  most  graceful,  the  most  modest  way  possible.  .  .  .  The  old- 
fashioned  education  of  her  sex  was  directed  to  the  development 
of  every  quality  essentially  feminine,  and  to  the  suppression  of 
the  opposite  quality.  Kindliness,  docility,  sympathy,  tenderness, 
daintiness,  —  these  and  other  attributes  were  cultivated  into 
incomparable  blossoming.  '  Be  good,  sweet  maid,  and  let  who 
will  be  clever ;  do  noble  things,  not  dream  them,  all  day  long,' 

—  those  words  of  Kingsley  really  embody  the  central  idea  in  her 
training.  Of  course  the  being,  formed  by  such  training  only, 
must  be  protected  by  society ;  and  by  the  old  Japanese  society 
she  was  protected.  ...  A  being  working  only  for  others,  think- 
ing only  for  others,  happy  only  in  making  pleasure  for  others, 

—  a  being  incapable  of  unkindness,  incapable  of  selfishness, 
incapable  of  acting  contrary  to  her  own  inherited  sense  of  right, 
• — ^and  in  spite  of  this  softness  and  gentleness  ready,  at  any 
moment,  to  lay  down  her  life,  to  sacrifice  everything  at  the  call 
of  duty  :  such  was  the  character  of  the  Japanese  woman."  ^ 

1  Heam,  Japan,  393  ff . 


CHAPTER   X 

THE  MARRIAGE  INSTITUTION 

Mores  lead  to  institutions.  —  Aleatory  interest  in  marriage  and  the  func- 
tion of  religion.  —  Chaldean  demonism  and  marriage.  —  Hebrew  marriage 
before  the  exile.  —  Jewish  marriage  after  the  exile.  —  Marriage  in  the  New 
Testament.  —  The  merit  of  celibacy.  — •  Marriage  in  early  Christianity.  — 
Marriage  in  the  Roman  law.  —  Roman  "  free  marriage."  —  Free  marriage.  — 
Transition  from  Roman  to  Christian  marriage. — •  Ancient  German  marriage. 
—  Early  mediaeval  usage.  —  The  place  of  religious  ceremony.  —  The  mode 
of  expressing  consensus.  —  Marriage  at  the  church  door.  —  Marriage  in 
Germany,  twelfth  century.  —  The  canon  law.  —  Mediteval  marriage.  —  Con- 
flict of  the  mores  with  the  church  programme.  —  Church  marriage;  concu- 
bines.—  The  church  elevated  the  notion  of  marriage.  —  The  decrees  of 
Trent  about  marriage.  —  Puritan  marriage. 

413.  Mores  lead  to  institutions.  We  have  seen  in  Chapter 
IX  that  the  sex  mores  control  and  fashion  all  the  relations  of 
the  sexes  to  each  other.  Marriage,  under  any  of  its  forms  (polyg- 
amy, polyandry,  etc.),  is  only  a  crystallization  of  a  set  of  these 
mores  into  an  imperfect  institution,  because  the  relation  of  a 
woman,  or  of  women,  to  a  husband  becomes  more  or  less  endur- 
ing, and  so  the  mores  which  constitute  the  relation  get  a  stabil- 
ity and  uniformity  of  coherence  which  makes  a  definable  whole, 
covering  a  great  field  of  human  interest  and  life  policy.  It  is  not 
a  complete  specimen  of  an  institution  (sec.  63).  It  lacks  structure 
or  material  element  of  any  kind,  but  the  parties  are  held  to 
make  good  the  understandings  and  cooperative  acts  which  the 
mores  prescribe  at  all  the  proper  conjunctures,  and  thus  there 
arises  a  system  of  acts  and  behavior  such  as  every  institution 
requires.  In  civilized  society  this  cluster  of  mores,  constituting 
a  relationship  by  which  needs  are  satisfied  and  sentiments  are 
cherished,  is  given  a  positive  form  by  legislation,  and  the  rights 
and  duties  which  grow  out  of  the  relationship  get  positive  defi- 
nition and  adequate  guarantees.  This  case  is,  therefore,  a  very 
favorable  one  for  studying  the  operation  of  the  mores  in  the 

395 


396  FOLKWAYS 

making  of  institutions,  or  preparing  them  for  the  final  work  of 
the  lawmaker. 

414.  Aleatory  interest  in  marriage  and  the  function  of  religion. 

The  positive  history  of  marriage  shows  that  it  has  been  always 
made  and  developed  by  the  mores,  that  is  to  say,  by  the  effort 
of  adjustment  to  conditions  in  such  a  way  that  self-realization 
may  be  better  effected  and  that  more  satisfaction  may  be  won 
from  life.  The  aleatory  element  (sec.  6)  in  marriage  is  very 
large.  Marriage  is  an  interest  of  every  human  being  who  reaches 
maturity,  and  it  affects  the  weal  and  woe  of  each  in  every 
detail  of  life.  Passing  by  the  forms  of  the  institution  in  which 
the  wife  is  under  stern  discipline  and  those  in  which  the  man 
can  at  once  exert  his  will  to  modify  the  institution,  it  may  be 
said  of  all  freer  forms  that  there  is  no  way  in  which  to  guarantee 
the  happiness  of  either  party  save  in  reliance  on  the  character 
of  the  other.  This  is  a  most  uncertain  guarantee.  In  the  unfold- 
ing of  life,  under  ever  new  vicissitudes,  it  appears  that  it  is  a 
play  of  luck,  or  fate,  what  will  come  to  any  one  out  of  the 
marital  union  with  another.  Women  have  been  more  at  the 
sport  of  this  element  of  luck,  but  men  have  cared  much  more  for 
their  smaller  risk  in  it.  Therefore,  at  all  stages  of  civilization, 
devices  to  determine  luck  have  been  connected  with  weddings, 
and  in  many  cases  acts  of  divination  have  been  employed  to  find 
out  what  the  future  had  in  store  for  the  pair.  Marriage  is  a 
domestic  and  family  affair.  The  wedding  is  public  and  invites 
the  cooperation  of  friends  and  neighbors.  Wedlock  is  a  mode 
of  life  which  is  private  and  exclusive.  The  civil  authority,  after 
it  is  differentiated  and  integrated,  takes  cognizance  and  control 
of  the  rights  of  children,  legitimacy,  inheritance,  and  property. 
Religion,  in  its  connection  with  marriage,  takes  its  function 
from  the  aleatory  interest.  It  is  not  of  the  essence  of  marriage. 
It  "blesses"  it,  or  secures  the  favor  of  the  higher  powers  who 
distribute  good  and  bad  fortune.  In  a  very  few  cases  amongst 
savage  tribes  religious  ceremonies  "  make  "  a  marriage  ;  that  is, 
they  give  to  it  (to  the  authority  of  the  husband)  a  superstitious 
sanction  which  insures  permanence  and  coercion  as  long  as  the 
husband  wants  permanence  and  coercion.    These  cases  are  rare. 


THE   MARRIAGE   INSTITUTION  397 

The  notion  that  a  religious  ceremony  makes  a  marriage,  and 
defines  it,  had  no  currency  until  the  sixteenth  Christian  century. 

415.  Chaldean  demonism  and  marriage.  Chaldean  demonism 
affected  wedding  ceremonies.  The  belief  was  that  demons  found 
their  opportunities  at  great  crises  in  life,  when  interest  and 
excitement  ran  high.  Then  the  demons  rejoiced  to  exert  their 
malignity  on  man  to  produce  frustration  and  disappointment. 
Cases  are  not  rare  in  which  the  consummation  of  marriage  was 
deferred,  in  barbarism  and  half -civilization,  to  ward  off  this  inter- 
ference of  demons.  The  Chaldean  groom's  companions  led  him 
to  the  bride,  and  he  repeated  to  her  the  formulas  of  marriage  : 
"  I  am  the  son  of  a  prince.  Silver  and  gold  shall  fill  thy  bosom. 
Thou  shalt  be  my  wife  and  I  thy  husband.  As  a  tree  bears 
abundant  fruit,  so  great  shall  be  the  abundance  which  I  will 
pour  out  on  this  woman."  A  priest  blessed  them  and  said  : 
"  All  which  is  bad  in  this  man  do  ye  [gods]  put  far  away,  and 
give  him  strength.  Do  thou,  man,  give  thy  virility.  Let  this 
woman  be  thy  spouse.  Do  thou,  woman,  give  thy  womanhood, 
and  let  this  man  be  thy  husband."  The  next  morning  a  ritual 
was  used  to  drive  away  evil  spirits.^ 

416.  Hebrew  marriage  before  the  exile.  In  the  canon  of  the 
Old  Testament  we  get  no  information  at  all  about  wedding  cere- 
monies, or  the  marriage  institution.  The  reason  for  this  must  be 
that  marriage  was  altogether  a  family  and  domestic  affair.  It 
was  controlled  by  very  ancient  mores,  under  which  marriage  and 
the  family  were  conducted,  as  beyond  question  correct.  It  is  in 
the  nature  of  the  case,  in  all  forms  of  the  father  family,  that  a 
girl  until  marriage  was  under  the  care  and  authority  of  her 
father  or  nearest  male  relative.  The  suitor  must  ask  him  to 
give  her,  and  must  induce  him  to  give  her  by  gifts.  The  trans- 
fer was  made  publicly  that  it  might  be  known  that  she  was  the 
wife  of  such  an  one.  The  old  Hebrew  marriage  seems  to  have 
consisted  in  this  form  of  giving  a  daughter,  in  all  its  simplicity. 
We  find  a  taboo  on  the  union  of  persons  related  by  consanguinity 
or  afifinity.  Later  there  was  a  taboo  on  exogamic  marriage. 
In  the  prophets  there  are  metaphors  and  symbolical  acts  relating 

1  Maspero,  Peiiples  de  F Orient,  I,  736. 


398  FOLKWAYS 

to  marriage,  which  show  a  development  of  the  mores  in  regard 
to  it.  The  formulas  which  are  attached  to  the  prohibitions  in 
Levit.  xviii  are  in  the  form  of  explanations  of  the  prohibitions 
or  reasons  for  them,  but  they  furnish  no  real  explanations. 
Their  sense  is  simply  :  For  such  is  the  usage  in  Israel,  or  in  the 
Jahveh  religion.  That  was  the  only  and  sufficient  reason  for  any 
prescription.  "  After  the  consent  of  the  parents  of  the  bride 
had  been  obtained,  which  was  probably  attended  by  a  family 
feast,  the  bridegroom  led  the  bride  to  his  dwelling  and  the 
wedding  was  at  an  end.  No  mention  is  made  anywhere  of  any 
function  of  a  priest  in  connection  with  it.  It  is  not  until  after 
the  Babylonian  exile,  after  the  Jews  had  become  more  fully 
acquainted  with  the  mores  and  usages  of  other  civilized  peoples 
of  that  age,  that  weddings  amongst  them  were  made  more 
solemn  and  ceremonial.  After  a  betrothal  a  full  year  (if  the 
bride  was  a  widow,  one  month)  was  allowed  the  pair,  after  the 
captivity,  to  prepare  their  outfit,  in  imitation  of  the  Persian  cus- 
tom (Esther  ii.  12)."  "At  the  end  of  the  delay,  the  bride  was 
led  or  carried  to  the  house  of  the  groom,  in  a  procession,  with 
dancing  and  noisy  rejoicing,  as  is  now  the  custom  in  Arabia  and 
Persia.  Ten  guests  must  be  present  in  the  groom's  house,  as 
witnesses,  where  prayer  formulas  were  recited  and  a  feast  was 
enjoyed."  There  were  also  prayers  by  all  present  at  a  betrothal 
"  in  order  to  give  the  affair  a  religious  color."  The  pair  retired 
then  to  a  room  where  they  first  made  each  other's  acquaintance. 
Then  two  bridesmen  led  them  to  the  nuptial  chamber  where 
they  watched  over  them  until  after  the  first  conjugal  union.  This 
last  usage  was  not  universal,  and  after  some  experience  of  its 
ambiguous  character  it  was  abolished.  The  purpose  was  that 
there  might  be  witnesses  to  the  consummation  of  the  marriage, 
not  merely  to  the  wedding  ceremony.  The  whole  proceeding 
was  a  domestic  and  family  affair,  in  which  no  priest  or  other 
outsider  had  any  part,  except  as  witness,  and  there  was  no 
religious  element  in  it.^  The  prayer  formulas  were  uttered  by 
the  participants  and  their  friends,  and  they  were  formulas  of 
invoking  blessing,  prosperity,  and  good  fortune. 

1  Bergel,  Eheverkdlt.  der  Jud:n,  19. 


THE  MARRIAGE   INSTITUTION 


399 


417.  Jewish  marriage  after  the  exile.  The  Jewish  idea  of 
marriage  was  naive  and  primitive.  The  purpose  was  procreation. 
Every  man  was  bound  to  marry,  after  the  exile,  and  could  be 
compelled  to  do  so,  and  to  beget  at  least  one  son  and  one  daughter. 
By  direct  inference  sterility  made  marriage  void.  It  had  failed 
of  its  purpose.  It  was  the  naivete  of  this  notion  of  marriage 
which  led  to  the  provision  of  witnesses  for  the  consummation  of 
the  marriage.  Marriage  meant  carnal  union  under  prescribed 
conditions,  and  nothing  else.  In  Deut.  xxii.  28  f.  the  rule  is  laid 
down  that  a  man  who  violated  a  maid  must  remain  her  husband. 
This  is  another  direct  inference  from  the  view  of  marriage.  The 
ketubaJi  was  the  document  of  a  "gift  on  account  of  nuptials  to 
be  celebrated."  It  made  the  bride  a  wife  and  not  a  concubine  or 
maid  servant,  for  the  distinction  depended  on  the  intention  of  the 
bridegroom.  In  the  rabbinical  period  the  betrothal  and  wedding 
v/ere  united.  The  wedding  was  made  by  a  gift  (a  coin  or  ring), 
by  a  document  {ketubah)^  or  by  the  fact  of  conciibitiis}  The  man 
took  the  woman  to  wife  by  the  formula :  "  Be  thou  consecrated 
to  me,"  or  later,  "  Be  thou  consecrated  to  me  by  the  law  of  Moses 
and  Israel."  These  formalities  took  place  in  the  presence  of  at 
least  ten  witnesses,  who  pronounced  blessings  and  wishes  for 
good  fortune.  The  third  mode  of  wedding  was  forbidden  in  the 
third  century  a.d.  In  the  Jewish  notions  of  marriage  we  see 
already  the  beginning  of  the  later  casuistry.  Procreation  being 
the  sense  and  purpose  of  marriage,  the  carnal  act  was  the  matter 
of  chief  importance.  At  the  same  time  the  Jews  thought  that 
copulation  and  childbirth  rendered  unclean.  They  must  be  recti- 
fied by  purification  and  penance.  Thus  the  act  had  a  double 
character  ;  it  was  both  right  and  wrong.  It  was  a  conjugal  duty 
not  to  be  sensual .^  All  this  contributed  to  the  modern  notion 
of  pair  marriage,  for  at  last  no  sex  indulgence  was  allowed 
outside  of  legal  marriage.  When  the  custom  of  the  presence  of 
witnesses  in  the  bride  chamber  produced  dissatisfaction  a  tent 
was  substituted  for  the  chamber.  Later  a  scarf,  ceremoniously 
spread  over  the  heads  of  the  pair,  took  the  place  of  the  tent. 
The  custom  arose  that  the   pair  retired  to  a  special  room  and 

1  Deut.  xxii.  29.  2  Freisen,  Gesch.  des  kanoii.  Ehe7-echts,  848. 


400  FOLKWAYS 

took  a  meal  together  there.  "The  ceremony  had  no  ecclesi- 
astical character.  .  .  .  The  blessings  only  gave  publicity  to  the 
ceremony.  They  were  not  priestly  blessings  and  were  not  essen- 
tial to  the  validity  of  the  marriage."  ^  So  we  see  that,  even 
amongst  a  people  so  attached  to  tradition  as  the  Jews,  when  one 
of  the  folkways  did  not  satisfy  an  interest,  or  outraged  taste,  the 
mores  modified  it  into  a  form  which  could  give  satisfaction. 

418.  Marriage  in  the  New  Testament.  According  to  the  New 
Testament  marriage  is  a  compromise  between  indulgence  and 
renunciation  of  sex  passion.  A  compromise  is  always  irrational 
when  it  bears  upon  concepts  of  right  and  truth,  and  not  on  mere 
expediency  of  action.  The  concept  of  right  and  truth  on  either 
hand  may  be  correct ;  it  is  certain  that  the  compromise  between 
them  is  not  correct.  The  compromise  can  be  maintained  only 
by  disregarding  its  antagonism  to  the  concepts  on  each  side  of 
it.  For  fifteen  hundred  years  the  Christian  church  fluttered,  as 
in  a  moral  net,  in  the  inconsistencies  of  the  current  view  of  mar- 
riage. The  procreation  of  children  was  recognized  as  the  holiest 
function  and  the  greatest  responsibility  of  human  beings,  but  it 
was  considered  to  involve  descent  into  sensuality  and  degradation. 
It  was  the  highest  right  and  the  deepest  wrong  to  satisfy  the  sex 
passion,  and  the  two  aspects  were  reconciled  partially  in  marriage, 
by  a  network  of  intricate  moral  dogmas  which  must  be  inculcated 
by  long  and  painful  education.  In  the  sixteenth  century  the 
problem  was  solved  by  repudiating  the  doctrine  of  celibacy  as  a 
meritorious  and  superior  state,  and  making  marriage  a  rational 
and  institutional  regulation  of  the  sex  relation,  in  which  the  aim 
is  to  repress  what  is  harmful,  and  develop  what  is  beneficial,  to 
human  welfare.  This  change  was  produced  by  and  out  of  the 
mores.  The  Protestants  denounced  the  falsehood  and  vice  under 
the  pretended  respect  for  celibacy.  The  new  view  of  marriage 
could  not  be  at  once  fully  invented  and  introduced.  Therefore 
the  Romanists  pointed  with  scorn  to  the  careless  marriage  and 
loose  divorce  amongst  the  Protestants  (sec.  380). 

419.  Merit  of  celibacy.  No  reasons  are  ascertainable  why  Paul 
should  maintain  that  celibacy  is  to  be  preferred  to  wedlock  as  a 

^  Freisen,  Gesch.  des  kanon.  Eherechts,  23,  47,  92-96. 


THE   MARRIAGE   INSTITUTION  4OI 

more  worthy  mode  of  life.  In  i  Cor.  vii.  32-34  he  argues  that 
the  unmarried,  being  free  from  domestic  cares,  can  care  for  the 
things  of  God.  He  speaks  often  of  the  degree  of  certainty  he 
feels  that  he  has  with  him  the  Spirit  of  God.  This  shows  that 
he  often  lacked  self-confidence  in  regard  to  his  teachings.  He 
does  not  seem  to  hold  the  ascetic  view.  In  Ephes.  v.  22  the 
marriage  institution  is  accepted  and  regulated,  with  some  mys- 
tical notions,  which  it  is  impossible  to  understand.  Marriage  and 
Christ's  headship  of  the  church  are  said  to  explain  each  other  or 
to  be  parallel,  but  it  is  not  possible  to  understand  which  of  them 
is  represented  as  simple  and  obvious,  so  that  it  explains  the  other. 
The  apostle  sometimes  seems  to  lay  stress  on  the  vexations  and 
cares  of  wedlock.  If  that  is  his  motive,  he  announces  no  principle 
or  religious  rule,  but  only  a  consideration  of  expediency  which  is 
not  on  a  high  plane.  Tertullian  and  Jerome  (in  anticipation  of 
the  end  of  the  world)  regarded  virginity  as  an  end  in  itself  ;  that 
is  to  say,  that  they  thought  it  noble  and  pious  to  renounce  the 
function  on  which  the  perpetuation  of  the  species  depends.  The 
race  (having  left  out  of  account  the  end  of  the  world)  cannot 
commit  suicide,  and  men  and  women  cannot  willfully  antagonize 
the  mores  of  existence  —  economic,  social,  intellectual,  and  moral, 
as  well  as  physical  —  which  are  imposed  on  them  by  the  fact  that 
the  human  race  consists  of  two  complementary  sexes.  Jerome, 
in  his  tracts  against  Jovinianus,  wanders  around  and  around  the 
absurdities  of  this  contradiction.  The  ascetic  side  of  it  became 
the  cardinal  idea  of  religious  virtue  in  the  Middle  Ages.  "  Monk- 
ish asceticism  saw  woman  only  in  the  distorting  mirror  of  desire 
suppressed  by  torture."  1  "Woman"  became  a  phantasm.  She  was 
imaginary.  She  appeared  base,  sensual,  and  infinitely  enchanting, 
drawing  men  down  to  hell ;  yet  worth  it.  In  truth,  there  never 
has  been  any  such  creature.  In  the  replies  of  Gregory  to  Augus- 
tine (601  A.D.)  2  arbitrary  rules  about  marriage  and  sex  are  laid 
down  with  great  elaboration.  They  are  prurient  and  obscene. 
The  mediaeval  sophistry  about  the  birth  of  Christ  is  the  utmost 
product  of  human  folly  in  its  way.  Joseph  and  Mary  were  mar- 
ried, but  the  marriage  was  never  consummated.    Yet  it  was  a 

1  Lippert,  A'nltnrgesch.,  II,  520.  2  Wilkins,  Concilia,  20. 


402 


FOLKWAYS 


true  marriage  and  Mary  became  a  mother,  but  Joseph  was  not 
the  father.  Mary  was  a  virgin,  nevertheless.  This  might  all  pass, 
as  it  does  in  modern  times,  as  an  old  tradition  which  is  not  worth 
discussing,  but  the  mediaeval  people  turned  it  in  every  possible 
direction,  and  were  never  tired  of  drawing  new  deductions  from 
it.  At  last,  it  consists  in  simply  affirming  two  contradictory 
definitions  of  the  same  word  at  the  same  time.  There  are,  in 
the  mythologies,  many  cases  of  virgin  birth.  The  Scandinavian 
valkyre  was  the  messenger  of  the  god  to  the  hero  and  the  life 
attendant  of  the  latter.  He  loved  her,  but  she,  to  keep  her  call- 
ing, must  remain  a  virgin.  Otherwise  she  gave  up  her  divine 
position  and  deathlessness  in  order  to  live  and  die  with  him.^  The 
notion  of  merit  and  power  in  renunciation  is  heathen,  not  Chris- 
tian, in  origin.  The  most  revolting  application  of  it  was  when 
two  married  people  renounced  conjugal  intimacy  in  order  to  be 
holy. 

420.  Marriage  in  early  Christianity.  In  the  earliest  centuries 
of  Christianity  very  little  attention  seems  to  have  been  paid  to 
marriage  by  the  Christians.  It  was  left  to  the  mores  of  each 
national  group,  omitting  the  sacrifices  to  the  heathen  gods.  It 
is  not  possible  to  trace  the  descent  of  Christian  marriage  from 
Jewish,  Greek,  or  Roman  marriage,  but  the  best  authorities  think 
that  its  fundamental  idea  is  Jewish  (carnal  union),  not  Roman 
(jural  relations).^  "The  church  found  the  solemn  ceremonies  for 
concluding  marriage  existing  [in  each  nation].  No  divine  com- 
mand in  regard  to  this  matter  is  to  be  found  "  [in  the  New  Testa- 
ment].^ The  church,  in  time,  added  new  ceremonies  to  suit  its 
own  views.  Hence  there  was  the  same  variety  at  first  inside  the 
church  as  there  had  been  before  Christianity.  There  can,  there- 
fore, be  no  doubt  that,  throughout  the  Latin  branch  of  the  church, 
the  usages  and  theories  of  Roman  marriage  passed  over  into  the 
Christian  church.  Lecky  says  that  at  Rome  monogamy  was 
from  the  earliest  times  strictly  enjoined  ;  and  it  was  one  of  the 
greatest  benefits  that  have  resulted  from  the  expansion  of  Roman 
power,  that  it  made  this  type  dominant  in  Europe.*    Although 

1  Wisen,  Qvijiiian  i  Nordens  For>itid,  7.  ^  Jhid.,  121. 

2  Freisen,  Gesch.  des  kanon.  Eherechts^  154.  *  Eur.  JlIo?-als,  II,  298. 


THE  MARRIAGE   INSTITUTION 


403 


the  Romans  had  strict  monogamy  in  their  early  history,  they  had 
abandoned  it  before  their  expansion  began  to  have  effect,  and 
monogamy  was  the  rule,  in  the  civilized  world,  for  those  who 
were  not  rich  and  great,  quite  independently  of  Roman  influence, 
at  the  time  of  Christ.  The  Roman  marriage  of  the  time  of  the 
empire,  especially  in  the  social  class  which  chiefly  became  Chris- 
tians, was  "free  marriage,"  consisting  in  cojisensns  and  delivery 
of  the  bride.  Richer  people  added  mstnmienta  dotalia  as  docu- 
ments to  regulate  property  rights,  and  as  proofs  of  the  marital 
affection  of  the  groom  by  virtue  of  which  he  meant  to  make  the 
bride  his  wife,  not  his  concubine.  The  marriage  of  richer  people, 
therefore,  had  a  guarantee  which  had  no  place  between  those  who 
had  no  occasion  for  such  documents.  Life  with  a  woman  of  good 
reputation  and  honorable  life  created  a  presumption  of  marriage. 
The  church  enforced  this  as  a  conscience  marriage,  which  it  was 
the  man's  duty  to  observe  and  keep. 

421.  Marriage  in  Roman  law.  In  the  corpus  Juris  civi/isXhero. 
are  two  passages  which  deserve  especial  attention.  In  Dig.,  I, 
xxiii,  2,  it  is  said  :  "  Nuptials  are  a  conjunction  of  a  male  and 
a  female  and  a  correlation  {consortium)  of  their  entire  lives  ;  a 
mutual  interchange  (commitnicatio)  of  rights  under  both  human 
and  divine  law."  In  the  Institutes  (sec.  I,  i,  9)  it  is  said: 
"  Nuptials,  or  matrimony,  is  a  conjunction  of  a  man  and  a  woman 
which  constitutes  a  single  course  of  life  {individuavt  vitae  con- 
suetudinem)."  These  are  formulas  for  very  high  conceptions  of 
marriage.  They  would  enter  easily  into  the  notion  of  pair  mar- 
riage at  its  best.  The  former  formula  never  was,  amongst  the 
Romans,  anything  but  an  enthusiastic  outburst.  Roman  man  and 
wife  had  no  common  property  ;  they  could  make  no  gifts  to  each 
other  lest  they  should  despoil  each  other  ;  their  union,  in  the  time 
of  the  empire,  was  dissoluble  almost  at  pleasure  ;  the  father  and 
mother  had  not  the  same  relation  to  their  children  ;  the  woman, 
if  detected  in  adultery,  was  severely  punished  ;  the  man,  in  the 
same  case,  was  not  punished  at  all.  The  "  correlation  of  their 
entire  lives  "  was,  therefore,  very  imperfect.  The  sense  of  indi- 
viduam  vitae  consuetudinem  is  very  uncertain.  It  could  not  have 
meant  merely  the  exclusive  conjugal  relation  of  each  to  the  other, 


404 


FOLKWAYS 


although  such  was  the  sense  given  to  the  words  in  the  church. 
The  law  contained  no  specification  of  the  mutual  rights  and  duties 
of  the  spouses.  These  were  set  by  the  mores  and  varied  very 
greatly  in  Roman  history.  Affectus  ^naritalis  (the  disposition  of 
a  husband  to  a  wife)  and  Jionore  pleno  deligcre  (to  distinguish 
with  complete  honor)  are  alone  emphasized  as  features  of  marriage 
which  distinguished  it  from  concubinage.^  Roman  jurists  took 
marriage  as  a  fact,  for  at  Rome  from  the  earliest  times,  it  had 
been  a  family  matter,  developed  in  the  folkways.  The  civil  law 
defined  the  rights  which  the  state  regarded  as  its  business  in 
that  connection,  and  which  it  would,  therefore,  enforce.^ 

422.  Roman  <'  free  marriage."  The  passages  quoted  in  the 
last  paragraph  refer  to  "  free  marriage  "  after  the  manns  idea 
had  been  lost.  They  could  be  applied  also  to  the  German 
notion  of  marriage  after  the  Germans  abandoned  the  imind  idea. 
They  also  correspond  to  the  Greek  view  of  marriage,  for  in 
Greece  the  authority  of  the  father  early  became  obsolete  in  its 
despotic  form.  From  the  time  of  Diocletian  the  woman  who  was 
sin  juris  was  a  subject  of  the  state  without  intermediary,  just  as 
her  brother  or  husband  was,  and  she  enjoyed  free  disposition  of 
herself.  The  same  view  of  marriage  passed  into  the  Decretals  of 
Gratian  and  into  our  modern  legislation.'^ 

423.  Free  marriage.  At  the  end  of  the  fourth  century  a.d. 
the  church  set  aside  the  Roman  notions  of  the  importance  of 
the  dos  and  donatio  propter  mcptias,  and  made  the  consensus  the 
essential  element  in  marriage.  This  was  an  adoption  of  that 
form  of  "free  marriage"  of  the  time  of  the  empire  which  the 
class  from  which  Christians  came  had  practiced.  That  is  to  say, 
that  the  church  took  up  the  form  of  marriage  which  had  been  in 
the  class  mores  of  the  class  from  which  the  church  was  recruited. 
This  is  really  all  that  can  be  said  about  the  origin  of  "Christian 
marriage."  It  is  a  perpetuation  of  the  mores  of  the  lowest  free 
classes  in  the  Roman  world.  Justinian  reintroduced  the  dos  and 
donatio  for  persons  of  the  higher  classes  who  were,  in  his  time, 
included  in  the  church.  People  of  the  lower  class  were  to  utter 
the  consensus  in  a  church  before  three  or  four  clergymen,  and  a 

1  Cf.  Freisen,  26.  ^  Rossbach,  Rd»i.  E/ie.,  9.  ^  Ibid.,  62. 


THE  MARRIAGE   INSTITUTION 


405 


certificate  was  to  be  prepared.^  The  lowest  classes  might  still 
neglect  all  ceremony.  This  law  aimed  to  secure  publicity,  a  dis- 
tinct expression  of  consent,  and  a  record.  There  is  no  reference 
to  any  religious  blessing  or  other  function  of  the  clergy.  They 
appear  as  civil  functionaries  charged  to  witness  and  record  an  act 
of  the  parties. 2  In  another  novel  ^  all  this  was  done  away  with 
except  the  written  contract  about  the  dower,  if  there  was  one.* 

424.  Transition  from  Roman  to  Christian  marriage.  The  ideal 
of  marriage  which  has  just  been  described  came  into  the  Chris- 
tian church  out  of  the  Roman  world.  Roman  wedding  sacrifices 
were  intended  to  obtain  signs  of  the  approval  of  the  gods  on  the 
wedding.  They  were  domestic  sacrifices  only,  since  the  sacred 
things  of  the  spouses  were  at  home  only.  The  auspices  ceased 
to  be  taken  at  marriages  from  the  time  of  Cicero.  It  became 
customary  to  declare  that  nothing  unfavorable  to  the  marriage 
had  occurred.  There  are  many  relief  representations  of  late 
Roman  marriages  on  which  Juno  appears  as  promiba,  a  figure  of 
her  standing  behind  the  spouses  as  protectress  or  patroness. 
Rossbach  ^  thus  interprets  such  a  relief  :  "  The  bethrothed,  with 
the  assistance  of  Ju'no,  goddess  of  marriage,  solemnly  make  the 
covenant  of  their  love,  to  which  Venus  and  the  Graces  are  favor- 
able, by  prayer  and  sacrifices  before  the  gods.  By  the  aid  of 
Juno  love  becomes  a  legitimate  marriage."  Rossbach  mentions 
exactly  similar  reliefs  in  which  Christ  is  the  pronuba,  and  the 
transition  to  Christianity  is  distinctly  presented.  In  a  similar 
manner  ideas  and  customs  about  marriage  were  brought  under 
Christian  symbol  or  ceremony,  and  handed  down  to  us  as 
"Christian  marriage."  The  origin  of  them  is  in  the  mores  of 
the  classes  who  accepted  Christianity,  which  were  subjected  to  a 
grand  syncretism  in  the  first  centuries  of  Christianity. 

425.  Ancient  German  marriage.  No  documents  were  necessary 
until  the  time  of  Justinian  (550  a.d.),  an  oral  agreement  being 
sufficient,  if  probable.  There  were  essential  parts  of  the  Roman 
wedding  usages  which  were  independent  of  paganism  and  which 

1  Nm:el.,  LXXIV,  c.  4,  sec.  i  (537  a.d.).  3  CXVII,  c.  4. 

2  Cf.  Nov.,  XXII,  c.  3.  *  Friedberg,  14-16. 

^  Rdtn.  Hochzeits  luid  EhedenJandler,  49,  107. 


406  FOLKWAYS 

were  necessarily  performed  at  home.  In  the  Eastern  empire 
concubinage  was  aboUshed  at  the  end  of  the  ninth  century. 
The  heathen  Germans  had  two  kinds  of  marriage,  one  with,  the 
other  without,  jural  consequences.  Both  were  marriage.  The 
difference  was  that  one  consisted  in  betrothal,  endowment,  and 
a  solemn  wedding  ceremony  ;  the  other  lacked  these  details. 
Here,  again,  it  is  worth  while  to  notice  that  property  and  rank 
would  very  largely  control  the  question  which  of  these  two  forms 
was  more  suitable.  Consequences  as  to  property  followed  from 
the  former  form  which  were  wanting  in  the  latter.  If  the  pair 
had  no  property,  the  latter  form  was  sufficient.  In  mediaeval 
Christian  Germany  the  canon  law  obliterated  the  distinction, 
but  then  morganatic  marriage  was  devised,  by  which  a  man  of 
higher  rank  could  marry  a  woman  of  lower  rank  without  creating 
rights  of  property  or  rank  in  her  or  her  children.  In  such  a 
form  of  marriage  the  Roman  law  saw  lack  of  affectiis  maritalis 
and  of  deligere  Jionore  plcno  ;  hence  the  union  was  concubinage, 
not  marriage.  The  German  law  held  that  the  intention  to  marry 
made  marriage,  and  that  property  rights  were  another  matter. ^ 
The  ancient  mores  lasted  on  and  kept  control  of  marriage,  and 
the  church,  in  its  efforts  to  establish  its  own  theories  of  marriage, 
property,  legitimacy,  rank,  etc.,  was  at  war  with  the  old  mores. 
426.  Early  church  usage.  In  the  Decretals  of  Gratian^  are 
collected  the  earliest  authorities  about  marriage  in  the  Christian 
church,  some  of  which  are  regarded  now  as  ungenuine.  "  Never- 
theless it  is  impossible  to  say  that,  in  the  early  times  of  Christianity, 
there  was  any  church  wedding.  Weddings  were  accomplished 
before  witnesses  independently  of  the  church,  or  perhaps  in 
the  presence  of  a  priest  by  the  professionesy  Then  followed 
the  pompous  home  bringing  of  the  bride.  Afterwards  the  spouses 
took  part  in  the  usual  church  service  and  the  sacrament  and 
gave  oblations.^  Later  special  prayers  for  the  newly  wedded  were 
introduced  into  the  service.  Later  still  special  masses  for  the 
newly  wedded  were  introduced.    Such  existed  probably  before 

1  Freisen,  48,  103  ;  Grimm,  D.  R.  A.,  420. 

2  II,  c.  XXX,  qu.  5,  c.  I. 

'  Pullan,  Hist.  Book  of  Co77i}no)i  Prayer,  217. 


THE   MARRIAGE   INSTITUTION  407 

the  ninth  century .^  The  declaration  of  consensus  still  took  place 
elsewhere  than  in  church,  and  not  until  the  rituals  of  the  eleventh 
and  twelfth  centuries  does  the  priest  ask  for  it,  or  is  it  asked  for 
in  his  presence.  In  the  Greek  ritual  there  has  never  yet  been 
any  declaration  of  consensus?' 

427.  The  usage  as  to  religious  ceremony.  The  more  pious 
people  were,  the  more  anxious  they  were  to  put  all  their  doings 
under  church  sanction,  and  they  sought  the  advice  of  honored 
ecclesiastics  as  to  marriage.  Such  is  the  sense  of  Ignatius  to 
Polycarp,  chapter  5 .  Tertullian  was  a  rigorist  and  extremist, 
whose  utterances  do  not  represent  fact.  In  our  own  law  and 
usage  a  common-law  marriage  is  valid,  but  people  of  dignified 
and  serious  conduct,  still  more  people  of  religious  feeling,  do  not 
seek  the  minimum  which  the  law  will  enforce.  They  seek  to  com- 
ply with  the  usages  in  their  full  extent,  and  to  satisfy  the  whole 
law  of  the  religious  body  to  which  they  belong.  In  like  manner, 
there  was  a  great  latitude  from  the  fourth  to  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, while  the  Christian  church  was  trying  to  mold  the  barbarian 
mores  to  its  own  standards  in  the  usages  which  were  current,  but 
an  ecclesiastical  function  was  not  necessary  to  a  valid  marriage 
until  the  Council  of  Trent.  In  fact  a  wedding  in  church  never  was 
an  unconditional  requirement  for  a  valid  marriage  among  Ger- 
man Roman  Catholics  until  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century.^ 
Somewhat  parallel  cases  of  the  addition  of  religious  ceremonies 
to  solemn  public  acts  which  had  been  developed  in  the  mores  are 
the  emancipation  of  a  slave,  and  the  making  of  a  knight.* 

428.  Mode  of  expressing  consensus.  If  the  consent  of  the 
parties  is  regarded  as  essential,  then  the  public  proceedings  must 
bring  out  an  expression  of  will.  The  ancient  German  usage  was 
that  the  friends  formed  a  circle  in  which  the  persons  to  be 
married  took  their  place,  and  the  woman's  guardian,  later  her 
most  distinguished  friend,  asked  them  (the  woman  first)  whether 
it  was  their  will  to  become  man  and  wife,  —  these  terms  being 

^  Friedberg,  Recht  der  Eheschliessung,  8. 

2  Ibid.,  9. 

3  Stammler,  Stelhtiig  der  Frtnten,  27. 

*  Jenks,  Laiv  and  Politics  in  the  Middle  Ages,  251. 


4o8  FOLKWAYS 

defined  in  the  mores.  Tliis  was  a  convenient  and  rational  pro- 
ceeding, of  primitive  simplicity  and  adaptation  to  the  purpose. 
In  Scandinavia  and  Iceland  the  ancient  laws  contained  exact  pre- 
scriptions as  to  the  person  who  might  officiate  as  the  conductor 
of  this  ceremony.  Relatives  of  the  bride,  first  on  her  father's 
side,  then  on  her  mother's,  were  named  in  a  series  according  to 
rank.^  Such  a  prolocutor  is  taken  for  understood  in  the  Consti- 
tiUio  de  Nuptiis  (England). ^  To  him  the  man  promises  to  take 
the  woman  to  wife  "  by  the  law  of  God  and  the  customs  of  the 
world,  and  that  he  will  keep  her  as  a  man  ought  to  keep  his 
wife."  Evidently  these  statements  convey  no  idea  of  wedlock 
unless  the  mores  of  the  time  and  place  are  known.  They  alone 
could  show  how  a  man  "ought  to  keep  his  wife."  The  man  also 
promises  to  show  due  provision  of  means  of  support,  and  his 
friends  become  his  sureties.  Through  the  Middle  Ages  great 
weight  was  given  to  the  provision  for  the  woman  throughout  her 
life,  especially  in  case  of  widowhood.  In  fact,  a  "wife"  differed 
from  a  mistress  by  virtue  of  this  provision  for  her  life.  In  the 
Constitntio  de  Niiptiis  it  is  added,  "  Let  a  priest  be  present  at 
the  nuptials,  who  is  to  unite  them  of  right,  with  the  blessing  of 
God,  in  full  plenitude  of  felicity." 

429.  Marriage  at  the  church  door.  In  a  French  ritual  of 
700  A.D.  the  priest  goes  to  the  church  door  and  asks  the  young 
pair  (who  appear  to  be  walking  and  wooing  in  the  street)  whether 
they  want  to  be  duly  married.  The  proceedings  all  concern  the 
marriage  gifts,  after  which  there  is  a  benediction  at  the  church 
door,  and  then  the  pair  go  into  the  church  to  the  mass.  A  hun- 
dred years  later  the  priest  asked  for  the  consensus,  and  statement 
of  the  gift  from  the  groom  to  the  bride,  and  for  a  gift  for  the 
poor.     Then  the  woman  was  given  by  her  father  or  friends.^ 

430.  Marriage  in  Germany  in  the  early  Middle  Ages.  In  the 
Frank,  Suabian,  Westphalian,  and  Bavarian  laws  "the  woman  was 
entitled  to  her  dower  when  she  had  put  her  foot  in  the  bed." 
The  German   saying  was,   "  When  the  coverlet  is   drawn  over 

1  Lehmann,  Verlobimg  iind  Hochzeit  nach  den  nordgermanischen  Rechteii  des 
fruhereji  M.  A.,  31. 

2  Wilkins,  Concilia,  I,  216  (644  A.D.).  ^  Friedberg,  61. 


THE   MARRIAGE   INSTITUTION 


409 


their  heads  the  spouses  are  equally  rich,"  that  is,  they  have  all 
property  of  either  in  common. ^  Hence,  in  German  law  and  cus- 
tom, consensus  followed  by  conciibitns  made  marriage.  Hence 
also  arose  the  custom  that  the  witnesses  accompanied  the  spouses 
to  their  bedchamber  and  saw  them  covered,  or  visited  them  later. 
Important  symbolic  acts  were  connected  with  this  visit.  The 
spouses  ate  and  drank  together.  The  guests  drove  them  to 
bed  with  blows. ^  The  witnesses  were  not  to  witness  a  promise, 
but  a  fact.  In  the  Carolingian  period,  except  in  forged  capitu- 
laries, there  is  very  little  testimony  to  the  function  of  priests 
in  weddings. 

The  custom  of  the  Jews  has  been  mentioned  above  (sec.  417).  Selected 
witnesses  were  thought  necessary  to  testify  at  any  time  to  the  consummation 
of  the  marriage.  In  the  third  century  B.C.  this  custom  was  modified  to  a 
ceremony.^  In  ancient  India  and  at  Rome  newly  wedded  spouses  were 
attended  by  tlie  guests  when  they  retired.*  The  Germans  had  this  custom 
from  the  earliest  times  and  they  kept  it  up  through  the  Middle  Ages.  The 
jural  consequences  of  marriage  began  from  the  moment  that  both  were 
covered  by  the  coverlet.  This  was  what  the  witnesses  were  to  testify  to. 
Evidently  the  higher  classes  had  the  most  reason  to  establish  the  jural  con- 
sequences. Therefore  kings  kept  up  this  custom  longest,  although  it  degen- 
erated more  and  more  into  a  mere  ceremony.^  The  German  Emperor 
Frederick  III  met  his  bride,  a  Portuguese  princess,  at  Naples.  The  pair  lay 
down  on  the  bed  and  were  covered  by  the  coverlet  for  a  moment,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  court.  They  were  fully  dressed  and  rose  again.  The  Portuguese 
ladies  were  shocked  at  the  custom."  The  custom  can  be  traced,  in  Branden- 
burg, as  late  as  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century."  English  customs 
of  the  eighteenth  century  to  seize  articles  of  the  bride's  dress  were  more 
objectionable. 

The  church  ceremony,  however,  won  its  way  in  popular  usage. 
It  consisted  in  blessing  the  ring  and  the  gifts,  and  the  interest 
of  ecclesiastics  began  to  be  centered  on  the  question  whether  the 
persons  to  be  married  were  within  the  forbidden  degrees  of  rela- 
tionshi}:^-^    In  the  Petri  Exceptiones  (between   1050  and    1.075)^ 

1  Freisen,  118.  -  Friedberg,  23. 

^  Freisen,  JCanon.  Eherecht,  92,  96;  'EtrgeX,  E/ieverkdlt.  der  Juden,  19. 

*  Rossbach,  Ro??i.  Eke,  370.  ^  Weinhold,  D  /^,  I,  399. 

^  Gesch.  Fried.  Ill,  by  ^neas  Silvius,  trans.  Ilgen,  II,  95. 

"^  Friedberg,  Recht  der  EhescliUesstiug,  23.  ^  Friedberg,  5S. 

^  Savigny,  Gesch.  des  Rbin.  Reclits  ttn  M.  A.,  II,  Append. 


4IO  FOLKWAYS 

it  is  expressly  stated,  amongst  other  statements  of  what  does  not 
make  a  marriage,  that  it  is  not  the  benediction  of  the  priest,  but 
the  mental  purpose  of  the  man  and  woman.  Other  things  only 
establish  testimony  and  record.  Weinhold  ^  cites  a  poem  of  the 
eleventh  century  in  which  a  wedding  is  described.  After  the 
betrothal  is  agreed  upon  by  the  relatives,  and  property  agreements 
have  been  made,  the  groom  gives  to  the  bride  a  ring  on  a  sword 
hilt,  saying,  "  As  the  ring  firmly  incloses  thy  finger,  so  do  I 
promise  thee  firm  and  constant  fidelity.  Thou  shalt  maintain  the 
same  to  me,  or  thy  life  shall  be  the  penalty."  She  takes  the  ring, 
they  kiss,  and  the  bystanders  sing  a  wedding  song.  In  a  Suabian 
document  of  the  twelfth  century,  the  bridegroom  is  the  chief 
actor.^  He  lays  down  successively  seven  gloves,  the  glove  being 
the  symbol  of  the  man  himself  in  his  individual  responsibility 
and  authority.  Each  glove  is  a  pledge  of  what  he  promises 
according  to  the  prescriptions  of  the  Suabian  mores,  for  which 
his  formula  is,  "  As  by  right  a  free  Suabian  man  should  do  to  a 
free  Suabian  woman."  He  enumerates  the  chief  kinds  of  Sua- 
bian property  and  promises  to  write  out  his  pledges  in  a  libellns 
dotis,  if  the  bride  will  provide  the  scribe.  Then  the  woman's 
guardian,  having  received  these  pledges,  delivers  her,  with  a 
sword  (on  the  hilt  of  which  is  a  finger  ring),  a  penny,  a  mantle, 
and  a  hat  on  the  sword,  and  says  :  "  Herewith  I  transfer  my 
ward  to  your  faithfulness,  and  to  your  grace,  and  I  pray  you, 
by  the  faith  with  which  I  yield  her  to  you,  that  you  be  her 
true  guardian,  and  her  gracious  guardian,  and  that  you  do  not 
become  her  direful  guardian."  "Then,"  it  is  added,  "let  him 
take  her  and  have  her  as  his."  This  must  be  a  very  ancient  form, 
of  German  origin.  There  is  no  consensus  expressed  in  it  and  the 
symbolism  is  elaborate.  The  libellns  dotis  is  evidently  an  innova- 
tion. It  has  a  Latin  name  and  is  a  contingent,  not  a  substantive 
part  of  the  man's  acts.  The  old  German  form  shows  that  the 
Latin  church  usage  had  not  yet  overturned  the  German  tradition. 
431.  The  canon  law.  In  the  Decretals  of  Gratian'^  the  doc- 
trine of  nuptials  is  that  they  begin  with  the  public  ceremony 

^  Deutsche  Fy-auen,  I,  341.  2  Rliein.  i\/iis.,  1829,  281. 

3  II,  c.  XXVII,  qu.  2,  and  c.  XXXIV. 


THE   MARRIAGE   INSTITUTION  41 1 

and  are  completed  by  conciibiliis.  Agreement  to  cohabit,  followed 
by  cohabitation,  constituted  marriage  by  the  canon  law.  This  is 
the  common  sense  of  the  case.  It  was  the  doctrine  of  the  canon 
law  and  is  the  widest  modern  civilized  view. 

432.  Mediaeval  marriage.  In  the  thirteenth  century  began 
the  astonishing  movement  by  which  the  church  remodeled  all 
the  ideas  and  institutions  of  the  age,  and  integrated  all  social 
interests  into  a  system  of  which  it  made  itself  the  center  and 
controlling  authority.  The  controlling  tendency  in  the  mores  of 
the  age  was  religiosity,  —  a  desire  to  construe  all  social  relations 
from  the  church  standpoint  and  to  set  all  interests  in  a  religious 
light.  Marriage  fell  under  this  influence.  The  priests  displaced 
the  earlier  prolocutors,  and  strove  to  make  marriage  an  ecclesias- 
tical function  and  their  own  share  in  it  essential,  although  they 
did  not  make  the  validity  of  marriage  depend  on  their  share  in 
it.i  In  different  places  and  amongst  different  classes  the  custom 
of  church  marriage  was  introduced  at  earlier  or  later  times,  and 
the  doctrine  of  priestly  function  in  connection  with  marriage 
became  established  with  greater  or  less  precision.  Friedberg^ 
considers  the  ordinance  of  the  Synod  of  Westminster^  (ii75) 
the  first  ordinance  which  distinctly  prescribed  church  marriage 
in  England,  but  from  that  to  the  establishment  of  a  custom  was 
a  long  way.  Pollock  and  Maitland*  think  that  marriage,  in  Eng- 
land, belonged  to  the  ecclesiastical  forum  by  the  middle  of  the 
twelfth  century.  Rituals  of  Salisbury  and  York  of  the  thirteenth 
century  show  the  early  church  customs,  only  rendered  more  elab- 
orate and  more  precise  in  detail.^  There  is  also  ritual  provision 
for  an  ecclesiastic  to  bless  the  bed  of  the  spouses  after  they  are 
in  it,  in  order  to  drive  away  the  evil  spirits.  In  1240,  in  the 
constitutions  of  Walter  de  Cantelupe,  marriage  is  called  a  sacra- 
ment, because  it  prefigures  the  sacrament  between  Christ  and  the 
church.  Marriage  was  to  precede  concubitns.  There  was  to  be 
no  divination  or  use  of  devices  for  luck.  By  synodal  statutes  of 
1246  it  was  ordered  that  priests  should  teach  that  betrothal  and 

1  Friedberg,  98.  *  Hist.  Eng.  Lmv,  I,  109  ;   II,  365. 

2  //)/(/.,  39.  ^  Surtees  Soc,  Man.  et  Pont.  Ecc. 
2  Wilkins,  Concilia,  ,1,  478.  Ebor.,  157,  and  App.  17. 


412  FOLKWAYS 

consummation  would  constitute  irrevocable  marriage.^  If  people 
treated  church  ordinances  and  forms  with  neglect  they  were 
punished  by  church  discipline,  but  the  marriage  was  not  declared 
invalid.  Hence  the  system  was  elastic  and  could  not  be  abruptly 
changed. 

433.  Conflict  of  mores  and  church  programme.  Betrothal  and 
wedding.  In  Germany  the  popular  resistance  to  a  change  of  the 
mores  about  marriage  was  more  stubborn  than  elsewhere.  Al- 
though ecclesiastics  were  present  at  marriages,  until  the  thirteenth 
century,  they  sometimes  took  no  part.^  In  the  poems,  from  the 
beginning  of  the  twelfth  century,  mention  is  made  of  priestly 
benediction ;  still  it  remains  uncertain  whether  this  took  place 
before  or  after  conciibitiis .  In  the  great  epics  of  the  thirteenth 
century  the  old  custom  of  the  circle  of  friends  and  the  interroga- 
tories by  a  distinguished  relative  appears.  The  couple  spend  the 
night  together  and  on  the  following  morning  go  to  church  where 
they  are  blessed.^  This  is  the  proceeding  in  Lohengrin.  In  the 
thirteenth  century  the  prolocutor  was  going  out  of  fashion  and 
the  ecclesiastic  got  a  chance  to  take  his  place.*  Evidently  there 
was  here  an  ambiguity  between  the  betrothal  and  the  wedding. 
It  took  two  or  three  centuries  to  eliminate  it.  When  the  man 
said,  "  I  will  take,"  did  he  mean,"  It  is  my  will  to  take  now,"  or 
did  he  mean,  "  I  will  take  at  a  future  time"  }  Sohm  ^  says  that 
betrothal  was  the  real  conclusion  of  a  marriage,  and  that  the  wed- 
ding was  only  the  confirmation  (  Volhiig)  of  a  marriage  already  con- 
summated. Friedberg^  says  that  the  wedding  was  the  conclusion 
of  a  projected  marriage  and  not  the  consummation  of  one  already 
concluded.  When  there  was  a  solemn  public  betrothal  and  then 
a  wedding  after  an  interval  of  time,  the  latter  was  plainly  a  repeti- 
tion which  had  no  significance.  What  happened  finally  was  that 
the  betrothal  fell  into  insignificance,  or  was  united  with  the  wed- 
ding as  in  the  modern  Anglican  service,  and  concidntiis  was  allowed 
only  after  the  wedding.  The  wedding  then  had  importance,  and 
was  not  merely  a  blessing  on  a  completed  fact.    It  was  then  a 

1  Wilkins,  I,  668,  690.  *  Weinhold,  D.  F.,  I,  373. 

2  Friedberg,  79.  ,  ^  Tj-aitung  mid  J'erlobioig,  37. 
^  JVibelutigen,  568-597.  ^  Verlobiuig  itnd  Trainmg,  23. 


THE   MARRIAGE   INSTITUTION 


413 


custom  in  all  classes  to  try  life  together  before  marriage  {Probe- 
ndc/iie).  In  the  fifteenth  century,  if  kings  were  married  by  proxy, 
the  proxy  slept  with  the  bride,  with  a  sword  between,  before  the 
church  ceremony.^  The  custom  to  celebrate  marriages  without 
a  priest  lasted,  amongst  the  peasants  of  Germany,  until  the  six- 
teenth century.^  "  It  was,  therefore,  customary  [in  the  thirteenth 
century]  to  have  the  church  blessing,  but  generally  only  after 
consummated  marriage.  The  blessing  was  not  essential,  but  was 
considered  appropriate  and  proper,  especially  in  the  higher  classes. 
In  the  fourteenth  century  the  ecclesiastical  form  won  more  and 
more  sway  over  the  popular  sentiment."  ^ 

434.  Church  marriage.  Concubines.  It  is  necessary  to  notice 
that  there  is  never  any  question  of  the  status  of  men.  They 
satisfy  their  interests  as  well  as  they  can  and  the  result  is  the 
stage  of  civilization.  The  status  of  women  is  their  position  with 
respect  to  men  in  a  society  in  which  men  hold  the  deciding  voice. 
Men  bear  power  and  responsibility.  Women  are  the  coadjutors, 
with  more  or  less  esteem,  honor,  cooperative  function,  and  joint 
authority.  There  has  never  until  modern  times  been  a  law  of 
the  state  which  forbade  a  man  to  take  a  second  wife  with  the 
first.  A  man  could  not  commit  adultery  because  he  was  not 
bound,  by  law  or  mores,  to  his  wife  as  she  w^as  to  him.  A  man 
and  woman  marry  themselves  and  lead  conjugal  life  in  a  world 
of  their  own.  Church  and  state  would  be  equally  powerless  to 
marry  them.  The  church  may  "  bless  "  their  union.  The  state 
may  define  and  enforce  the  civil  and  property  rights  of  themselves 
or  their  children.  It  cannot  enforce  conjugal  rights.  Therefore 
it  cannot  divorce  two  spouses.  They  divorce  themselves.  The 
state  can  say  what  civil  and  property  right  shall  be  affected  by 
the  divorce,  and  how  the  force  of  the  state  shall  enforce  the 
consequences.  The  marriage  relation  is  domestic  and  private, 
where  the  wills  of  the  individuals  prevail  and  where  the  police 
cannot  act.  The  Christian  church,  about  the  thirteenth  century, 
introduced  a  marriage  ritual  in  which  the  spouses  promised  exclu- 
sive fidelity,  the  man  as  much  as  the  woman.    As  fast  and  as  far 

1  Friedberg,  90.  2  Hagelstange,  Bauernlebefi  im  M.  A.,  61. 

3  Friedberg,  85 ;  cf.  Weinhold,  D.  F.,  I,  37S ;  Grimm,  D.  R.  A.,  436. 


414  FOLKWAYS 

as  church  marriage  was  introduced,  the  promise  set  the  idea  of 
marriage.  If  either  broke  the  promise,  he  or  she  was  hable  to 
church  censure  and  penance.  In  England  the  first  civil  law  against 
bigamy  was  I  James  I,  chapter  ii.  Never  until  1563  (Council 
of  Trent)  was  any  ecclesiastical  act  necessary  to  the  validity  of 
a  marriage  even  in  the  forum  of  the  church.  Marriage  was  in 
the  mores.  The  blessing  of  the  church  was  edifying  and  contrib- 
utory. It  was  not  essential.  Marriage  was  popular  and  belonged 
to  the  family.  In  the  ancient  nations  sacrifices  were  made  for 
good  fortune  in  wedlock.  In  the  Middle  Ages  Christian  priests 
blessed  marriages  which  had  been  concluded  by  laymen  and  had 
already  been  consummated.  The  relation  of  husband  and  wife 
varied,  at  that  time,  in  the  villages  of  Germany  or  northern  France 
of  the  same  nationality.  Until  modern  times  concubinage  has 
existed  as  a  recognized  institution.  It  was  an  inferior  form  of 
marriage,  in  which  the  woman  did  not  take  the  rank  of  her  hus- 
band, and  her  children  did  not  inherit  his  rank  or  property,  but 
her  status  was  permanent  and  defined.  Sometimes  it  was  exclu- 
sive. Then  again  slaves  have  been  at  the  mercy  of  a  master  and 
in  ancient  times  they  were  always  proud  to  "  find  favor  in  his 
eyes."  Thus  wives,  concubines,  and  slave  women  form  three 
recognized  ranks  of  female  companions. 

435.  The  church  elevated  the  notion  of  marriage.  In  all  the 
ancient  civilized  states  marriage  was  an  affair  of  property  inter- 
ests and  rank.  The  public  ceremony  was  needed  in  order  to 
establish  rights  of  property  and  inheritance,  legitimacy,  and 
civil  rights.  The  Christian  church  of  the  Middle  Ages  had  to 
find  a  ground  for  its  own  intervention.  This  it  did  by  emphasiz- 
ing the  mystic  element  in  marriage,  and  developing  all  the  sym- 
boHsm  of  the  Bible  which  could  be  applied  to  this  subject  and 
all  the  biographical  details  which  touched  upon  it,  —  Adam  and 
Eve,  Tobias,  Joseph  and  Mary,  the  one-flesh  idea,  the  symbolism 
of  Christ  and  the  church,  etc.  Thus  a  sentimental-poetical-mys- 
tical conception  of  marriage  was  superimposed  on  the  material- 
istic-sensual conception  of  it.  The  church  affirmed  that  marriage 
was  a  "  sacrament."  A  half-dozen  different  explanations  of  "  sac- 
rament "  in  this  connection  could  be  quoted.    It  is  impossible 


THE   MARRIAGE   INSTITUTION  415 

to  tell  what  it  means.  The  church,  however,  by  its  policy,  con- 
tributed greatly  to  the  development  of  the  nobler  conception  of 
marriage  in  modern  mores.  The  materialistic  view  of  it  has  been 
left  decently  covered,  and  the  conception  of  wedlock  as  a  fusion 
of  two  lives  and  interests  into  affectionate  cooperation,  by  the 
sympathy  of  character  and  tastes,  has  become  the  ideal.  The 
church  did  much  to  bring  about  this  change.  For  an  age  which 
attributed  a  vague  and  awful  efficacy  to  a  "sacrament,"  and 
was  familiar,  in  church  matters,  with  such  parallelisms  as  that 
alleged  between  marriage  and  the  union  of  Christ  with  his  church, 
it  is  very  probable  that  the  church  "fostered  a  feeling  that  a 
lifelong  union  of  one  man  and  one  woman  is,  under  all  circum- 
stances, the  single  form  of  intercourse  between  the  sexes  which 
is  not  illegitimate  ;  and  this  conviction  has  acquired  the  force  of 
a  primal  moral  intuition."  ^  What  has  chiefly  aided  this  effect 
has  been  the  rise  to  wealth  and  civil  power  of  the  middle  class 
of  the  later  Middle  Ages,  in  whose  mores  such  views  had  become 
fixed  without  much  direct  church  influence. 

436.  The  decrees  of  Trent  about  marriage.  It  was  not  until  the 
decrees  of  Trent  (1563)  that  the  church  established  in  its  law 
the  sacerdotal  theory  of  marriage  in  place  of  the  theory  of  the 
canon  law.  The  motive  at  Trent  was  to  prevent  clandestine 
marriages,  that  is,  marriages  which  were  not  made  by  a  priest 
or  in  church.  These  marriages  were  common  and  they  were 
mischievous  because  not  to  be  proved.  They  made  descent 
and  inheritance  uncertain  when  the  parties  belonged  to  families 
of  property  and  rank.  In  form,  the  decrees  of  Trent  provided 
for  publicity.  Marriage  was  to  be  celebrated  in  church,  by  the 
parish  priest,  and  before  two  witnesses.  This  action  was  not  in 
pursuance  of  a  change  in  the  mores.  It  was  a  specific  device 
of  leading  churchmen  to  accomplish  an  object.  In  view  of  the 
course  of  the  mores,  it  may  be  doubted  if  any  effect  ought  to  be 
attributed  to  the  decrees  of  Trent  for  their  immediate  purpose, 
but  two  effects  have  been  produced  which  the  churchmen  prob- 
ably did  not  foresee.  First,  it  became  the  law  of  the  church  that 
the  consent  of  a  man  and  a  woman,  expressed  in  a  church  before 

1  Lecky,  Eur.  Morals,  II,  347. 


4l6  FOLKWAYS 

the  parish  priest,  constituted  a  marriage  without  any  voluntary- 
participation  of  the  priest.  The  Huguenots  in  France,  for  more 
than  a  century,  married  themselves  in  this  way,  a  notary  being 
employed  to  make  a  record  and  certificate.  Secondly,  this  law 
became  the  great  engine  of  the  church  to  hold  its  children  to 
their  allegiance  and  prevent  mixed  marriages.  To  win  the  con- 
sent of  the  parish  priest  to  perform  the  ceremony  the  parties 
must  conform  to  church  requirements,  —  confession  and  com- 
munion. The  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries  were  occu- 
pied by  struggles  of  living  men  to  regulate  their  interests  in 
independence  of  these  restraints. 

437.  Puritan  marriage.  The  Puritan  sects  made  marriage 
more  secular,  as  the  Romish  Church  made  it  more  ecclesiastical. 
Although  they  liked  to  give  a  religious  tone  to  all  the  acts  of 
life,  the  Puritans  took  away  from  marriage  all  religious  character. 
It  was  performed  by  a  civil  magistrate.  Such  was  the  rule  in 
New  England  until  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century.  However, 
there  was,  in  this  matter,  an  inconsistency  between  the  ruling 
ideas  and  the  partisan  position,  and  the  latter  gave  way.  There 
has  been  a  steady  movement  of  the  mores  throughout  the  Protes- 
tant world  in  the  direction  of  giving  to  marriage  a  religious 
character  and  sanction.  It  has  become  the  rule  that  marriages 
shall  be  performed  by  ministers  of  religion,  and  the  custom  of 
celebrating  them  in  religious  buildings  is  extending.  The  author- 
ity and  example  of  the  church  of  Rome  have  had  nothing  to  do 
with  this  tendency.  They  are  not  even  known.  It  has  been 
purely  a  matter  of  taste,  sentiment,  and  popular  judgment  as  to 
what  is  right  and  proper ;  also  it  has  been  due  to  the  ideas  of 
women  in  regard  to  suitable  pomp  and  glory.  The  mores  have 
once  more  taken  full  control  of  the  matter,  and  the  religious 
ceremony  is  used  to  satisfy  the  interests,  and  fulfill  the  faiths, 
of  the  population.  Such  is  the  effect  of  civil  marriage  as  estab- 
lished in  the  nineteenth  century.  At  the  present  time  the  minis- 
ters of  religion  seem  disposed  to  use  their  lawful  position  as  the 
proper  ones  to  celebrate  marriage,  that  they  may  impose  restric- 
tions on  divorce,  and  on  marriage  after  divorce. 


CHAPTER   XI 

THE  SOCIAL  CODES 

Specification  of  the  subject. — Meaning  of  "immoral." — Natural  functions. 

—  The  current  code  and  character.  —  Definitions  o-f  chastity,  decency,  pro- 
priety, etc.  —  Chastity.  - —  Pagan  life  policy.  —  Modesty  and  shame.  —  The 
line  of  decency  in  dress.  —  Present  conventional  limits  of  decency.  —  Decency 
and  vanity.  —  Modesty  is  the  opposite  of  impudence.  — •  Shame.  —  The  first 
attachments  to  the  body.  —  The  fear  of  sorcery.  —  What  functions  should 
be  concealed.  —  Restraint  of  expression  within  limits.  —  Violation  of  rule. 

—  The  suspensorium.  —  The  girdle  and  what  it  conceals. —  Modesty  and 
decency  not  primitive.  —  What  parts  of  the  body  are  tabooed  ?  ■ —  Notion  of 
decency  lacking.  —  Dress  and  decency.  —  Ornament  and  simplest  dress.  — 
The  evolution  of  dress.  —  Men  dressed  ;  women  not.  —  Dress  for  other 
purposes  than  decency ;  excessive  modesty.  —  Contrasted  standards  of 
decency.  —  Standards  of  decency  as  to  natural  functions,  etc.  —  Bathing; 
customs  of  nudity.  —  Bathing  in  rivers,  springs,  and  public  bath  houses.  — 
Nudity.  —  Alleged  motives  of  concealment  taboo.  —  Obscenity.  —  Obscene 
representations  for  magic. —  Infibulation.  —  Was  the  phallus  offensive.-'  — 
Phallus  as  amulet.  —  Symbols  in  Asia.  —  The  notion  of  obscenity  is  modern. 

—  Propriety. —  Seclusion  of  women.  —  Customs  of  propriety.  —  Moslem  rules 
of  propriety.  —  Hatless  women. —  Rules  of  propriety. —  Hindoo  ritual  of 
the  toilet,  etc.  —  Greek  rules  of  propriety.  —  Erasmus's  rules.  —  Eating. — 
Kissing.  —  Politeness,  etiquette,  manners.  —  Good  manners.  —  Etiquette  of 
salutation,  etc.  —  Literature  of  manners  and  etiquette.  —  Honor,  seemliness, 
common  sense,  conscience.  —  Seemliness.  —  Cases  of  unseemliness.  — 
Greek  tragedies  and  notions  of  seemliness.  —  Greek  conduct.  —  Seemliness 
in  the  Middle  Ages.  —  Unseemly  debate.  —  Unseemliness  of  lynching,  tor- 
ture, etc.  —  Good  taste.  —  Whence  good  taste  is  derived.  —  The  great  variety 
in  the  codes.  —  Morals  and  deportment.  —  The  relation  of  the  social  codes 
to  morals  and  religion.  —  Rudeck's  conclusions. 

438.  Specification  of  the  subject.  The  ethnographers  write  of 
a  tribe  that  the  "  morahty  "in  it,  especially  of  the  women,  is  low 
or  high,  etc.  This  is  the  technical  use  of  morality,  — as  a  thing 
pertaining  to  the  sex  relation  only  or  especially,  and  the  ethnog- 
raphers make  their  propositions  by  applying  our  standards  of 
sex  behavior,  and  our  form  of  the  sex  taboo,  to  judge  the  folk- 
ways of  all  people.  All  that  they  can  properly  say  is  that  they 
find  a  great  range  and  variety  of  usages,  ideas,  standards,  and 

417 


41 8  FOLKWAYS 

ideals,  which  differ  greatly  from  ours.  Some  of  them  are  far 
stricter  than  ours.  Those  we  do  not  consider  nobler  than  ours. 
We  do  not  feel  that  we  ought  to  adopt  any  ways  because  they 
are  more  strict  than  our  traditional  ones.  We  consider  many 
to  be  excessive,  silly,  and  harmful.  A  Roman  senator  was 
censured  for  impropriety  because  he  kissed  his  wife  in  the 
presence  of  his  daughter.^ 

439.  Meaning  of  '< immoral."  When,  therefore,  the  ethnogra- 
phers apply  condemnatory  or  depreciatory  adjectives  to  the  people 
whom  they  study,  they  beg  the  most  important  question  which 
we  want  to  investigate  ;  that  is.  What  are  standards,  codes,  and 
ideas  of  chastity,  decency,  propriety,  modesty,  etc.,  and  whence 
do  they  arise  .-'  The  ethnographical  facts  contain  the  answer  to 
this  question,  but  in  order  to  reach  it  we  want  a  colorless  report 
of  the  facts.  We  shall  find  proof  that  "  immoral  "  never  means 
anything  but  contrary  to  the  mores  of  the  time  and  place. 
Therefore  the  mores  and  the  morality  may  move  together,  and 
there  is  no  permanent  or  universal  standard  by  which  right  and 
truth  in  regard  to  these  matters  can  be  established  and  different 
folkways  compared  and  criticised.  Only  experience  produces 
judgments  of  the  expediency  of  some  usages.  For  instance, 
ancient  peoples  thought  pederasty  was  harmless  and  trivial.  It 
has  been  well  proved  to  be  corrupting  both  to  individual  and 
social  vigor,  and  harmful  to  interests,  both  individual  and  collec- 
tive. Cannibalism,  polygamy,  incest,  harlotry,  and  other  primi- 
tive customs  have  been  discarded  by  a  very  wide  and,  in  the 
case  of  some  of  them,  unanimous  judgment  that  they  are  harm- 
ful. On  the  other  hand,  in  the  Avesta  spermatorrhea  is  a  crime 
punished  by  stripes.^  The  most  civilized  peoples  also  maintain, 
by  virtue  of  their  superior  position  in  the  arts  of  life,  that  they 
have  attained  to  higher  and  better  judgments  and  that  they  may 
judge  the  customs  of  others  from  their  own  standpoint.  For 
three  or  four  centuries  they  have  called  their  own  customs 
"  Christian,"  and  have  thus  claimed  for  them  a  religious  author- 
ity and  sanction  which  they  do  not  possess  by  any  connection 
with  the  principles  of  Christianity.    Now,  however,  the  adjective 

1  Ammianus  Marcellinus,  XXVIII,  4.  ^  Darmstetter,  Zend-Avesta,  I,  100. 


THE   SOCIAL   CODES 


419 


seems  to  be  losing  its  force.  The  Japanese  regard  nudity  with 
indifference,  but  they  use  dress  to  conceal  the  contour  of  the 
human  form  while  we  use  it  to  enhance,  in  many  ways,  the 
attraction.  "  Christian"  mores  have  been  enforced  by  the  best 
breechloaders  and  ironclads,  but  the  Japanese  now  seem  ready  to 
bring  superiority  in  those  matters  to  support  their  mores.  It  is 
now  a  known  and  recognized  fact  that  our  missionaries  have 
unintentionally  and  unwittingly  done  great  harm  to  nature  people 
by  inducing  them  to  wear  clothes  as  one  of  the  first  details  of 
civilized  influence.  In  the  usages  of  nature  peoples  there  is  no 
correlation  at  all  between  dress  and  sentiments  of  chastity, 
modesty,  decency,  and  propriety.^ 

440.  Natural  functions.  The  fact  that  human  beings  have 
natural  functions  the  exercise  of  which  is  unavoidable  but 
becomes  harmful  to  other  human  beings,  in  a  rapidly  advancing 
ratio,  as  greater  and  greater  numbers  are  collected  within  close 
neighborhood  to  each  other,  makes  it  necessary  that  natural 
functions  shall  be  regulated  by  rules  and  conventions.  The 
passionate  nature  of  the  sex  appetite,  by  virtue  of  which  it  tends 
to  excess  and  vice,  forces  men  to  connect  it  with  taboos  and 
regulations  which  also  are  conventional  and  institutional.  The 
taboos  of  chastity,  decency,  propriety,  and  modesty,  and  those 
on  all  sex  relations  are  therefore  adjustments  to  facts  of  human 
nature  and  conditions  of  human  life.  It  is  never  correct  to 
regard  any  one  of  the  taboos  as  an  arbitrary  invention  or  burden 
laid  on  society  by  tradition  without  necessity.  Very  many  of 
them  are  due  originally  to  vanity,  superstition,  or  primitive  magic, 
wholly  or  in  part,  but  they  have  been  sifted  for  centuries  by 
experience,  and  those  which  we  have  received  and  accepted  are 
such  as  experience  has  proved  to  be  expedient. 

441.  The  current  code  and  character.  It  follows  that,  in  history 
and  ethnography,  the  mores  and  conduct  in  any  group  are  inde- 
pendent of  those  of  any  other  group.  Those  of  any  group  need 
to  be  consistent  with  each  other,  for  if  they  are  not  so  the  con- 
duct will  not  be  easily  consistent  with  the  code,  and  it  is  when 
the  conduct  is  not  consistent  with  the  code  which  is  current  and 

1  Marsden,  Sumatra,  52. 


420 


FOLKWAYS 


professed  that  there  is  corruption,  discord,  and  decay  of  character. 
So  long  as  the  customs  are  simple,  naive,  and  unconscious,  they 
do  not  produce  evil  in  character,  no  matter  what  they  are.  If 
reflection  is  awakened  and  the  mores  cannot  satisfy  it,  then 
doubt  arises  ;  individual  character  will  then  be  corrupted  and  the 
society  will  degenerate. 

442.  Definitions  of  chastity,  decency,  propriety,  etc.  Chastity, 
modesty,  and  decency  are  entirely  independent  of  each  other. 
The  ethnographic  proof  of  this  is  complete.  Chastity  means 
conformity  to  the  taboo  on  the  sex  relation,  whatever  its  terms 
and  limits  may  be  in  the  group  at  the  time.  Therefore,  where 
polyandry  is  in  the  mores,  women  who  comply  with  it  are  not 
unchaste.  Where  there  are  no  laws  for  the  conduct  of  unmarried 
women  they  are  not  unchaste.  It  is  evidently  an  incorrect  use  of 
language  to  describe  the  unmarried  women  of  a  tribe  as  unchaste, 
unless  there  is  a  rule  for  them.  It  can  only  mean  that  they 
violate  the  rule  of  some  other  society,  and  that  can  be  said 
always  about  those  in  any  group.  There  are  cases  in  which 
women  wear  nothing  but  are  faithful  to  a  strict  sex  taboo,  and 
there  are  cases  where  they  go  completely  covered  but  have  no 
sex  taboo.  Decency  has  to  do  with  the  covering  of  the  body  and 
with  the  concealment  of  bodily  functions.  Modesty  is  reserve  of 
behavior  and  sentiment.  It  is  correlative  to  chastity  and  decency, 
but  covers  a  far  wider  field.  It  arrests  acts,  speech,  gestures, 
etc.,  and  repels  suggestions  at  the  limit  of  propriety  wherever 
that  may  be  set  by  the  mores.  Propriety  is  the  sum  of  all  the 
prescriptions  in  the  mores  as  to  right  and  proper  behavior,  or  as 
to  the  limit  of  degree  which  prevents  excess  or  vice.  It  is  not 
dictated  in  laws.  It  is  a  floating  notion.  From  time  to  time, 
however,  dictates  of  propriety  are  enacted  into  police  regulations. 
Propriety  is  guaranteed  by  shame,  which  is  the  sense  of  pain  due 
to  incurring  disapproval  because  one  has  violated  the  usage 
which  the  mores  command  every  one  to  observe.  It  is  narrated 
of  Italian  nuns  who  had  been  veiled  even  from  each  other  for 
half  a  lifetime  that  when  turned  out  of  their  convents  they 
suffered  from  exposing  their  faces  the  same  shame  that  other 
women  would  suffer  from   far  greater  exposure.    It  could  not 


THE  SOCIAL   CODES  42 1 

be  otherwise.  Mohammedan  women,  if  surprised  when  bath- 
ing, cover  first  the  face.  They  are  distinguished  from  non- 
Mohammedan  women  by  the  veil ;  therefore  this  covering  is  to 
them  most  important.  Chinese  women,  whose  feet  have  been 
compressed,  consider  it  indecent  to  expose  them.  Within  a 
generation  the  public  latrines  in  the  cities  of  continental  Europe 
have  been  made  far  more  secluded  and  private  than  they  formerly 
were.  Within  ten  years  there  has  been  a  great  change  of 
standard  as  to  the  propriety  of  spitting.  Beyond  the  domain  of 
propriety  lie  the  domains  of  politeness,  courtesy,  good  manners, 
seemliness,  breeding,  and  good  form.  The  definition  depends  on 
where  the  line  is  drawn.  That  point  is  always  conventional.  It 
is  a  matter  of  tradition  and  social  contact  to  learn  where  it  lies. 
It  never  can  be  formulated.  Habit  must  form  a  feeling  or  taste 
by  which  new  cases  can  be  decided.  There  are  persons  and 
classes  who  possess  such  social  prestige  that  they  can  alter  the 
line  of  definition  a  small  distance  and  get  the  change  taken  up 
into  the  mores,  but  it  is  the  mores  which  always  contain  and 
carry  on  the  definitions  and  standards.  Therefore  it  is  to  the 
mores  that  we  must  look  to  find  the  determining  causes  or 
motives,  the  field  of  origin,  the  corrective  or  corrupting  influ- 
ences, and  the  educative  operations,  which  account  for  all  the  im- 
mense and  contradictory  variety  of  the  folkways,  under  chastity, 
decency,  modesty,  propriety,  etc. 

443.  Chastity.  An  Australian  husband  assumes  that  his  wife 
has  been  unfaithful  to  him  if  she  has  had  opportunity.  In  most 
tribes  women  are  not  allowed  to  converse  or  have  any  relations 
whatever  with  any  men  but  their  husbands,  even  with  their  own 
grown-up  brothers. 1  Veth^  thinks  that  the  observance  of  the  sex 
taboo  by  Dyak  wives  has  been  exaggerated,  but  that,  at  least  on 
the  west  coast,  it  is  better  than  that  of  the  Malay  women.  The 
young  unmarried  women  among  the  sea  Dyaks  take  great  license, 
and  the  custom  of  lending  daughters  exists,  but  such  customs 
are  unknown  on  the  west  coast.  On  the  Andaman  Islands 
there  is  no  sex  taboo  for  the  unmarried  and  they  use  license. 
The  girls  are  modest,  and  when  married  conform  to  the  taboo  of 

^  Curr,  Aiistr.  Race,  I,  109.  2  Borneo's   IVester-Afdeeliivgy  251. 


42  2  FOLKWAYS 

marriage.  Their  husbands  "do  not  fall  far  short  of  them."  The 
women  will  not  renew  their  leaf  aprons  in  the  presence  of  each 
other. 1  The  Yakuts  use  leather  guarantees  of  their  wives  and 
daughters,  similar  to  the  mediaeval  device,^  which  always  implies 
that  the  wife  will  make  use  of  any  opportunity.  The  Yakut 
women  wore  garments  even  in  bed.^  The  Eskimo  of  eastern 
Greenland  do  not  disapprove  of  a  husbandless  mother  but  of  a 
childless  wife."^  Bushmen  women  observe  a  stricter  taboo  than 
their  Kaffir  neighbors.  They  refuse  illicit  relations  with  the  lat- 
ter, although  the  Kaffirs  are  a  superior  race.^  The  Zulu  women 
observe  a  strict  taboo  with  noteworthy  fidelity.^  Madame  Pom- 
merol "  represents  the  Arab  women  of  the  nomadic  or  semi- 
nomadic  tribes  of  southern  Algiers  as  destitute  of  moral  training. 
They  have  no  code  of  morals  or  religion.  [What  she  means  is 
that  they  have  no  character  by  education.]  They  shun  men,  but 
handle  the  veil  in  a  coquettish  manner  according  to  artificial  and 
excessive  usages.  They  act  only  between  impulses  of  desire  and 
fear  of  fathers  or  husbands.  Fidelity  has  no  sense,  since  they  do 
not  feel  the  loyalty  either  of  duty  or  affection.  The  Mayas  of 
the  lowest  classes  sent  out  their  daughters  to  earn  their  own 
marriage  portions.^  On  the  Palau  Islands  mothers  train  their 
daughters  to  make  gain  of  themselves  in  the  local  shell  money 
and  bring  the  same  to  their  parents.  The  girls  become  armeji- 
gols  ;  that  is,  they  live  in  the  clubhouses  which  are  the  residences 
of  the  young  men,  where  they  do  domestic  work  and  win  influence. 
An  insult  to  such  a  woman  is  an  insult  to  the  club.  The  origin 
of  the  custom  was  in  war  ;  the  women  were  captives.  Some  are 
now  given  in  tribute.  "The  custom  is  not  a  pure  expression  of 
sensuality,"  As  there  is  no  family  life  this  is  the  woman's  chance 
to  know  men  and  influence  them.  It  is  rated  as  education.^ 
Semper  1*^  quotes   native  justification  of  the  custom.    A  man's 

1  JAI,  XII,  94,  135.  *  Holm,  Angmagslikerne,  54. 

2  Schultz,  D.  L.,  283.  5  Fritsch,  Eingeb.  Siid-Afr.,  444. 
^  Sieroshevski,   Yakiity  {Polish),  342.  ^  Amer.  Antiq.,  XXIV,  77. 

''  Uiie  Fe7nine  cJiez  les  Saharieniies. 
^  Bancroft,  Races  of  the  Pacific,  I,  123  ;  II,  676. 
^  Kubary,  Soc.  Einricht.  der  Pelaiier,  51,  55,  91. 
10  Palau,  65,  324. 


THE   SOCIAL  CODES 


423 


young  last-wedded  wife  complained  to  his  older  wife  that  he 
made  her  serve  the  annengols.  The  older  wife  told  her  to 
remember  that  she  had  herself  enjoyed  this  life  and  had  been 
served  by  the  married  women.  All  girls  liked  to  earn  the 
money  by  which,  when  they  came  home,  they  got  husbands. 
It  was  ancient  custom  and  must  be  obeyed.  If  the  married 
women  refused  to  do  their  duty,  the  men  would  not  be  served, 
for  a  married  woman  might  never  show  the  world  that  she  was 
on  intimate  terms  with  her  husband.  That  would  be  viugiil, 
and  when  once  that  word  lost  its  force  the  whole  island  would 
perish.  A  woman  argued  to  Semper  that  the  custom  was  a  good 
one  because  it  gave  the  women  a  chance  to  see  the  other  islands, 
and  because  they  learned  to  serve  and  obey  the  men.  It  was, 
she  said,  their  sacred  duty.  Any  girl  who  did  not  go  abroad  as  an 
annengol  would  get  the  reputation  of  being  stupid  and  unculti- 
vated, and  would  get  no  husband.^  Cases  in  which  husbands  are 
indifferent  to  the  fidelity  of  wives  to  the  marriage  taboo  occur, 
but  they  are  rare.^  In  some  Arabic  tribes  of  Sahara,  even  those 
in  which  the  struggle  for  existence  is  not  severe,  fathers  expect 
daughters  to  ransom  themselves  from  the  expense  of  their  rear- 
ing by  prostitution.  The  notion  of  sex  honor  has  not  yet  over- 
come the  sense  of  pecuniary  loss  or  gain.  The  more  a  woman 
gains,  the  more  she  is  sought  in  marriage  afterwards.  Tuareg 
married  women  enter  into  relations  with  men  not  their  husbands 
like  those  of  women  with  their  lovers  in  the  woman  cult  of  the 
twelfth  and  thirteenth  coiituries  in  central  Europe.  These 
women  have  decent  and  becoming  manners,  with  much  care  for 
etiquette.^  A  thirteenth-century  writer  says  of  the  Mongol  women 
that  they  are  "  chaste,  and  nothing  is  heard  amongst  them  of 
lewdness,  but  some  of  the  expressions  they  use  in  joking  are 
very  shameful  and  coarse."  The  same  is  true  now."^  An  Arab 
author  is  cited  as  stating  that  at  Mirbat  women  went  outside 
the  city  at  night  to  sport  with  strange  men.    Their  own  husbands 

1  Cf.  Christian,  Caroline  Is!.,  290. 

2  JAI,  XV,  8 ;    U.  S.  Nat.  Ahts.,  iSSS,  339. 
^  Duveyrier,  Toiiaregs  du  jVord,  340,  429. 

*  Rubruck,  Eastern  Parts.,  79,  Rockhill's  note. 


424  FOLKWAYS 

and  male  relatives  passed  them  by  to  seek  other  women  .^ 
Amongst  the  Gowane  people  in  Kordofan  (who  seem  now  to  be 
Moslems)  2  a  girl  cannot  marry  without  her  brother's  consent. 
To  get  this  she  must  give  to  her  brother  an  infant.  She  finds 
the  father  where  she  can.^ 

444.  Pagan  life  policy.  Very  naturally  the  pagan  inference  or 
generalization  from  the  above  customs  was  that  a  husband  must 
be  under  continual  anxiety  about  his  wife,  or  he  must  divorce 
her,  or  he  must  cultivate  a  high  spirit  of  resignation  and  indiffer- 
ence. The  last  was  the  highest  flight  of  Stoic  philosophy  about 
marriage.  Plutarch  says :  "  How  can  you  call  anything  a  mis- 
fortune which  does  not  damage  either  your  soul  or  your  body,  as 
for  example,  the  low  origin  of  your  father,  the  adultery  of  your 
wife,  the  loss  of  a  crown  or  seat  of  honor,  none  of  which  affect  a 
man's  chances  of  the  highest  condition  of  body  and  mind.""* 

445.  Modesty.  Shame.  Aristotle^  hardly  rated  shame  as  a  vir- 
tue. He  said  that  it  is  only  a  passing  emotion,  "an  apprehension 
of  dishonor."  In  his  view  virtues  were  habits  trained  in  by  educa- 
tion. He  deduced  them  from  philosophy  and  sought  to  bring 
them  to  act  on  life.  He  did  not  regard  them  as  products  of  life 
actions.  Wundt^  says  that  shame  is  a  specific  human  sentiment, 
because  men  alone  of  animals  wear  a  concealing  dress  on  one 
part  of  the  body  when  they  wear  nothing  else.  He  thinks  that 
men  began  to  cover  the  body  in  obedience  to  the  sentiment  of 
decency.  The  facts  here  alleged  are  all  incorrect.  There  are 
many  people  who  wear  something  o»  the  body  but  do  not  cover 
the  parts  referred  to  (sec.  447).  It  is  certain  that  pet  animals 
manifest  shame  when  caught  doing  what  they  have  been  taught 
not  to  do,  — -just  like  children.  As  to  dress,  it  would  be  an  inter- 
esting experiment  to  let  pet  dogs  play  together  for  a  month, 
dressed  in  coats  and  blankets,  and  then  to  bring  one  of  them  to  the 
meeting  without  his  dress  while  the  others  wore  theirs.  Would 
he  not  show  shame  at  not  being  like  the  others  .?  A  lady  made 
a  red  jacket  for  a  Javanese  ape.    He  was  greatly  pleased,  buttoned 

^  Sprenger,  Geoo-raphie  Arabieiis,  97.  *  On  Iraiiqiiil.,  17. 

2  Probably  31°  E.  13'°  N.  5  Nich.  Ethics.,  IV,  9. 

3  Wilson  and  Felkin,  Uganda  and  Sudafi,  II,  309.         ^  Ethik,  127. 


THE   SOCIAL   CODES  425 

and  unbuttoned  the  jacket,  and  showed  displeasure  when  it  was 
taken  off.  He  showed  that  it  aroused  his  vanity.^  People  who 
deal  with  high-bred  horses  say  that  they  show  shame  and  dissatis- 
faction if  they  are  in  any  way  inferior  to  others.  It  was  recently 
reported  in  the  newspapers  that  the  employes  in  a  menagerie 
threw  some  of  the  beasts  into  great  irritation  by  laughing  in 
chorus  near  their  cages  in  such  a  way  that  the  beasts  thought 
that  they  were  being  laughed  at.  Shame  is  a  product  of  wounded 
vanity.  It  is  due  to  a  consciousness,  or  a  fear,  of  disapproval.  It 
is  not  limited  to  exposure  of  the  body,  but  may  be  due  to  dis- 
approval for  any  reason  whatever. 

446.  The  line  of  decency  in  dress.  The  line  of  decency,  for 
instance  in  dress,  is  always  paradoxical.  No  matter  where  it  may 
be  drawn,  decency  is  close  to  it  on  one  side  and  indecency  on  the 
other.  A  Moslem  woman  on  the  street  looks  like  a  bundle  of 
bedclothes.  Where  all  women  so  look  one  woman  who  left  off 
her  mantle  would  seem  indecent,  and  the  comparative  display  of 
the  outlines  of  the  figure  would  seem  shameless.  Where  low- 
necked  dresses  are  commonly  worn  they  are  not  indecent,  but 
they  may  become  so  at  a  point  which  varies  according  to  custom 
from  place  to  place  and  from  class  to  class.  The  women  in 
modern  Jerusalem  regard  it  as  very  indecent  to  show  them- 
selves decolletecs.  They  sit,  however,  in  postures  which  leave 
their  legs  uncovered. ^  A  peasant  woman  could  not  wear  the 
dress  of  a  lady  of  fashion.  Where  men  or  women  wear  only  a 
string  around  the  waist,  their  dress  is  decent,  but  it  is  indecent 
to  leave  off  the  string.  The  suggestive  effect  of  putting  on  orna- 
ments and  dress  at  one  stage  is  the  same  as  that  of  leaving 
them  off  at  another  stage.  Barbarians  put  on  dress  for  festivals, 
dances,  and  solemn  occasions.  Civilized  people  do  the  same  when 
they  wear  robes  of  office  or  ceremony.  When  Hera  wanted  to 
stimulate  the  love  of  Zeus  she  made  an  elaborate  toilet  and 
put  on  extra  garments,  including  a  veil.^  Then  taking  off  the  veil 
was  a  stimulus.    On  the   other  hand,  the  extremest  and   most 

1  Umschati,  VI,  52,  after  Haeckel,  Ajis  Insitlinde. 

2  Goodrich-Frear,  Inner  Jerusalem,  257. 

3  //.,  XIV,  179;  cf.  a/.,  XVI,  416;   XVIII,  210. 


426  FOLKWAYS 

conventional  dress  looks  elegant  and  stylish  to  those  who  are  accus- 
tomed to  it,  as  is  now  the  case  with  ourselves  and  the  current 
dress,  which  makes  both  sexes  present  an  appearance  far  removed 
from  the  natural  outline  of  human  beings.  Then,  at  the  limit,  that 
is  at  to-day's  fashions,  coquetry  can  be  employed  again,  and  a 
sense  stimulus  can  be  exerted  again,  by  simply  making  variations 
on  the  existing  fashions  at  the  limit.  It  is  impossible  to  elimi- 
nate the  sense  stimulus,  or  to  establish  a  system  of  societal  usage 
in  which  indecency  shall  be  impossible.  The  dresses  of  Moslem 
women,  nuns,  and  Quakeresses  were  invented  in  order  to  get  rid 
of  any  possible  question  of  decency.  The  attempt  fails  entirely. 
A  Moslem  woman  with  her  veil,  a  Spanish  woman  with  her  man- 
tilla or  fan,  a  Quakeress  with  her  neckerchief,  can  be  as  indecent 
as  a  barbarian  woman  with  her  petticoat  of  dried  grass. 

447.  Present  conventional  limits.  In  our  own  society  decency 
as  to  dress,  words,  gestures,  etc.,  is  a  constant  preoccupation. 
That  is  not  the  case  with  naked  savages  or  half-naked  barbarians. 
The  savages  put  on  ornament  to  be  admired  and  to  exert  attrac- 
tion or  produce  effect.  The  same  effect  is  won  by  words,  ges- 
tures, dress,  etc.  Our  aesthetic  arts  all  exert  the  same  influence. 
We  expel  all  these  things  from  our  artificial  environment  down 
to  a  limit,  in  order  to  restrain  and  control  the  stimulus.  Then 
we  think  that  we  are  decent.  That  is  because  we  rest  at  peace 
in  a  status  which  is  conventional  and  accustomed.  Variation  from 
it  one  way  is  fastidious ;  the  other  way  is  indecent,  just  as  it 
would  be  at  any  other  limit  whatever.  It  is  the  comparison  of 
the  mores  of  different  times  and  peoples  which  shows  the  arbi- 
trariness and  conventionality.  It  would  be  difficult  to  mention 
anything  in  Oriental  mores  which  we  regard  with  such  horror  as 
Orientals  feel  for  low-necked  dresses  and  round  dances.  Orientals 
use  dress  to  conceal  the  contour  of  the  form.  The  waist  of  a 
woman  is  made  to  disappear  by  a  girdle.  To  an  Oriental  a  corset, 
which  increases  the  waist  line  and  the  plasticity  of  the  figure,  is 
the  extreme  of  indecency  — far  worse  than  nudity.  It  seems  like 
an  application  of  the  art  of  the  courtesan  to  appeal  to  sensuality  .^ 
Perhaps  the  most  instructive  case  of  all  is  that  of  the  Tuareg 

1  Vambery,  Sittenhilder  aits  dem  Alorgeiilande,  49. 


THE   SOCIAL  CODES       .  427 

men,  who  keep  the  mouth  always  covered.  The  cloth  has  a  utilita- 
rian purpose,  — to  prevent  thirst  by  retarding  evaporation  from  the 
air  passages.  "They  never  remove  the  veil,  on  a  journey,  or  in 
repose,  not  even  to  eat,  much  less  to  sleep."  "A  Tuareg  would 
think  that  he  committed  an  impropriety  if  he  should  remove  his 
veil,  unless  it  was  in  extreme  intimacy  or  for  a  medical  investi- 
gation." "At  Paris  I  strove  in  vain  to  induce  three  Tuaregs  to 
remove  their  veils  for  the  purpose  of  being  photographed."  ^  No 
superstitious  reason  for  this  veil  is  known.  Madame  PommeroP 
reports  that  a  Tuareg  man  told  her  that  men  keep  the  mouth 
covered  lest  the  play  of  it  should  expose  their  feelings  to  another 
man.  Women,  he  said,  had  no  such  need,  since  enemies  never 
approach  them.  Evidently  we  have  here  a  case  of  an  ancient  fact 
that  men  are  never  seen  with  the  mouth  uncovered,  which  has 
produced  a  feeling  that  a  man  ought  never  to  be  seen  with  it 
uncovered,  and  rational  and  utilitarian  reasons  or  explanations 
have  been  invented  later.  Those  who  paint  the  body  are  ashamed 
to  be  seen  unpainted.  In  the  tribes  which  are  tattooed  one  would 
be  ashamed  who  was  not  tattooed. 

448.  Decency  and  vanity.  It  is  another  case  of  shame  or 
offended  modesty  if  the  taboo  in  the  mores  on  acts,  words,  pos- 
tures, etc.,  is  broken  in  one's  presence.  It  is  a  breach  of  the 
respect  which  one  expects,  that  is,  it  wounds  vanity. 

We  are  ashamed  to  go  barefoot,  probably  because  it  is  an 
ordinary  evidence  of  poverty.  Von  den  Steinen  has  well  sug- 
gested that  some  day  it  may  be  said  that  shoes  were  invented  on 
account  of  "innate"  shame  at  exposing  the  feet.^  In  recent 
years  fashion  has  allowed  young  people  to  leave  off  all  head-cov- 
ering. It  could  permit  them  to  go  barefooted  if  the  whim  should 
take  that  turn.  There  is  now  a  "  cure  "  in  which  men  and  women 
walk  barefoot  in  the  grass.  The  cost  to  their  modesty  is  probably 
very  slight. 

449.  Modesty  the  opposite  of  impudence.  Another  sense  of 
modesty  is  the  opposite  of  impudence,  shrinking  from  making 
demands  or  otherwise  putting  one's  self  forward  in  a  way  which 

^  Duveyrier,  Les  Touaregs  dti  jVot-d,  391.     "^  Une  Fe7n7ne  chez  les  Saharie7utes,  310. 
'  Berl.  Mus.,  18S8,  199. 


428  FOLKWAYS 

bystanders  might  think  in  excess  of  one's  social  position  or  abihty. 
In  these  cases  vanity  becomes  its  own  punishment.  The  Kajans 
of  the  Mandalam  refrain  from  injuring  private  or  group  interests 
from  fear  of  pubhc  opinion.  "  Such  a  sentiment  can  exist  only 
amongst  those  who  have  a  feeUng  of  shame  strongly  developed. 
Such  is  the  case  amongst  these  people,  not  only  as  to  punishable 
offenses,  but  also  in  connection  with  their  notions  of  propriety."  ^ 
"  Modesty  was  an  unknown  virtue  to  the  bards  of  Vedic  India. 
They  bragged  and  begged  without  shame."  ^  The  same  might 
be  said  of  the  troubadours  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

450.  Shame.  Shame  is  felt  when  one  is  inferior,  or  is  con- 
scious of  being,  or  of  being  liable  to  be,  unfavorably  regarded. 
Modesty  is  the  reserve  which  keeps  one  from  coming  into  judg- 
ment. One  of  the  greatest  reasons  for  covering  the  body  is  the 
conviction  that  it  would  not  be  admired  if  seen.  One  of  us  is 
ashamed  if  he  is  in  excellent  morning  dress  when  the  others 
wear  evening  dress,  or  ungloved  when  all  the  rest  are  gloved. 
A  woman  is  ashamed  to  be  without  a  crinoline  or  a  bustle  when 
all  the  rest  wear  them.  A  man,  when  men  wore  wigs,  could 
not  appear  before  a  lady  without  his  wig.  An  elderly  lady 
says  that  when  the  present  queen  of  England  brought  in,  at  her 
marriage,  the  fashion  of  brushing  up  the  hair  so  as  to  uncover 
the  ears,  which  had  long  been  covered,  it  seemed  indecent.  No 
wom-an  now  is  ashamed  to  be  a  woman,  but  in  the  first  Christian 
centuries  what  they  heard  about  their  sex  might  well  have  made 
them  so.  A  woman  is  not  ashamed  to  be  a  widow  in  the  Occident, 
but  she  may  well  be  so  in  India.  A  woman  may  be  ashamed  to 
be  an  old  maid,  or  that  she  has  no  children,  or  has  only  girls.  It 
depends  on  the  view  current  in  the  mores,  and  on  the  sensitive- 
ness of  the  person  to  unfavorable  judginents.  "Shame,  for 
Arabs,  occupies  the  place  which  we  ascribe  to  conscience.  '  The 
tree  lives  only  so  long  as  its  bark  lives  ;  and  the  man  only  so 
long  as  he  feels  shame.'  Arabs,  however,  are  not  ashamed  in 
abstracto,  but  before  father  and  mother,  before  relatives,  and 
before  common  talk.  '  Be  ashamed  before  Allah,  as  an  honor- 
able man  is  ashamed  before  his  own  people,'  said  Mohammed  to 

^  Nieuwenhuis,  In  Ceiitraal  Borneo,  I,  48.  ^  Zimmer,  Altind.  Leben,  196. 


THE  SOCIAL  CODES  429 

c_ 
a  new  convert,  in  order  to  make  clear  to  him  the  unknown  from 

the  known,  and  to  enlarge  the  morals  of  the  village  to  that  of 

the  world."  ^ 

451.  The  first  attachments  on  the  body.  Ethnographical  studies 
have  established  the  fact  that  things  were  first  hung  on  the  body- 
as  amulets  or  trophies,  that  is,  for  superstition  or  vanity,  and  that 
the  body  was  painted  or  tattooed  for  superstition  or  in  play. 
The  notion  of  ornament  followed.  The  skull  and  body  have  been 
deformed  and  mutilated,  and  the  hair  has  been  dressed  or  removed, 
in  order  to  vary  it  and  produce  effect.  Savages  lie  in  ashes,  dust, 
clay,  sand,  or  mud,  for  warmth,  or  coolness,  or  indolence,  and 
they  could  easily  find  out  the  advantage  of  a  coating  on  the  skin 
to  protect  them  from  insects  or  the  sun.  Three  things  resulted 
which  had  never  been  foreseen  or  intended,  (i)  It  was  found 
that  there  was  great  utility  in  certain  attachments  to  the  body 
which  protected  it  when  sitting  on  the  ground  or  standing  in  the 
water.  Play  seized  upon  the  markings,  and  the  men  of  a  group  at 
last  came  to  use  the  same  markings,  from  which  resulted  a  group 
sign.  The  marks  came  to  be  regarded  as  ornamental.  Some 
attachments  had  great  utility  for  males  in  fishing,  hunting,  fight- 
ing, running,  and  some  kinds  of  work.  (2)  Goblinism  seized 
upon  the  custom  and  gave  it  new  and  powerful  motives.  The 
group  mark  became  hereditary  and  maintained  group  unity  with 
goblinistic  sanctions.  Some  hanging  objects  were  thought  to  ward 
off  the  evil  eye.  Others  were  amulets  and  prevented  sorcery. 
(3)  The  objects  hung  on  the  body  might  be  trophies  taken  from 
animals  or  enemies.  These  things  consciously,  and  the  others 
unconsciously,  acted  on  vanity.  When  all  wore  things  attached  to 
the  body  a  man  or  woman  did  not  look  dressed,  or  "right" 
without  such  attachments.  He  or  she  looked  bare  or  naked. 
They  were  ashamed.  This  is  the  shame  of  nakedness.  The 
connection  of  dress  with  warmth  and  modesty  is  derived  and 
remote. 

452.  The  fear  of  sorcery.  The  reason  for  retiring  to  perform 
bodily  functions  was  the  fear  of  sorcery,  if  an  enemy  should  get 
possession  of   anything  which   ever   was   a   part  of   the  body. 

1  Wellhausen,  Skizzen  and  l^orarbciteii,  III,  194. 


430  FOLKWAYS 

Hence  the  best  plan  was  to  go  to  running  water.  Once  more, 
important  but  unanticipated  and  even  unperceived  consequences 
followed.  The  customs  played  the  part  of  sanitary  regulations. 
When  it  became  the  custom  to  retire  it  became  indecent  not  to 
retire.  Then  it  became  a  tradition  from  ancestors  that  one 
always  must  retire,  and  the  ghosts  would  be  angry  if  this  rule 
was  not  observed.  It  was  disrespectful  to  them,  and  would 
offend  them  to  expose  the  body  or  not  to  retire.  The  Greeks 
said  that  it  offended  the  gods.  In  the  books  of  Moses  the  sanc- 
tion for  all  the  rules  of  decency  is,  "  For  it  is  an  abomination 
unto  the  Lord."  That  is  only  an  expression  of  the  disapproval 
in  the  mores  which  God  also  was  supposed  to  feel. 

453.  What  functions  should  be  concealed  ?  What  is  the  limit 
of  the  bodily  functions  to  be  concealed  }  A  member  of  the  Jew- 
ish sect  of  the  Essenes,  who  were  all  celibate  men,  always  wore  an 
apron,  even  when  alone  in  the  bath.  The  genitals  were  impure  and 
must  not  be  uncovered  to  the  eye  of  God.  The  same  sect  had 
elaborate  rules  hke  those  in  Deut.  xxiii.  12  ff.  When  the  Medes 
elected  Deioces  king  he  made  a  rule  that  no  one  should  laugh 
or  spit  in  his  presence. ^  The  Zulu  king  Chaka  punished  with 
death  sneezing  or  clearing  the  throat  in  his  presence.^  At  Bag- 
dad, in  the  tenth  century,  the  court  of  the  caliphs  had  become 
luxurious,  and  a  very  severe  and  minute  etiquette  had  been 
introduced.  It  was  forbidden  to  spit,  clear  the  throat  or  nose, 
gape,  or  sneeze  in  the  presence  of  the  sovereign.  The  nobles 
imitated  this  etiquette  and  adopted  rules  to  regulate  salutations, 
entrance  into  company,  reception  of  visitors,  table  manners, 
and  approach  to  one's  wife.  "  If  any  one  refused  to  conform  to 
this  etiquette,  he  exposed  himself  to  universal  blame  as  an 
eccentric  person,  or  even  as  an  enemy  of  Islam."  ^  In  the  Italian 
novel  Niccolo  dei  Lapi  it  is  said  in  honor  of  the  heroine  that  she 
never  saw  herself  nude.  It  was  a  custom  observed  by  many  to 
wear  a  garment  which  covered  the  whole  body  even  when  alone 
in  the  bath.  Erasmus  gives  the  reason  for  this.  The  angels 
would  be  shocked  at  nakedness.    He  made  it  a  rule  for  men. 

1  Herodotus,  I,  lOO.  2  Ratzel,  Hist,  of  Mankitid,  II,  444. 

3  Von  Kremer,  Ktiltiirgesch.  des  Orients,  II,  247,  250,  269. 


THE  SOCIAL  CODES  43 1 

One  should  never,  he  says,  bare  the  body  more  than  necessary, 
even  when  alone.  The  angels  are  everywhere  and  they  like  to 
see  decency  as  the  adjunct  of  modesty. ^  The  angels  are  here 
evidently  the  Christian  representatives  of  the  ghosts  of  earlier 
times.  In  i  Cor.  xi.  10  it  is  said  :  The  woman  was  created  for 
the  man.  "  For  this  cause  ought  the  woman  to  have  a  sign  of 
authority  on  her  head,  because  of  the  angels."  It  seems  to  be 
believed  that  the  angels  might  be  led  into  sin  by  seeing  the 
women.  For  this  idea  there  is  abundant  antecedent  in  the  Book 
of  Henoch  and  the  Book  of  Jubilees. 

454.  Restraint  of  expression  within  limits.  It  is  the  rule  of 
good  breeding  everywhere  to  restrict  all  bodily  functions  and  to 
conceal  them,  such  as  gaping,  sneezing,  coughing,  clearing  the 
throat  and  nose,  and  to  restrain  all  exuberant  expressions  of  joy, 
pain,  triumph,  regret,  etc.,  but  the  limits  cannot  be  defined. 
They  lie  in  the  current  practice  of  the  society  in  which  one 
lives.  They  are  not  rational.  At  the  same  time  they  are  logical. 
They  are  correctly  deduced  from  a  broad  view  of  policy.  Orien- 
tals cover  their  heads  to  show  respect ;  Occidentals  bare  the 
head  for  the  same  purpose.  Each  custom  has  its  philosophy  of 
respect.  We  think  it  disrespectful  to  turn  the  back  on  any  one. 
Orientals  generally  think  it  respectful  to  pretend  not  to  be  able 
to  look  another  in  the  face.  If  ladies  are  thought  to  have  the 
right  to  decide  whether  to  continue  acquaintances  or  not,  they 
salute  first.  If  it  is  thought  unbecoming  for  them  to  salute 
first,  then  men  do  it.  Which  of  the  great  premises  is  cor- 
rect it  would  be  impossible  to  say.  The  notion  of  correctness 
fails,  because  it  implies  the  existence  of  a  standard  outside 
of  and  above  usage,  and  no  such  standard  exists.  There  is  an 
assumed  principle  which  serves  as  a  basis  for  the  usage,  and 
the  usage  refers  back  to  the  principle,  but  the  two  are  afloat 
together. 

455.  Violation  of  rule.  It  results  from  the  study  of  the  cases 
that  nakedness  is  never  shameful  when  it  is  unconscious.^  The 
same  is  true  of  everything  under  the  head  of  decency.  It  is 
consciousness  of  a  difference  between  fact  and  the  rule  set  by 

^  De  Civilit.  Morum  Piieril.,  I,  3,  9,  10.  '^  Genesis  iii.  7. 


432 


FOLKWAYS 


the  mores  which  makes  indecency  and  produces  harm,  for  that 
difference,  if  disregarded,  is  immorality. 

456.  The  suspensorium.  The  device  known  as  the  suspenso- 
rium,  represented  by  von  den  Steinen,^  is  obviously  invented  solely 
for  the  convenience  of  males  in  activity.  It  is  not  planned  for 
concealment  and  does  not  conceal.  By  a  development  of  the 
device  it  becomes  a  case,  made  of  leaf,  wood,  bone,  clay,  shell, 
leather,  bamboo,  cloth,  gourd,  metal,  or  reed.  It  is  met  with  all 
over  the  world  .^  Perhaps  its  existence  in  ancient  Egypt  is 
proved.^  In  almost  every  case,  but  not  always,  there  is  great 
disinclination  to  remove  it,  or  part  with  it,  or  to  be  seen  without 
it.  The  sentiment  attaches  only  to  the  part  which  is  covered  by 
the  apparatus.  To  be  seen  without  it  would  do  harm  to  the 
man.  Women  wear  a  pubic  shield,  held  in  place  by  a  string. 
The  conjecture  immediately  suggests  itself  that  the  girdle  or 
string  about  the  loins  was  anterior  to  any  covering  for  the 
genitals.  This  conjecture  is  confirmed  by  the  cases  in  which 
the  girdle  is  used  to  cover  the  umbilicus,  while  nothing  else  is 
covered,  for  which  there  is  a  reason  on  account  of  the  connection 
of  the  umbilicus  with  birth,  life,  and  ancestry.^  The  primitive 
notion  about  the  genitals  is  that  they  are  the  seat  of  involuntary 
phenomena  which  are  to  be  referred  to  superior  agents.  Hence, 
more  than  any  other  part  of  the  body,  they  are  daimonic  and 
sacred  (mystery,  passion,  reproduction).  This  notion  is  an  inde- 
pendent cause  of  rules  about  the  organs,  and  of  superstitious 
ways  in  reference  to  them,  including  concealment.^  Waitz 
recognized  in  this  idea  the  reason  for  covering  the  organ,  or 
the  part  of  it  which  was  believed  to  be  efficient.  "  Perhaps,"  he 
says,  "we  stand  here  at  the  first  stage  of  human  clothing,"  — 
a  suggestion  which  deserves  more  attention  than  it  has  received.^ 

'^  Berl.  Mas.,  1888,  431;  cf.  191,  192,  195;  also  Globus,  LXXV,  6;  Ratzel, 
Volkerhinde,  I,  225,  298;  Berl.  Mus.,  II,  Plates  II,  III,  XIII,  XIV;  Hutchinson, 
Living  Races,  59;  Jhrb.  d.  Dtschen  Archeolog.  Instit.,  1886,  295. 

2  Waitz  [Ajtthrop.,  VI,  567  ff.)  gives  a  number  of  cases  from  the  islands  of 
the  Pacific. 

3  Globus,  LXXIX,  197.  *  Krieger,  /Veu  Guinea,  373. 

^  No  ethnographic  evidence  is  known  to  exist  to  prove  that  there  is  an  original 
sentiment  of  disgust  in  regard  to  the  organs  (Ellis,  "  Evolution  of  Modesty," 
Psychol.  Rev.,  VI,  134).  6  Anthrop.,  VI,  575-576. 


THE   SOCIAL  CODES  433 

457.  The  girdle  and  what  it  conceals.  Very  many  cases  can  be 
cited  in  which  a  girdle  is  worn,  but  nothing  for  concealment, 
unless  it  be  of  the  umbilicus.  In  the  Louvre  (S.  962)  may  be 
seen  a  statue  of  a  deformed  primitive  god  of  the  Egyptians, 
Bes,  who  wears  a  string  around  the  waist  and  nothing  else.  A 
girdle  is  often  used  as  a  pocket,  without  any  reference  to 
decency.^  Convenience  would  then  lead  to  the  suspensorium 
arrangement  or  the  pubic  shell.  Also  from  the  girdle  was 
hung  any  swinging  glittering  object  to  avert  the  evil  eye  from 
the  genitals.  There  was  no  concealment  and  could  be  no  motive 
of  modesty.  The  aborigines  of  Queensland  never  cover  the 
genitals  except  on  special  public  occasions,  or  when  near  white 
settlements.  The  men  wear  the  case  only  at  corroborees  and 
other  public  festivals.^  On  Tanna  (New  Hebrides)  it  is  thought 
dangerous  for  a  man  to  see  another  without  any  concealment.^ 
The  Indians  on  the  Shingu  show  that  such  covering  as  they 
wear  has  no  purpose  of  concealment,  for  it  conceals  nothing.^ 
The  device  of  the  East  Greenland  Eskimo  is  also  evidently  for 
utility,  not  for  modesty. '"^  In  order  to  escape  flies,  Brunache 
and  his  companions  took  refuge  under  a  tree  which  is  shunned  by 
flies.  It  is  from  this  tree  that  the  women  pluck  the  bunches  of 
leaves  which  they  wear  dangling  before  and  behind.^ 

458.  Modesty  and  decency  not  primitive.  At  the  earliest  stage 
of  the  treatment  of  the  body  we  find  motives  of  utility  and 
ornament  mixed  with  superstition  and  vanity  and  quickly  devel- 
oping connections  with  magic,  kin  notions,  and  goblinism. 
Modesty  and  decency  are  very  much  later  derivatives. 

459.  What  parts  of  the  body  are  tabooed?  Cases  may  be 
adduced  to  prove  that  the  taboo  of  concealment  does  not  always 
attach  to  the  parts  of  the  body  to  which  it  attaches  in  our  tra- 
ditions. Hottentot  women  wear  a  head  cloth  of  gay  European 
stuff.  They  will  not  take  this  off.  The  Herero  "  think  it  a 
great  cause  of  shame  if  a  married  woman  removes  this  national 

1  Budge,  Gods  of  the  Egyptians,  II,  2S4.  3  jaI,  XXIII,  368. 

2  Roth,  Queensland  Aborig.,  114.  *  Berl.  Mus.,  1S88,  173. 

5  Holm,  Angmagslikerne,  Plates  VII,  XX,  XXII. 

6  Afr.  Cent.,  155. 


434 


FOLKWAYS 


head  covering  in  the  presence  of  strangers."  They  wear  very- 
little  else.  A  woman  who  stood  for  her  photograph  "  would 
more  readily  have  uncovered  all  the  rest  of  her  body  than  her 
head."  ^  The  Guanches  thought  it  immodest  for  a  woman  to 
show  her  breasts  or  feet.^  Yakut  women  roll  cord  on  the  naked 
thigh  in  the  presence  of  men  who  do  not  belong  to  the  house, 
and  allow  themselves  to  be  seen  uncovered  to  the  waist,  but 
they  are  angry  if  a  man  stares  at  their  naked  feet.  In  some 
places  the  Yakuts  attach  great  importance  to  the  rule  that  young 
wives  should  not  let  their  husband's  male  relatives  see  their 
hair  or  their  feet.^  In  mediaeval  Germany  a  respectable  woman 
thought  it  a  great  disgrace  if  a  man  saw  her  naked  feet.^  The 
Indian  woman  of  those  tribes  of  the  northwestern  coast  of  North 
America  which  wear  the  labret  are  as  much  embarrassed  to  be 
seen  without  it  as  a  white  woman  would  be  if  very  incompletely 
dressed.^  The  back  and  navel  are  sometimes  under  a  special 
taboo  of  concealment,  especially  the  navel,  which  is  sacred,  as 
above  noticed,  on  account  of  its  connection  with  birth.  Peschel  ^ 
quotes  private  information  that  a  woman  in  the  Philippine 
Islands  put  a  shirt  on  a  boy  in  order  to  cover  the  navel  and 
nothing  more.  In  her  view  nothing  more  needed  to  be  covered. 
Many  peoples  regard  the  navel  as  of  erotic  interest.  Instances 
occur  in  the  Arabian  Nights.  It  is  very  improper  for  a  Chinese 
woman  who  has  compressed  feet  to  show  them.  Thomson  '^  gives 
a  picture  which  shows  the  feet  of  a  woman,  but  it  was  very  diffi- 
cult, he  says,  to  persuade  the  woman  to  pose  in  that  way.  Chinese 
people  would  consider  the  picture  obscene.  No  European  would 
find  the  slightest  suggestion  of  that  kind  in  it.  An  Arab  woman, 
in  Egypt,  cares  more  to  cover  her  face  than  any  other  part  of 
her  body,  and  she  is  more  careful  to  cover  the  top  or  back  of  her 
head  than  her  face.^  It  appears  that  if  any  part  of  the  body  is 
put  under  a  concealment  taboo  for  any  reason  whatever,  a  con- 
sequence is  that  the  opinion  grows  up  that  it  never  ought  to  be 

1  Fritsch,  Eingeb.  Sild-Afr.,  230,  311,  349.  ^  i/_  ^_  j\/-at.  Mus.,  1SS8,  257. 

2  N.  S.  Amer.  Atithrop.,  II,  470.  ^  Races  of  Man,  172. 

^  Sieroshevski,   Yakuty  (russ.),  562,  570.  "^  Illustrations  of  China,  II,  No.  39. 

*  Weinhold,  D.  F.,  I,  164.  ^  Lane,  Mod.  Egyptians,  I,  69,  266. 


THE   SOCIAL   CODES 


435 


exposed.  Then  interest  may  attach  to  it  more  than  to  exposed 
parts,  and  erotic  suggestion  may  be  connected  with  it.  The  tra- 
dition in  which  we  are  educated  is  one  which  has  a  long  history, 
and  which  has  embraced  the  Aryan  race.  To  us  it  seems 
"natural"  and  "true  in  itself."  It  includes  some  primitive  and 
universal  ideas  of  magic  and  goblinism  which  have  been  held  far 
beyond  the  Aryan  race.  Shame  and  modesty  are  sentiments 
which  are  consequences  produced  in  the  minds  of  men  and  women 
by  unbroken  habits  of  fact,  association,  and  suggestion  in  con- 
nection with  dress  and  natural  functions.  It  does  not  seem 
"decent  "  to  break  the  habits,  or,  decency  consists  in  conforming 
to  the  habits.  However,  the  whole  notion  of  decency  is  held 
within  boundaries  of  habit.  Orientals  and  Moslems  now  have 
such  different  habits  from  Occidentals  that  latrines  are  very  differ- 
ently constructed  for  them  and  for  Occidentals. 

460.  Notion  of  decency  lacking.  There  are  cases  of  groups  in 
which  no  notions  of  decency  can  be  found.  It  is  reported  of  the 
Kubus  of  Sumatra  that  they  have  acquired  a  sense  of  shame 
within  very  recent  times.  "  Formerly  they  knew  none  and  were 
the  derision  of  the  villagers  into  whose  neighborhood  they  might 
come."  ^  Stevens  never  saw  an  Orang-hutan  girl  blush.  Those 
girls  have  no  feeling  about  their  nakedness  which  could  cause  a 
blush  .2  The  Bakairi  show  no  sense  of  shame  as  to  any  part  of 
the  body.  They  are  innocent  in  respect  to  any  reserve  ^  [i.e.  no 
taboo  of  concealment  exists  amongst  them].  A  few  cases  are 
reported  in  which  the  awakening  of  shame  has  been  observed. 
A  bystander  threw  a  cloth  over  a  nearly  naked  man  on  the 
Chittagong  hills.  "  He  was  seen  to  blush,  for  it  was  the  first 
time  in  his  life  that  he  realized  that  he  was  committing  a  breach 
of  decency  in  appearing  unclothed."  ^  No  doubt  the  more  correct 
explanation  is  that  he  felt  that  in  some  way  he  was  not  approved 
by  the  English  visitors.  Semon  tells  how  he  posed  a  Papuan  girl 
for  her  photograph,  in  the  midst  of  a  native  crowd.  She  was 
"proud  of  the  distinction  and  attention."  Suddenly  she  was 
convulsed  with  shame  and  abandoned  the  pose,  blushing  and 

1  JAI,  XIV,  123.  3  Berl.  Mus.,  18S8,  65. 

2  Ztsft.fiir  EthnoL,  XXVIII,  170.      *  Lewin,   Wild  Races  of  S.  E.  India,  87. 


436  FOLKWAYS 

refusing.^  This  explanation  may  not  be  correct.  The  feeling  of 
one  accustomed  to  be  naked,  if  his  attention  is  called  to  it,  can- 
not be  paralleled  with  that  of  one  accustomed  to  be  clothed,  if 
he  finds  himself  unclothed.  The  Nile  negroes  and  the  Masai 
manifest  a  "complete  absence  of  any  conventional  ideas  of 
decency."  The  men,  at  least,  have  no  feeling  of  shame  in  connec- 
tion with  the  pudenda.  Complete  nudity  of  males,  where  it  occurs 
in  Africa,  seems  almost  always  traceable  to  Hamitic  influence. ^ 
461.  Dress  and  decency.  If  the  description  of  the  Tyrrhenians 
given  by  Athenaeus  ^  can  be  taken  as  real,  they  would  have  to 
be  classed  amongst  the  people  who  had  no  notions  of  decency. 
Curr  says  of  the  Australians*  that  the  tribes  who  wear  cloth- 
ing are  more  decent  than  those  who  are  naked.  The  women  of 
the  former  retire  to  bathe  and  the  men  respect  their  privacy. 
Evidently  the  dress  makes  the  decency.  If  there  was  no  dress, 
there  would  be  no  need  to  retire  and  no  privacy.  Wilson  and 
Felkin^  say  of  the  negroes  that  their  "morals"  are  inversely  as 
their  dress.  The  Australians  practice  no  indecent  dances.^  The 
central  Australians  hold  a  man  in  contempt  if  he  shows  excessive 
amorousness.'^  The  natives  of  New  Britain  are  naked,  but  modest 
and  chaste.  "  Nudity  rather  checks  than  stimulates,"  The  same 
is  observed  in  English  New  Guinea.  The  men  wear  a  bandage 
which  does  not  conceal,  but  they  attach  to  this  all  the  importance 
which  we  attach  to  complete  dress,  and  they  speak  of  others  who 
do  not  wear  it  as  "naked  wild  men."  ^  In  the  Palau  Islands 
women  may  punish  summarily,  even  with  death,  a  man  who 
approaches  their  bathing  place,  but  that  place  is,  therefore,  the 
safest  for  secret  meetings.^  The  Dyaks,  except  the  hill  tribes, 
conceal  the  body  with  care,  but  they  do  not  observe  a  careful  sex 
taboo.i^  We  are  told  of  the  Congo  tribes,  some  of  whom  wear 
nothing,  that  there  exists  "  a  marked  appreciation  of  the  senti- 
ment of  decency  and  shame  as  applied  to  private  actions."  ^^  Some 

1  Austral.  Bush,  350.  ^  JAI,  XIII,  290. 

2  Johnston,  Uganda  Protect.,  765.  "^  Spencer  and  Gillen,  Ceut.  Aicstral.,  471. 

3  Deipnosophists,  XII,  14.  ^  Finsch,  Ethnol.  Erfahr.,  I,  92  ;  II,  298. 
*  Austral.  Race,  99,  183.  ^  Semper,  Palau  Ins.,  68. 

^  Uganda  and  Sudan,  I.  223.  "^^  Ling  Roth,  Sarawak,  I,  133. 

"  JAI,  XXIV,  292. 


THE  SOCIAL  CODES  437 

of  the  women  repelled  the  advances  of  men  in  Brunache's  expedi- 
tion.^ Nachtigall  ^  found  the  Somrai  in  Baghirmi  modest  and 
reserved.  They  proved  "  the  well-known  fact  that  decorum  and 
chastity  are  independent  of  dress."  On  the  Uganda  railroad, 
near  Lake  Victoria,  coal-black  people  are  to  be  seen,  of  whom 
both  sexes  are  entirely  naked,  except  ornaments.  They  are  "  the 
most  moral  people  in  Uganda."  The  Nile  negroes  and  Masai  are 
naked.  In  the  midst  of  them  live  the  Baganda  who  wear  much 
clothing.  The  women  are  covered  from  the  waist  to  the  ankles  ; 
the  men  from  the  neck  to  the  ankles,  except  porters  and  men 
working  in  the  fields.  They  provide  decent  latrines  and  have 
good  sanitary  usages  as  to  the  surroundings  of  their  houses. 
They  are  very  polite  and  courteous.  This  character  and  their 
dress  are  accounted  for  by  their  long  subjection  to  tyranny.  They 
are  "profoundly  immoral,"  have  indecent  dances,  and  are  dying 
out  on  account  of  the  "  exhaustion  of  men  and  women  by  pre- 
mature debauchery."^  The  Kavirondo  are  naked,  but  are,  "for 
negroes,  a  moral  race,  disliking  real  indecency  and  only  giving 
way  to  lewd  actions  in  their  ceremonial  dances,  where  indeed  the 
intention  is  not  immodest,  as  the  pantomime  is  a  kind  of  ritual."  ^ 

462.  Ornament  and  simplest  dress.  The  notion  of  ornament  is  extremely 
vague.  Things  were  attached  to  the  body  as  amulets  or  trophies.  Then  the 
bodies  which  had  nothing  of  this  kind  on  them  seemed  bare  and  naked. 
Next  objects  were  worn  in  order  to  comply  with  a  type,  without  the  charac- 
ter of  amulets  or  trophies.  These  were  ornaments.  Hagen*  noticed,  in  his 
own  experience,  that  ornament  did  away  with  the  appearance  of  nakedness. 
The  same  effect  of  tattooing  may  be  noticed,  even  in  pictures.  The  oldest 
Chinese  tradition  asserts  that  dress  was  originally  for  ornament.''  "  To  the 
grass-land  negroes  of  North  Kamerun  dress  of  any  kind  is  only  ornament  or 
protection  against  severe  weather."  Their  conversation  on  certain  subjects 
is  gross,  perhaps  because  they  are  entirely  unclothed.'''  The  Doko  women 
wear  a  few  strings  of  beads  hanging  from  a  girdle,  and  the  girls  of  the  Dime 
wear  one,  two,  or  three  ivory  cylinders  hanging  from  the  waist,  but  nothing 
more.**  The  Xosa  wear  an  ornamented  girdle,  but  no  apron.*^  The  unmarried 
women  in  the  Temu  districts  of  Togo  wear  strings  of  beads  but  no  dress. 

1  Afr.  Cent.,  55,  264.  2  Sahara  and  Sudan,  II,  590. 

^  Johnston,  Uganda  Protect.,  37,  114,  642,  6S5. 

4  Ibid.,  728,  730.  ^  Globus,  LXXVI,  306. 

^  Papuas,  169.  8  Vannutelli  e  Citerni,  VOmo,  294,  305. 

6  Puini,  Origute  delta  CiviltH,  147.  ^  Fritsch,  Euigcb.  Slid- Afr.,  59. 


438  FOLKWAYS 

The  Moslem  women  make  triangular  aprons,  worn  by  men  over  the  suspen- 
sorium.  The  women  meet  suitors  with  grace  and  coquetry,  in  spite  of  the 
lack  of  clothing.^  The  Mashukalumbe  wear  no  dress,  but  the  women  wear 
little  iron  bells  on  a  strap  around  the  waist.  ^  The  women  of  the  Longos 
near  Foweira  wear  anklets,  waistbands,  and  bracelets  of  beads,  but  nothing 
else.^  The  Herero  have  a  horror  of  the  nudity  of  adults.'*  The  Tasmanians 
wore  no  dress  but  decorated  themselves  with  feathers,  flowers,  etc.^  Papuans 
on  the  Fly  River  fasten  things  through  the  nose  and  hang  objects  around  the 
neck.  Some  wear  a  pubic  shell,  but  most  have  not  even  that.^  On  the 
island  of  New  Britain  both  sexes  are  unclothed,  although  tapa  cloth  in  very 
beautiful  patterns  is  made  on  the  island  for  other  purposes.''  On  the  Banks 
Islands  the  men  wear  nothing,  although  they  formerly  made  very  beautiful 
dresses  which  were  worn  in  the  dance.**  Some  of  the  Indians  on  the  Shingu 
wear  necklaces  and  ear  pendants,  but  nothing  else.^ 

463.  The  evolution  of  dress.  The  above-mentioned  girdle  with  objects 
hanging  from  it  turned  from  an  ornament  into  a  garment  when  it  became 
a  kilt  of  fringed  grass  or  leather.  Arab  women  wore  the  girdle  of  thongs 
with  lappets  until  it  was  superseded  by  a  kilt  of  leather  cut  into  a  fringe. 
The  primitive  apron  of  the  ancient  Egyptians  was  continued  underneath 
the  later  more  elaborate  dress.  The  ancient  primitive  dress  got  a  sacred 
character  and  was  worn  by  everybody,  whatever  else  he  wore.  It  was  worn 
by  girls,  by  women  monthly,  and  also,  "  it  is  said,  by  worshipers  at  the 
Caaba."  Then  the  ancient  thongs  and  lappets  got  the  character  of  amu- 
lets.^" In  some  Papuan  tribes  those  who  had  learned  all  the  religious 
secrets  were  allowed  to  wear  the  girdle  as  a  sign  of  honor  and  dignity. ^^ 
Sometimes  a  skin  or  mat  is  worn  hanging  from  the  waist  behind.  It  really 
is  worn  to  be  sat  upon,  upon  occasion.  Nothing  else  is  worn.^^  j^  this 
case,  and  in  some  of  those  mentioned  above  from  Central  Africa,  a  con- 
sciousness is  sometimes  manifested  that  there  is  something  to  conceal, 
and  a  posture  or  mode  of  walking  is  adopted  which  accomplishes  the  con- 
cealment. Amongst  the  Ja-luo  (northeast  corner  of  Lake  Victoria)  both 
sexes  when  unmarried  go  naked.  A  man,  when  he  is  a  father,  wears  a 
cape  of  goatskin  "  inadequate  for  decency."  Married  women  wear  only  a 
"  tail  of  strings  behind."  ^^    The  Nandi  wear  clothing  "only  for  warmth  or 

1  Globus,  LXXXV,  73,  311.  6  jAI,  XXI,  200. 

2  Holub,  Siebenjflhre  in  Sild-Afr.,  II,  293.    ^  Berl.  Mus.,  1885,  60. 
^  Wilson  and  Felkin,  Uganda  and  Sudan,  II,  53. 

4  Ratzel,  Hist,  of  Alanki/id,  II,  469.  ^  Codrington,  Ji/elanesians,  321. 

5  Ling  Roth,   Tasmanians,  21,  144.  ^  Berl.  I\T7is.,  1S88,  193. 

10  W.  "R.  Smith,  Relig.  of  Semites,  437.  Whatever  the  purpose  of  the  loin  cloth 
of  the  ancient  Egyptians  may  have  been,  it  cannot  have  been  decency.  The 
monuments  show  men  at  work  with  the  loin  cloth  turned  hindside  foremost  as  if 
to  save  it  from  wear  (Meyer,  Egypt,  II,  116). 

11  Globus,  LXXVIII,  5.  12  Brunache,  Afr.  Ceftt.,  207. 

13  Johnston,  Uganda  Protect.,  781. 


THE   SOCIAL   CODES 


439 


adornment,  not  for  purposes  of  decency."  ^  The  Acholi,  in  Uganda,  think 
it  beneath  masculine  dignity  to  wear  anytliing.^  The  Vanyoro  men  are 
generally  clothed  in  skins.  The  women,  until  marriage,  wear  nothing  ;  after 
marriage,  bark  cloth.  The  Bari  men  never  wear  anything.  They  think  it 
womanish  to  do  so.  The  unmarried  women  wear  a  pendant  of  fringe 
behind  and  five  or  six  iron  bars  six  inches  long,  the  whole  three  and  a 
half  inches  broad,  in  front.  Married  women  wear  a  fringe  in  front  and  a 
leather  apron  behind.^ 

464.  Men  dressed.  Women  not.  Cases  are  very  numerous  in  which  men 
wear  dress,  while  women  do  not.''  Such  is  the  prevailing  fact  amongst  the 
Indians  of  the  Upper  Amazon  ^  and  in  Central  Africa."  The  women  of  the 
Apaporis  (o°  N.,  70°  W.)  are  said  to  wear  nothing,  but  the  men  wear  long 
aprons  of  fine  bark  string,  broad  bast  girdles,  and  ornamental  strings  of 
teeth  and  seeds  ;  also  ornaments  in  the  nose  and  lips,  and  some  tribes  below 
the  lower  lip.''  When  women  wear  clothing  and  men  do  not  the  men  think 
it  womanish  and  beneath  them  to  do  so.^  When  Livingston  remonstrated 
with  a  negro  for  nakedness  the  latter  "  laughed  with  surprise  at  the  thought 
of  being  at  all  indecent.  He  evidently  considered  himself  above  such 
weak  superstition."  All  thought  it  a  joke  when  told  to  wear  something 
when  Livingston's  family  should  come.^ 

465.  Dress  for  other  purposes  than  decency.  Excessive  modesty.  The 
Dyaks  wear  only  a  loin  cloth  of  a  greater  or  less  number  of  folds  to  keep 
the  abdomen  warm,  "a  precaution  which  all  travelers  in  the  tropics  must 
imitate  day  and  night  with  flannel  for  fear  of  dysentery."  ^*^  "  The  women  [of 
the  western  side  of  Torres  Straits]  frequently  wear  a  kind  of  full  chemise. 
They  do  not  wear  it  for  the  sake  of  decency,  but  from  luxury  and  pride, 
for  I  often  saw  a  woman  take  off  her  garment  and  content  herself  with  a 
tuft  of  grass  before  and  behind."  ^^  Some  Papuan  women  are  mentioned, 
who  wear  a  petticoat  on  festival  occasions,  but  they  leave  the  right  side 
of  it  open  to  show  the  tattooing  on  the  hip.^^  Since  cotton  cloth  has  become 
cheap  in  the  Horn  of  Africa  the  natives  wear  a  great  deal  of  it  out  of 
luxury  and  ostentation,  and  also  because  it  is  a  capital  at  all  times  easily 
realizable. 1^  The  Rodias,  an  outcast  people  on  Ceylon,  were  once  compelled 
by  the  Kandyan  kings  to  leave  the  upper  part  of  the  body  uncovered  ;  both 
sexes.  The  English  have  tried  to  reverse  the  rule,  which  has  become  a 
fixed  habit.    The  Rodia  women  now  wear  a  neckerchief,  the  ends  of  which 

1  lohnston,  Uganda  Protect,  S53.  -  Ibid.,  220. 

3  Wilson  and  Felkin,  Uganda  and  Sudan,  H,  49,  96. 

*  E.g.  JAL  XXIV,  255,  281. 

5  Spix  and  Martius,  Brasilien,  1224;   Martius,  Ethnog.  Brasil.,  388. 

**  Schweinfurth,  Heart  of  Afr.,  II,  104.     ^'^  Bock,  Reis  hi  Borneo,  78. 

7  G/ohiis,  LXXXVIII,  89.  11  JAI,  XIX,  391. 

8  Schweinfurth,  Heart  of  Afr.,  I,  152.      12  lAI,  XXVIII,  208. 

9  South  Africa,  II,  590.  13  Paulitschke,  Ethnog.  N.  O.  Afr.,  I,  80. 


440  FOLKWAYS 

cover  the  breast,  when  they  meet  English  people,  but  they  have  not  yet 
acquired  the  feeling  that  it  is  unseemly  to  uncover  the  breast.^  Mantegazza 
met  women  on  the  Nilgherri  hills  who  covered  the  breast  on  meeting  him, 
but  did  not  do  so  before  men  of  their  own  race.^  It  is  the  current  idea  on 
the  Malabar  coast  that  no  respectable  woman  should  cover  the  breast. 
Lately,  those  who  have  traveled  and  have  learned  that  other  people  hold  the 
contrary  to  be  the  proper  rule  feel  some  sha:me  at  the  old  custom.^  The 
Ainos  are  rated  as  displaced  and  outcast  aborigines  amongst  the  Japanese. 
An  Aino  woman  refused  to  wash  in  order  to  be  treated  for  a  skin  disease, 
because  to  wash  was  against  Aino  usage.*  An  Aino  girl  in  a  mission  school 
who  had  a  curved  spine  and  was  lame  refused  to  allow  a  European  physician 
to  examine  her  with  a  view  to  diagnosis  and  treatment. 

466.  Contrasted  standards  of  decency.  The  Japanese  do  not  consider 
nudity  indecent.  A  Japanese  woman  pays  no  heed  to  the  absence  of  cloth- 
ing on  workmen.  European  women  in  Japan  are  shocked  at  it,  but  them- 
selves wear  dinner  and  evening  dress  which  greatly  shock  Orientals.^ 
Schallmeyer  ^  saw  Japanese  policemen  note  for  punishment  watermen  who 
approached  nearer  to  the  wharf  than  the  law  allowed  before  covering  the 
upper  part  of  the  body.  The  authorities  are,  therefore,  trying  to  modify  the 
usage.  The  Japanese  regard  daily  hot  baths  as  a  necessity  for  everybody. 
Therefore  bathing  is  unavoidable,  and  is  put  under  the  same  conventionaliza- 
tion as  that  which  surrounded  latrines  in  the  cities  of  Europe  fifty  years 
ago.  Every  one  is  expected  to  ignore  what  no  one  can  help.  Formerly,  at 
least,  the  sexes  were  not  separated  and  bathers  might  walk  to  and  from  the 
bath  in  a  state  of  complete  preparation  for  it. '  Before  the  "  reformation  " 
people  of  the  better  classes  in  Japan  went  to  the  theater  not  at  all,  or 
secretly.  The  plays  were  coarse  and  outspoken.  Japanese  education  per- 
mitted "  both  sexes  indifferently  to  speak  of  everything  without  the  slightest 
periphrasis,  or  any  respect  for  persons,  even  children."  Hence  situations 
were  described  and  presented  on  the  stage  which  we  should  consider  too 
licentious  for  toleration,  although  there  were  no  actresses  on  the  stage. 
This  was  not  due  to  laxity  of  morals,  but  to  the  fact  that  they  had  no  taboos 
on  reality.  Yet  "  nothing  appears  more  immoral  to  the  Japanese  than  our 
drama."  "  They  permit  no  intrigue  [on  the  stage]  by  which  the  character 
of  a  married  woman  is  compromised."  *^  The  Europeans  and  Japanese,  in 
contact  with  each  other,  find  that  it  is  not  possible  to  infer  each  other's 
character  from  each  other's  folkways.  Hearn  says :  "  The  ideas  of  this 
people  are  not  our  ideas  ;  their  sentiments  are  not  our  sentiments  ;  their 
ethical  life  represents  for  us  regions  of  thought  and  emotion  yet  unexplored, 
or  perhaps  long  forgotten."  ^    The  tAvo  cases  in  contrast,  however,  show  the 

1  Schmidt,  Cev/on,  37.  5  Baelz  in  Ztsft.  fiir  Et/inol.,  XXXIII,  178. 

2  Gh  Amori  degli  Uoinini,  40.  6  Vererbit)ig  itnd  Anslese^  281. 
^Madras  Gov.  Ahis.,  II,  198.  ^  Humbert, /rt>7«,  269. 

*  Ztsft.  fur  EthnoL,  XIV,  (181).  8  /^/,/.    3^^^  .34.  ^  fapan,  13. 


THE  SOCIAL  CODES 


441 


power  of  the  folkways  and  their  tremendous  control.  We  know  as  to  our 
own  women  that  there  is  no  conscious  or  unconscious  purpose  to  stimulate 
sensuality.  They  wear  what  has  been  and  is  customary  in  their  societ5\ 
The  Japanese  get  their  customs  in  the  same  way  and  attribute  to  them  the 
same  authority.  Neither  has  any  reason  to  be  amazed  at  or  despise  the  other. 
Baelz  quotes  Mrs.  Bishop,  who  after  spending  twenty  years  traveling  in  the 
East  said,  "  I  know  now  that  one  can  be  naked,  yet  behave  like  a  lady."  The 
above  story  of  the  crippled  Aino  girl  gives  credibility  to  Becke's  story  ^  of 
a  Polynesian  woman,  wife  of  a  European,  who  died  after  child  bearing 
rather  than  submit  to  treatment  by  a  physician  which  would  be  attended  by 
exposure  of  her  person. 

467.  Standards  of  decency  as  to  natural  functions,  etc.  The  natives  of 
New  Georgia  (Solomon  Islands)  "  have  the  same  ideas  of  what  is  decent  with 
regard  to  certain  acts  and  exposures  that  we  ourselves  have."  They  build 
retiring  places  over  the  water,  "but  their  language  is  quite  unlicensed."  ^ 
In  Micronesia  reserve  as  to  natural  functions  is  lacking.^  Amongst  central 
African  negroes  the  king  alone  had  a  hut  for  retirement.  "  The  heathen 
negroes  are  generally  more  observant  of  decorum  in  this  respect  than  any 
Mohammedan."  *  In  Lhasa,  Tibet,  there  are  no  latrines  either  public  or 
private.  The  street  is  used.^  The  Andamanese  women  are  modest  and 
very  careful  about  decency  of  dress  and  conversation.  For  the  unmarried 
there  is  complete  license.^  When  Middendorf  asked  a  Tungus  girl  to  sing, 
she  sang  a  song  which  was  so  indecent  that  he  could  not  translate  it.'' 
Children  of  the  Eskimo  on  the  eastern  coast  of  Greenland  go  naked  in  the 
house  until  they  are  sixteen  years  old.  Then  they  put  on  the  natit,  a 
simple  band  around  the  loins,  and  that  is  the  only  thing  worn  in  the  house 
by  adults.  It  is  the  custom  of  wearing  fur  next  the  skin  which  compels 
them  to  go  naked  in  the  house.  They  are  very  unwilling,  under  any  cir- 
cumstances, to  lay  aside  the  jiatii.  Their  songs  and  games  are  exceedingly 
licentious,  and  their  myths  are  obscene.  They  do  not  keep  these  from  the 
children.  A  great  number  live  crowded  in  a  little  house,  as  an  insurance 
against  accidents  or  lack  of  food.  This  mode  of  life  makes  decency  impos- 
sible and  lowers  the  standard  of  propriety.  Children  are  married  at  four  or 
five  years  of  age,  but  the  relationship  does  not  become  established  until  a 
child  is  born.  In  summer,  in  tent  life,  two  men  exchange  wives  and  some 
property.  If  one  of  them  wants  to  keep  the  other's  property,  he  must  keep 
the  wife,  too.^  The  Fuegians  observe  great  decorum  as  to  subjects  of  con- 
versation.^   The  Seminoles  of  Florida  observe  a  high  sex  taboo.    The  women 

1  Pacific  Tales,  276.  *  Schweinfurth,  Heart  of  A/r.,  II,  98. 

2  JAI,  XXVI,  394.  5  Century  Mag.,  January,  1904. 
8  Finsch,  Et/inol.  Er/ahr.,  Ill,  26.        «  jai,  XII,  135. 

"^  Reisen  hi  Siberiejt,  IV,  1429. 

8  Holm,  Angmagslikerne,  34,  50-56,  112,  1 1 7,  162. 

9  Scribiter's  Mag.,  February,  1895. 


442 


FOLKWAYS 


are  virtuous  and  modest,  and  no  half-breeds  with  whites  exist.  The  mother 
of  a  half-breed  would  be  put  to  death. ^  The  Tehuelches  of  Patagonia  pay 
great  attention  to  decency.  They  do  not  like  to  see  children  naked. ^  The 
Indians  of  northern  Nicaragua  think  that  whites  do  not  bathe  enough. 
They  always  retire  to  running  water,  and  are  disgusted  with  whites  for  not 
taking  that  care.^ 

468.  Bathing.  Customs  of  nudity.  The  natives  of  Rotuma 
never  bathe  without  the  loin  cloth.  To  do  so  is  thought  low- 
conduct.^  The  people  of  Ponape  rise  early  and  bathe,  the  sexes 
always  separating  unless  married.^  Bock^  says  that  the  Dyaks, 
without  hesitation,  threw  off  their  garments  and  bathed  in  the 
presence  of  himself  and  Malays,  the  sexes  together.  The  sexes 
of  the  Yuroks  in  California  bathe  apart  and  the  women  never  go 
into  the  sea  without  some  garment.'  The  women  of  the  Mandans 
had  a  bathing  place.  Armed  sentinels  were  set  to  prevent  men 
from  approaching  it.^  In  Hindostan  the  sexes  now  bathe  together 
at  certain  times  and  places  with  very  little  clothing.  Wilkins  ^ 
says,  "  I  have  never  seen  the  slightest  impropriety  of  gesture 
on  these  occasions."  Although  at  an  earlier  period  some  clothing 
was  worn  in  bed,  in  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries,  in 
Europe,  both  sexes  slept  nude.  Better  beds  and  separate  bed 
clothes  led  to  this  custom,  because  it  was  such  a  relief  to  take 
off  woolen  and  fur  worn  in  the  daytime.  Then  nudity  became 
familiar,  and  the  concealment  taboo  was  broken  down.^*^  The 
cities  were  soon  compelled  to  pass  ordinances  forbidding  any  one 
to  appear  on  the  streets  nude.^^  In  Denmark  the  historian  tells 
us  that  people  slept  naked  because  linen  was  dear,  and  that  the 
ctistom  lasted  into  the  seventeenth  century.  In  the  sixteenth 
century  nobles  began  to  wear  nightshirts. ^^  Upon  the  entry  of 
kings  into  cities,  until  the  sixteenth  century,  mythological  sub- 
jects were  represented  in  the  streets  by  nude  women.^^    From  the 

1  Bnr.  Et/iuol.,  V,  479.  5  Pereiro,  La  Isla  de  Ponape,  112. 

2  Ratzel,  Viilkerkimde,  II,  663.  ^  Reis  in  Borneo,  39. 

3  Globus,  LXXVIII,  272.  "^  Powers,  Calif.  Indians,  55. 

4  JAI,  XXVII,  410.  8  Smithson.  Rep.,  1885,  Part  II,  86. 
^  Hinduisi7i,  219. 

M  Weinhold,  D.  R,  II,  259;   Schultz,  Hof.  Leben,  II,  168. 

11  Scherr,  D.  F.  IV.,  I,  191.  i'-  Lund,  N'orges  Historie,  II,  246,  380. 

13  Scherr,  D.F.  \V.,  I,  191. 


THE  SOCIAL  CODES  443 

thirteenth  to  the  fifteenth  centuries  it  was  the  custom  that  girls 
served  knights  in  the  bath.^  Through  the  Middle  Ages  the 
sexes  bathed  together,  and  not  innocently.'^  The  Germans  were 
very  fond  of  bathing  and  every  village  had  its  public  bath  house. 
The  utility  and  pleasure  of  bathing  were  so  great  that  bathing 
was  forbidden  as  an  ecclesiastical  penance.^  "A  practice  of  men 
and  women  bathing  together  was  condemned  by  Hadrian,  and 
afterwards  by  Alexander  Severus,  but  was  only  finally  suppressed 
by  Constantine."  *  The  Council  of  Trullanum  in  692  forbade 
the  sexes  to  bathe  together.^  Other  councils  repeated  the  prohi- 
bition. This  shows  that  Constantine  did  not  suppress  the  custom, 
nor  did  any  other  civil  or  ecclesiastical  authority  do  so.  The 
ecclesiastics  in  Germany,  from  the  eighth  century,  condemned  the 
custom  of  the  sexes  bathing  together,  but  never  could  control 
it.*^  Christian  men  and  women  bathed  together  at  Tyre  in  the 
time  of  the  crusades."  All  the  authorities,  beginning  with  Eras- 
mus (in  the  Colloquy,  Diversoria),  agree  that  bathing  at  a  common 
bath  house  was  abandoned  on  account  of  syphilis.  Leprosy,  which 
was  brought  from  the  East  by  the  crusaders,  had  had  less  effect 
in  the  same  direction.  In  the  sixteenth  century  there  were  other 
epidemics,  and  wood  became  dear.^  The  use  of  body  linen  and 
bed  linen  which  could  be  washed  made  bathing  less  essential  to 
comfort  and  health.^  The  habit  of  seeing  nudity  was  broken, 
and  as  it  became  unusual  it  became  offensive.  Thus  a  conceal- 
ment taboo  grew  up  again.  Rudeck  '^^  is  convinced  by  these  facts 
that  "  it  was  not  modesty  which  made  dress  and  public  decency, 
but  that  dress  and  the  decay  of  objectionable  customs  made 
modesty."  He  seems  to  be  astonished  at  this  conclusion  and  a 
little  afraid  of  it.  It  is  undoubtedly  correct.  The  whole  history 
of  dress  depends  on  it. 

1  Weinhold,  D.  F.,  II,  115.  4  Lecky,  Eitr.  Morals,  II,  311. 

2  D'Aussy,  Fabliaux,  IV,  passim.  ^  Hefele,  Co7tciliengesch.,  Ill,  310. 

3  Weinhold,  D.  F.,  II,  114.  6  Weinhold,  D.  F,  II,  117. 
^  Prutz,  Kulturgesch.  der  Kreuzziige,  528  note. 

^  Zappert  in  Ar-ch.fur  Kwide  der  Oester.  Gesch.-Quellen,  XXI,  41,  82,  132. 
^  The  queen  of  Charles  VII  of  France  (1422-1461)  said  that  she  owned  but 
two  chemises  of  linen  (Clement,  Jacques  Cceur,  246). 
1"  Oeffentl.  Sittlichkeit,  399. 


444 


FOLKWAYS 


469.  Bathing  in  rivers,  springs,  and  public  bath  houses.    In  the 

fifteenth  century  it  became  the  custom  to  bathe  in  rivers  or  at 
mineral  springs.  Wealth,  luxury,  fashion,  and  new  forms  of  vice 
attended  this  change.^  The  convents  of  the  fifteenth  century  are 
described  as  places  of  debauch. ^  An  English  globe  trotter  of 
the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century  describes  the  baths  of 
Baden  near  Zurich,  where  the  old  custom  of  the  sexes  bathing 
together  had  been  modified  somewhat,  but  only  for  married  women. ^ 
If  the  custom  of  bathing  together  does  not  still  exist  throughout 
Northern  Europe,  it  must  have  been  abolished  within  a  few  years. 
Retzius  *  describes  it  as  existing  in  Finland  in  1878,  and  many 
travelers  have  described  the  village  bath  houses  of  Northern 
Russia  and  Scandinavia.  Retzius  says  that  the  bath  house  is  a 
kind  of  sanctuary.  Any  misdemeanor  committed  there  is  con- 
sidered far  more  wicked  than  the  same  fault  elsewhere.  Here  we 
see  the  mores  raising  a  special  conventionalization  to  protect  a 
custom  which  is  expedient,  but  which  transgresses  the  usual 
taboo.  The  fact  is  that  the  complete  taboo  on  nudity  in  Central 
Europe  is  not  over  two  centuries  old.  By  itself,  nudity  was  not 
regarded  as  shameful  or  indecent.  Therefore  in  the  bath,  where 
it  was  in  order,  it  was  disregarded,  just  as  now  a  workmen's  dress, 
an  athlete's  dress,  or  a  bathing  dress  is  disregarded.  During  the 
centuries  when  the  ecclesiastical  authorities  endeavored  in  vain 
to  stop  the  sexes  from  bathing  together,  it  must  be  that  public 
opinion  did  not  recognize  in  that  usage  any  serious  evil  which 
called  for  repression.  The  English  now  express  surprise  that 
the  sexes  at  American  watering  places  go  into  the  sea  together, 
to  which  Americans  attach  no  importance  at  all.  If  Americans 
bathed  in  English  bathing  dresses  the  sexes  w^ould  speedily 
separate. 

470.  Nudity.  In  early  Christian  drama  Christ  was  represented 
by  a  naked  youth.  Then  he  was  represented  by  a  youth  who 
wore  a  breech  cloth  only.  In  the  sixteenth  century,  at  Naples,  in 
a  representation  of  the  creation  of  Adam  and  Eve,  the  actors 

1  Schultz,  D.  z.,  136. 

2  Dulaure,  Hist,  de  Paris,  268  ;  Schultz,  D.  L.,  277,  283  ;  cf.  Janssen,  VIII,  391. 
^  Coryate's  Crudities,  II,  244.  *  Fitiska  Kraiiier,  118. 


THE   SOCIAL  CODES  445 

had  only  the  privates  covered.  The  stage  fell  and  many  were 
hurt,  which  was  held  to  show  God's  displeasure  at  the  show.  The 
flagellants  in  the  theater,  in  France,  were  represented  naked,  as 
penitents.^ 

471.  Alleged  motives  of  concealment  taboo.  Herodotus  says 
of  the  Lydians  and  almost  all  barbarians  that  they  considered  it 
shameful  for  one  man  to  be  seen  by  another  naked.^  The  Jewish 
sect,  the  Essenes,  concealed  part  of  the  body  from  the  sun,  as 
the  "all-seeing  eye  of  God,"  even  in  the  bath.  The  Jew  might 
not  uncover  the  body  in  the  face  of  the  temple.  The  rules  of 
the  Essenes  for  bodily  necessities  were  such  that  those  necessi- 
ties could  not  be  satisfied  on  the  Sabbath.^  At  Rome  "  ojypcdeir, 
tnhigere,  cacare  towards  persons  or  statues  belonged  to  the 
grossest  marks  of  contempt,  and  were  so  employed  more  than 
we  think."  ^  Patursson  ^  bathed  with  aborigines  near  the  mouth 
of  the  Ob.  They  would  not  bare  the  body  below  the  waist  and 
were  shocked  at  his  immodesty  because  he  was  not  so  scrupulous. 

472.  Obscenity.  Another  topic  in  this  group  of  subjects, 
obscenity,  is  still  harder  to  treat  within  the  limits  set  by  our 
mores.  It  offers  still  more  astounding  proofs  that  the  folkways 
can  make  anything  "right,"  and  that  our  strongest  sentiments 
of  approval  or  abhorrence  are  given  to  us  by  the  age  and  group 
in  which  we  live.  The  tabooed  parts  of  the  body  are  not  to  be 
seen.  It  is  obscenity  when  they  are  exposed  to  sight.  We  have 
already  noticed,  under  the  head  of  decency,  a  great  range  of  con- 
ventions in  regard  to  things  and  acts  which  are  set  aside  from  all 
the  common  activities  of  life.  We  have  seen  that  there  is  no 
ultimate  and  rational  definition  of  the  things  to  be  tabooed,  no 
universal  agreement  as  to  what  they  are,  no  philosophical  prin- 
ciple by  which  they  are  selected  ;  that  the  customs  have  had  no 
uniformity  or  consistency,  and  that  those  usages  which  we  might 
suppose  to  be  referable  to  a  taboo  of  obscenity  have  an  entirely 
different  motive,  while  the  notion  of  obscenity  does  not  exist. 

1  D'Ancona,  Origine  del  Teatro  in  Italia  (ist  ed.),  I,  213,  218,  2S0,  375. 

2  Herodotus,  I,  10.  ^  Lucius,  Essenismus,  62,  68. 

*  Grupp,  Ktclturgesch.  der  Rom.  Kaiserzeit,  I,  24;  cf .  sec.  211. 
^  Siberien  i  Vore  Dage,  146. 


446  FOLKWAYS 

There  is  no  "  natural "  and  universal  instinct,  by  collision  with 
which  some  things  are  recognized  as  obscene.  We  shall  find  that 
the  things  which  we  regard  as  obscene  either  were  not,  in  other 
times  and  places,  so  regarded,  any  more  than  we  so  regard  bared 
face  and  hands,  or  else  that,  from  ancient  usage,  the  exhibition 
was  covered  by  a  convention  in  protection  of  what  is  archaic  or 
holy,  or  dramatic,  or  comical.  In  primitive  times  goblinism  and 
magic  covered  especially  the  things  which  later  became  obscene. 
Facts  were  accepted  with  complete  naivete.  The  fashion  of 
thinking  was  extremely  realistic.  The  Japanese  now  cannot 
understand  how  facts  can  be  made  shameful.  They  have  very 
exact  and  authoritative  conventions  which  every  one  must  obey, 
but  the  conventions  are  practical  and  realistic.  They  serve  pur- 
poses ;  they  do  not  create  an  unreal  world  of  convention.^  This 
is  the  extreme  view  of  realism  and  nature.  As  has  been  shown 
above,  however,  so  soon  as  objects  were  attached  to  the  body  for 
any  purpose  whatever,  the  conventional  view  that  bodies  so  dis- 
tinguished were  alone  right  and  beautiful  was  started,  and  all  the 
rest  of  the  convention  of  ornament  and  dress  followed. 

473.  Obscene  representations  for  magic.  The  Indians  on  the 
Shingu  river,  Brazil,  wear  little  or  no  clothing.^  They  have  full 
suits  for  dancing,  but  the  tabooed  organs  are  represented  on  the 
outside  of  these  artificially  and  of  exaggerated  size.  Evidently 
it  was  not  the  purpose  of  the  dress  to  conceal  organs  the  sight 
of  which  was  tabooed.^  In  Central  Borneo,  in  order  to  drive  off 
evil  spirits,  rough  figures  of  human  beings  are  cut  in  wood,  the 
tabooed  organs  being  exaggerated.  Those  organs  are  the  real 
amulets  which  exorcise  demons,  for  they  are  often  cut  on  the 
timbers  of  the  houses  without  the  rest  of  the  figure.  Then,  by 
further  derivation,  such  representations  became  purely  ornamen- 
tal on  houses,  weapons,  etc.'*  The  Egyptians  used  representations 
of  what  were  later  tabooed  organs  as  hieroglyphics,  and  in  their 
conversation  admitted  no  taboo.  Pictures  in  the  tombs  of  the 
Twentieth  Dynasty  (i  180-1050  b.c.)  show  the  lack  of  any  taboo, 
and  there  are  inscriptions  by  them  which  show  an  absence  of 

1  Heam,/(7/(7;/,  18S-200.  ^  Berl.  Miis.,  18S8,  199,  302. 

-  Cf.  sec.  462.  ■*  Nieuwenhuis,  Centraal  Borneo,  I,  146. 


THE  SOCIAL  CODES  447 

any  restriction  on  realism. ^  This  is  evidently  the  naive  realism 
of  children  who  have  not  yet  learned  any  conventions.  Repro- 
duction and  growth  have  direct  connection  with  food  supply, 
and  abundance  of  reproduction  means  joy  of  life  and  merriment, 
with  good  cheer  for  men.  Consequently  the  most  matter-of-fact 
interest  of  man  was  intertwined  with  all  the  reproductive  energies 
in  nature.  The  popular  and  comic  miviiis  of  the  Greeks  is  traced 
back  to  ritual  acts  of  magic,  in  which  the  corn  demons  or  growth 
demons  are  represented  at  work,  making  the  reproduction  and 
growth  of  the  crops.  The  ritual  was  sympathetic  magic,  and  it 
was  securing  the  food  supply.  What  was  desired  was  success  in 
agriculture,  and  the  husbandman  in  his  choice  of  rites,  symbols, 
and  emblems  was  entirely  realistic.  The  growth  demons,  when 
they  appear  in  art,  are  vulgar  figures  of  an  exaggerated  sensual 
type.  They  were  meant  to  suggest  reproductive  vigor,  exuberance, 
and  abundance.  The  tabooed  organs  are  represented  in  various 
ways,  but  always  obtrusively  and  with  exaggeration.  The  demons 
wear  an  artificial  phallus  outside  the  dress,  which  fits  the  figure 
tightly.^  The  ritual  developed  into  the  Dionysiac  rites  and  orgies, 
the  main  idea  of  which  was  to  rejoice  with  the  reproductive 
agencies  of  nature,  to  present  them  dramatically  to  the  mind, 
and  to  stimulate  hope  and  industry.  In  Greece  these  primitive 
rites  of  sympathetic  magic  in  agriculture  developed  into  the 
comic  drama,  and  the  demons  became  stereotyped  figures  of 
comedy,  always  recognizable  by  their  masks  (faces  of  a  vulgar 
type),  exaggerated  hips,  and  above  all  by  the  phallus.  The 
demon  turned  into  the  clown  or  buffoon,  but  the  phallus  was 
kept  as  an  emblem  of  his  role,  like  the  later  cap  and  bells  of  the 
fool,  until  the  fifth  century  of  the  Christian  era  in  the  West,  and 
until  the  fall  of  the  Byzantine  empire.  In  the  Hellenistic  period 
the  clown  took  the  role  of  the  Olympic  god,  and  wore  the  phallus. 
The  Phlyakes  in  lower  Italy  had  the  same  emblem  and  it  was 
worn  in  the  atellan  plays  of  the  Romans.^    In  the  early  Christian 

1  Erman,  Aegypte7t^  I,  223. 

"^  Jhrb.  des  Dtschen  Archaeolog.  Instit.,  1886,  260;  Arch,  fiir  Anthrop.,  XXIX, 
136. 

^  On  the  connection  of  these  see  Bethe,  Gesch.  des  Theaters  i?n  Alt.,  299  ff. 


448  FOLKWAYS 

centuries  the  Christian  martyr  wore  the  emblem  in  the  comedy, 
since  that  role  was  always  represented  by  the  simpleton  or  clown. 
Ecclesiastical  persons  also  were  represented  with  it,  since  the 
buffoon  always  wore  it,  whatever  his  role.  It  also  passed  to  the 
karagoz  (shadow  play)  of  the  Turks  and  to  the  pantiii  puppets 
of  the  Javans.  In  the  comedy  of  Hindostan  the  phallus  dis- 
appeared.^ In  Egypt,  at  least  as  late  as  the  first  half  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  a  masked  figure  marched  at  the  head  of  the 
bride's  procession  at  a  wedding  with  the  same  symbol  and 
indecent  gestures.^ 

474.  Infibulation.  It  appears  that  athletes  in  Greece  bound 
the  organ  and  tied  it  up  to  the  girdle  in  a  manner  closely  resem- 
bling the  primitive  suspensorium.  The  comedians  wore  a  leathern 
apron  with  a  large  false  organ  of  red  leather  on  the  outside.  It 
became  a  sign  of  the  trade  of  boxers,  athletes,  gymnasts,  and 
comedians  to  bind  the  organ  and  tie  it  up,  whereby  it  was  twisted 
into  a  horn  shape.  The  purpose  was  to  protect  it  from  injury, 
and  it  furnishes  suggestion  as  to  the  purpose  of  the  primitive 
suspensorium.  The  concealment  was  very  imperfect  and  the 
notion  grew  up  that  the  part  concealed  ought  to  be  concealed, 
but  no  more.  The  Romans  thought  it  indecent  to  lack  the  fore- 
skin, and  the  Jews  endeavored  to  conceal  this  lack.  Infibulation 
was  practiced  in  two  ways,  —  by  a  ring  through  the  prepuce  or 
by  a  bandage  around  it.  It  was  thought  to  prevent  vice  and  pre- 
serve the  voice  of  prophets,  singers,  etc.  A  seventeenth-century 
traveler,  Walter  Schultze  of  Haarlem,  is  quoted,  who  describes 
an  ascetic  sect  in  Persia  who  renounced  wine,  lived  on  gifts, 
and  foreswore  marriage.    They  were  infibulated  with  a  ring.^ 

475.  Was  the  phallus  offensive  ?  For  more  than  two  thou- 
sand years  the  most  obscene  figure  we  know  was  used  by  the 
clown  in  popular  farce  and  by  athletes  as  an  emblem  of  their 
profession.  It  raised  a  laugh,  but  was  not  otherwise  noticed. 
An  interesting  question  arises  whether  there  ever  was  any  pro- 
test against  it,  or  any  evidence  that  anybody  thought  it  offensive. 

1  Reich,  Der  Alimiis,  I,  17,  29,  58,  93,  95,  258,  321,  496,  498,  626,  691,  T^;^. 

2  Burckhardt,  Arabic  Proverbs,  115. 

'  Stieda,  Infibulation,  23,  25,  36,  40,  44,  56,  66. 


THE  SOCIAL   CODES 


449 


The  passage  in  Aristophanes'  Clouds  (530)  has  been  so  inter- 
preted. It  appears,  however,  that  in  that  passage  the  author  is 
comparing  his  comedy  with  that  of  others.  He  has  admitted,  he 
says,  no  low  tricks  appeahng  to  vulgar  tastes,  no  phallus  which 
would  make  the  boys  laugh,  no  lascivious  dance,  no  scurrilous 
stories,  and  no  "knock-down  business."  This  is  not  a  criticism 
of  the  phallus  on  grounds  of  obscenity,  but  on  grounds  of  buffoon- 
ery. In  the  AcJiarnia7is  (243  and  259)  are  matter-of-fact  refer- 
ences to  the  phallus  worn  by  the  actor,  as  he  might  have  referred 
to  his  mantle.  Other  cases  occur  which  are  not  so  outspoken. 
In  the  Lysistrata  the  mention  of  the  phallus  in  connection  with 
the  motive  of  the  play  is  of  the  last  degree  of  vulgarity.  We 
cannot  find  that  any  Greeks,  Romans,  or  Byzantines  protested 
against  these  exhibitions  of  the  phallus,  which  to  us  are  so 
obscene.  The  viimiis  was  the  lowest  and  most  popular  kind  of 
theatrical  exhibition,  and  it  was  in  it  that  the  use  of  the  phallus 
was  most  constant.  Even  Christian  preachers  who  denounced 
the  minms  as  demoralizing,  and  who  specified  in  detail  what  they 
found  objectionable  in  it,  never  mention  the  display  of  obscene 
things.  All  people  were  accustomed  to  the  phallus  as  the  archaic 
symbol  of  the  servants  of  Dionysus.^  Christian  preachers  would 
have  made  no  allowance  for  it  on  that  account,  —  rather  the 
contrary,  —  and  they  would  not  have  refrained  from  objecting  to 
it  on  account  of  the  archaic,  or  artistic,  or  traditional  element, 
if  they  had  disapproved  of  it.  It  must  be  that  everybody  was 
indifferent  to  it. 

The  twin  pillars  which  were  common  in  front  of  Semitic 
temples  and  which  stood  before  the  temple  at  Jerusalem  are 
interpreted  as  phalli.^ 

476.  Phallus  as  amulet.  At  Rome  the  phallus  was  an  amulet 
and  was  worn  by  all  children.  The  figure,  therefore,  cannot 
have  been  an  obscene  one.  In  the  Roman  gardens  also  were 
ithyphallic  figures  which  appear  to  bear  witness  to  a  survival 
of  the  growth-demon  idea,  or  to  usages  which  originated  in  the 
growth-demon  idea,  and  were  perpetuated  traditionally  without 
knowledge   of    the    original    meaning.     On    mediaeval   churches 

1  Reich,  503.  2  w.  R.  Smith,  Relig.  of  the  Se?nites,  457. 


450  FOLKWAYS 

figures  were  often  carved,  as  an  expression  of  naive  ideas  and 
faiths,  and  in  pure  realism,  which  were  frankly  obscene.  Paint- 
ings and  stained  glass  often  represented  similar  objects.  In  the 
second  half  of  the  sixteenth  century  such  objects  were  removed, 
or  covered,  or  modified.  It  may  be  that  the  notion  of  obscenity 
developed  sooner  in  respect  to  literature  than  in  respect  to  art. 
Susemihl  ^  suggests  that  the  lost  tales  of  Miletus  may  have  been 
obscene,  and  also  the  tales  of  Paxamos,  and  that  their  disappear- 
ance may  be  due  to  a  war  on  them  on  this  account.  Literature 
would  furnish  food  to  the  mind.  It  would  not  deal  with  fact. 
The  popular  judgment  seems  long  to  have  refused  to  admit  that 
facts  of  structure  and  function  which  were  universally  human 
could  be  put  under  a  taboo  and  made  improper  to  be  known  and 
seen.  What  is  familiar  tends  to  remain  in  our  overconsciousness 
only.  The  same  is  true  of  what  offends  one's  taste  and  from 
which  one  averts  attention,  although  it  cannot  be  caused  to 
cease,  like  profane  language.  The  cases  of  toleration  of  what 
would  now  be  considered  obscene  are  to  be  explained  in  this  way. 
477.  Symbols  in  Asia.  "  In  ancient  times  obscene  symbols 
were  used  without  offense  to  denote  sex."  ^  Such  symbols  were 
very  common  in  western  Asia.  They  are  very  common  now  in 
India.  A  Chinese  woman's  foot,  an  Arab  woman's  face,  a  Tuareg 
man's  mouth,  is  obscene  to  persons  educated  in  any  one  of  those 
taboos,  because  it  always  is,  and  ought  to  be,  concealed.  It  is 
not  obscene  to  us.  On  the  other  hand,  the  lingam  in  India  is 
obscene  to  us,  but  not  to  Hindoos  who  have  never  learned  any 
taboo  in  regard  to  it.  An  egg  or  a  seed  might  have  been  made 
obscene  in  some  group  on  account  of  its  connection  with  repro- 
duction, if  that  connection  had  been  developed  in  dogma  and 
usage.  An  EngHshman  would  never  think  of  the  garter  as  un- 
seemly, but  non-English  men  and  women  have  thought  it  such. 
The  crucifix  shows  us  how  conventionalization  and  familiariza- 
tion set  aside  all  the  suggestion  which  an  artifact  really  carries. 
The  figure  of  a  naked  man  dying  in  torture  is  purely  horrible 
and  repulsive.    No  one  could  get  edification  from  an  artistic 

1  Griech.  Lit.  in  der  A lexandrinerzeit,  II,  574. 

2  \Y    R    Smith,  Relig.  of  ike  Semites,  457. 


THE   SOCIAL  CODES  45  I 

representation  of  a  man  hanging  on  the  gallows.  Many  people 
overlook  so  much  of  the  crucifix  and  add  so  much  in  imagination 
that  they  get  great  edification  from  it.  The  language  used  in  the 
communion  about  eating  the  body  and  drinking  the  blood  of 
Christ  refers  to  nothing  in  our  mores,  and  appeals  to  nothing  in 
our  experience.  It  comes  down  from  very  remote  ages,  very 
possibly  from  cannibalism. ^  If  we  heard  that  the  Chinese  or 
Mohammedans  had  a  religious  custom  in  which  they  used  cur- 
rently the  figure  of  eating  the  body  and  drinking  the  blood  of  a 
man  (or  god),  and  if  we  had  no  such  figure  of  speech  in  our  own 
use,  we  should  consider  it  shocking  and  abominable. 

478.  The  notion  of  obscenity  is  modern.  It  is  evident  that  the 
notion  of  obscenity  is  very  modern.  It  is  due  to  the  modern 
development  of  the  arts  of  life  and  the  mode  of  life  under  steam 
and  machinery.  The  cheapening  and  popularization  of  luxury  have 
made  houses  larger,  plumbing  cheaper,  and  all  the  apparatus  of 
careful  living  more  accessible  to  all  classes.  The  consequence 
is  that  all  the  operations  and  necessities  of  life  can  be  carried 
on  with  greater  privacy  and  more  observation  of  conventional 
order  and  decorum.  Then  the  usages  and  notions  grow  more 
strict  and  refined.  It  is  only  in  poverty  that  exposures  and  col- 
lisions occur  which  violate  decency  and  involve  obscenity.  There- 
fore the  standards  and  codes  of  all  classes  have  risen,  and  the  care 
about  dressing,  bathing,  and  private  functions,  for  the  sexes  and 
for  children,  has  been  intensified.  Out  of  this  has  come  the  notion 
of  what  is  obscene,  as  the  extreme  of  indecency  and  impropriety. 
What  we  call  obscene  was,  in  ancient  times,  either  a  matter  of 
superstition  or  a  free  field  for  jest.  The  conventionalization  in 
favor  of  what  is  amusing  must  always  be  recognized.  It  has 
always  entered  into  comedy  in  the  theater.  A  jest  will  not  cover 
as  much  now  as  it  once  would,  but  it  still  goes  far.  The  ancient 
mythology  long  covered  obscenity  in  drama.  When  Hephaestus 
caught  Ares  and  Aphrodite  in  his  net  the  gods  all  enjoyed  the 
joke.  The  goddesses  did  not  come  to  see  the  sight.^  The  differ- 
ence between  the  masculine  and  feminine  judgment  as  to  whether 
a  thing  is  funny  or  shameful  is  well  drawn.     Hera  insisted  to 

1  Bull.,  Soc.  d'Anthrop.  de  Paris,  1904,  404.  2  Qd.,  "VIII,  332. 


452 


FOLKWAYS 


Zeus  that  their  conjugal  famUiarity-  should  not  be  seen.^  The 
young  women  served  the  men  in  the  bath,  but  Odysseus  feared 
to  anger  Nausikaa  if  he  exposed  himself  to  her  (although  it  is  not 
certain  that  this  was  on  account  of  his  nakedness),  and  when 
she  walked  through  the  town  with  him  she  knew  well  what  would 
shame  her.^  Odysseus  also  asked  the  women  to  withdraw  while 
he  bathed.'^  The  mores  were  in  flux  and  were  contradictory. 
The  interpretation  of  the  text  is  not  beyond  question.  It  may 
not  have  been  nakedness  which  caused  shame,  but  the  dirt  and 
disorder  of  person  produced  by  shipwreck.  Various  philosophies 
claim  to  have  brought  in  the  greater  care  and  refinement  of 
more  recent  times,  but  not  one  of  them  can  show  the  documen- 
tary proof  that  the  men  of  a  time,  at  that  time,  showed  revolt 
against  the  mores  of  that  time  in  regard  to  this  matter.  What 
has  happened  is  that,  in  modern  times,  steam  and  machinery, 
with  the  increase  of  capital  and  of  power  over  nature  which  they 
have  produced,  have  given  social  power  to  the  lower  middle  class, 
as  the  representatives  of  the  masses.  This  has  brought  into 
control  the  mores  of  those  classes,  which  were  simple,  unluxu- 
rious,  philistine,  and  comparatively  pure,  because  those  classes 
were  forced  to  be  frugal,  domestic,  careful  of  their  children,  self- 
denying,  and  relatively  virtuous,  on  account  of  their  limited 
means.  The  arts  of  life  never  can  be  the  same  for  the  poor  and 
the  rich.  Wealth  is  often  charged  with  introducing  luxury  and 
vice,  but  that  tendency  is  offset  by  its  giving  command  over  the 
conditions  of  life,  which  makes  refined  usages  possible. 

479.  Propriety.  The  rules  of  propriety  apply  to  all  the  acts 
of  life,  but  especially  to  those  which  take  place  in  the  presence 
or  neighborhood  of  others ;  still  more  especially  to  those  which 
affect  others.  A  large  section  of  such  rules  deals  with  the 
ordinary  intercourse  of  persons  of  the  two  sexes,  and  regulates 
details  of  the  sex  taboo  which  are  less  important.  Crawley  gives 
a  list  of  cases  ^  in  which  brother  and  sister,  father  and  daughter, 
are  separated  by  the  sex  taboo.    A  woman  of  the  Omaha  tribe, 

1  //.,  XIV,  334. 

2  Od.,  Ill,  464  ;  IV,  49  ;  VI,  15,  109,  276 ;   Keller,  //om.  Soc,  209. 

3  0,1,  VI,  136.  4  JAI,  XXIV,  444. 


THE  SOCIAL  CODES  453 

whether  married  or  not,  if  she  walked  or  rode  alone  would 
ruin  her  reputation  as  a  virtuous  woman.  She  may  ride  or 
walk  only  with  her  husband  or  near  kinsman.  In  other  cases 
she  gets  another  woman  to  go  with  her.  Young  men  are  for- 
bidden to  speak  to  girls,  if  they  meet  two  or  more  on  the  road, 
unless  they  are  akin.^  A  chief  never  ate  with  his  guests  amongst 
the  tribes  on  the  upper  Missouri.  He  sat  by  and  served  them, 
meanwhile  preparing  the  pipe  to  be  smoked  afterwards. ^  Junker^ 
was  warned  that,  in  passing  a  princess  in  Buganda,  he  must  not 
touch  her  robe  of  oxhide,  for  that  would  be  an  insult  to  her. 
If  a  woman  of  the  Mongbottu  gives  coloring  matter  to  a  man, 
that  is  undue  familiarity  and  will  occasion  the  wrath  of  an 
offended  husband.^  An  Andaman  Islander,  if  he  has  occasion  to 
speak  to  a  married  woman  older  than  himself,  must  do  it  through 
a  third  person.  He  must  not  touch  his  younger  brother's  or 
cousin's  wife,  or  his  wife's  sister.  Women  are  restricted  in  the 
same  way  as  to  the  husband's  elder  brother,  or  male  cousin,  or 
his  brother-in-law.^  The  relations  of  relatives  in  law  are  a  chap- 
ter in  propriety. 

480.  Seclusion  of  women.  In  modern  Korea  women  are  se- 
cluded. It  is  not  proper  to  ask  for  them.  Women  have  been 
put  to  death  by  fathers  or  husbands,  or  are  reported  to  have 
committed  suicide,  when  strange  men,  by  accident  or  design, 
have  touched  their  hands.  A  servant  woman  gave  as  a  reason 
for  not  saving  her  mistress  from  a  fire  in  the  house  that  she 
had  been  touched  by  a  man,  in  the  confusion,  and  was  not  worth 
saving.^  In  China,  if  a  foreigner  asks  about  the  ladies,  he  is 
taken  to  refer  to  the  mother,  not  the  wife,  of  the  Chinaman." 
A  young  wife  is  not  allowed,  amongst  the  southern  Slavs,  to 
address  comrades  in  the  great-family  house  by  their  names,  "  out 
of  modesty."  She  gives  them  special  names,  adopted  for  her 
intercourse  with  them.  She  is  guilty  of  great  impropriety  if  she 
chats  with  her  husband  in  the  presence  of  her  parents-in-law.^ 

1  B7cr.  Eth.,  Ill,  365.  5  JAI,  XII,  355. 

2  Smithson.  Rep.,  1885,  Part  II,  457.  ^  Bishop,  Korea,  341. 

3  Afrika,  III,  633.  ^  Globus,  LXXVIII,  263. 
*  Burrows,  Land  of  Pygmies,  85.  ^  jud.,  LXXXII,  192  ff . 


454  FOLKWAYS 

481.  Customs  of  propriety.  A  native  of  the  Naga  Hills  told  an  English- 
man that  it  was  not  the  correct  thing  to  use  a  poisoned  arrow  except  to  shoot 
it  at  a  woman.i  On  the  Palau  Islands,  and  amongst  all  Moslems,^  it  is  an 
insult  to  a  man  to  ask  him  about  the  health  of  his  wife,  and  any  man  may 
strike  with  a  stick  or  a  stone,  not  with  a  cutting  weapon,  any  one  who  utters 
the  former's  wife's  name.  Women  are  treated  with  extreme  formality.  A  man 
who  surprises  one  bathing  is  fined.  This  occurs  very  rarely,  since  the  men 
utter  cries  of  warning  when  approaching  the  place.^  In  German  Melanesia 
a  visitor  is  at  once  presented  with  betel  and  food,  but  he  immediately  gives 
some  of  it  back  to  the  inmates  of  the  house  as  security  against  poison.*  The 
Indians  of  Central  America  are  shocked  at  the  quick  actions  and  loud  talk- 
ing habitual  to  Europeans,  and  think  them  signs  of  a  lack  of  breeding  and 
of  the  low  level  of  European  culture.  Some  tribes  allow  no  singing,  which 
they  consider  a  sign  of  drunkenness. ^  An  Ossetin  (Caucasus)  will  never  take 
his  child  on  his  arm  or  caress  it  in  the  presence  of  another,  especially  of 
an  older  person,  or  his  own  father  or  mother.  If  he  did  do  so,  no  one  would 
shake  hands  with  him,  and  any  one  might  with  impunity  spit  in  his  face. 
Propriety  forbids  the  Tushins  (of  the  same  region)  to  manifest  tenderness, 
even  when  old,  towards  husband  or  wife,  parent  or  child,  in  the  presence  of 
others ;  especially  is  it  improper  to  show  tenderness  towards  sons.^  An 
Ossetin  man  may  see  his  betrothed  only  in  secret  and  incidentally,  or  in  the 
houseof  one  of  his  own  relatives.  It  is  a  gross  insult  to  ask  him  about  her  health, 
or  when  the  wedding  will  be.  A  married  woman  may  not  address  her  hus- 
band or  male  relatives  by  their  names.  If  she  does  so,  the  other  women  will 
ridicule  her.  Other  people  in  the  same  region  have  similar  excessive  rules. 
An  Armenian  woman,  after  marriage,  is  veiled.  She  must  not  talk  with  any 
one  but  her  husband,  sisters,  or  little  children.  She  answers  her  parents-in- 
law  by  signs.  Her  husband  ought  not  to  call  her  by  her  name  before  others. 
A  Cherkess  wife  may  talk  with  her  husband  only  at  night.  His  presence  in 
her  room  by  day  is  thought  improper,  and  it  is  improper  for  man  and  wife 
to  be  seen  together  outside  the  house,  or  to  be  seen  talking  together.  A 
newly  married  woman,  among  the  Grusians,  must  not  speak  to  her  husband's 
father,  mother,  or  brothers  until  she  has  borne  a  child.  A  childless  wife  is 
not  treated  with  respect  by  her  husband,  or  his  family,  or  even  by  outsiders." 
Darinsky  explains  that  the  community  used  to  buy  the  wives,  who  were  costly, 
and  not  equal  in  number  to  the  men.  Now,  if  a  man  gets  a  wife  and  children 
of  his  own,  he  commits  a  crime  against  the  old  order.  He  must  be  well  off, 
and  he  leaves  his  poorer  brethren  in  the  lurch.  They  envy  and  annoy  him. 
To  escape  this  he  conceals  or  ignores  his  relation  to  his  wife  and  children. 

1  JAI,  XI,  199.  2  Pischon,  Einfliiss  des  Islam,  17. 

^  Kubary,  Soc.  Eiia-ichUingen  der  Pelaiter,  73,  90. 

*  Pfeil,  Aus  der  Siidsee,  48,  74.  5  Globtts,  LXXXVII,  129,  130. 

^  Darinsky  in  Ztsft.filr  vergleich.  Rechts-wssnsft.,  XIV,  189. 

"^  Fuss.  Eth7iog.  (russ.),  219,  225,  291,  340,  355,  358. 


THE   SOCIAL  CODES  455 

482.  Moslem  rules  of  propriety.  To  a  great  extent  the  legisla- 
tion of  Mohammed  consisted  in  accomplishing  reforms  and  inno- 
vations for  which  the  Arabs  were  almost  ready.  When  he  tried 
to  introduce  ideas  of  his  own,  changing  the  mores,  he  failed.  He 
tried  many  times  to  put  a  stop  to  the  usages  of  mourning  which 
were  violent  and  excessive, — loud  outcries,  destruction  of  clothes 
and  furniture,  blackening  the  walls  of  the  house  and  one's  face, 
and  shearing  the  beard.  He  did  not  succeed.  These  were  an- 
cient and  popular  customs  and  they  were  maintained.^  It  is 
improper  for  any  Moslem,  male  or  female,  to  uncover  the  head.^ 
They  uncover  the  feet  to  show  respect.  This  was  Semitic  and  is 
Oriental.^  Robertson  Smith*  thinks  that  the  reason  was  that  the 
shoes  could  not  be  washed,  unless  they  were  mere  linen  socks, 
such  as  were  used  in  the  Phoenician  sacred  dress.  By  Moslem 
rules  strangers  should  never  see  or  hear  a  man's  wives.  Physi- 
cians may  see  only  the  affected  parts  of  a  woman.  A  traveler 
returning  home  may  not  enter  his  own  house  at  night.  Two 
persons  of  the  same  sex  must  never  bare  the  body  between  the 
waist  and  the  knee  in  presence  of  each  other.  The  Koran  ^  con- 
tains elaborate  rules  for  women  as  to  the  concealment  of  parts 
of  the  body,  and  as  to  movements  of  the  body  and  gestures  as 
limited  by  propriety.  Neatness,  care,  and  order  are  religious 
duties  ;  also  devices  to  preserve  and  enhance  beauty.^  To  an 
Arab,  a  blow  on  the  back  of  the  neck  is  more  insulting  than  one 
on  the  face.''  It  is  not  proper  for  a  man  to  look  any  Moslem 
woman  in  the  face.  When  Vambery,  talking  to  a  lady,  raised 
his  eyes  to  her  face  she  sternly  told  him  to  behave  with 
propriety.^ 

483.  Hatless  women.  In  contrast  with  the  Moslem  rule  not 
to  uncover  the  head  is  the  Christian  rule  that  men  should 
uncover  the  head  in  church  but  that  women  should  cover  it.  In 
1905  Cranstock  church  in  Newquay,  Cornwall,  England,  was 
closed  on  account  of  the  "irreverence  of  numbers  of  women, 

1  Von  Kremer,  Ktdticrgesch.  des  Orients,  II,  250. 
2 /^z,/.,  215.  5  Sura  XXIV. 

^  Exod.  iii.  5  ;   Josh.  v.  15.  ^  Tomauw,  AIosl.  Recht.,  86. 

*  Relig.  of  the  Semites,  453.  ''  Burckhardt,  Arabic  Proverbs,  i. 

8  Sitieiibilder  aiis  dem  Morgenlatide,  16. 


456  FOLKWAYS 

who,  walking  uncovered,  presume  to  enter  God's  house  with  no 
sign  of  reverence  or  modesty  upon  their  heads."  A  rule  was 
adopted  at  Canterbury,  in  the  same  year,  that  no  hatless  women 
should  be  allowed  in  the  cathedral.  A  reason  or  authority  for 
this  rule  is  said  to  be  found  in  i  Cor.  xi.  4-7.  An  American 
church  paper  said  that  such  a  rule  would  half  empty  some 
American  churches  in  the  warmer  latitudes.^  A  rector  at  Asbury 
Park,  August  17,  1905,  rebuked  women  for  coming  to  church 
without  hats,  and  said  that  the  bishop  of  the  diocese  had 
asked  the  clergy  to  enforce  the  rule  that  "  women  should  not 
enter  the  consecrated  building  with  uncovered  heads."  Russian 
Jewish  women  at  Jerusalem,  being  forbidden  to  wear  veils,  wear 
wigs,  lest  they  may  "dishonor"  their  heads  by  uncovering 
them.^ 

484.  Rules  of  propriety.  The  Kabyles  of  northern  Africa  are  warlike, 
but  have  little  political  organization.  Although  they  are  Moslems,  they  have, 
by  an  ingenious  use  of  Moslem  law  about  pious  gifts  for  charitable  uses, 
preserved  their  own  ancient  mores  -about  women's  property,  against  the 
Moslem  law.  A  bride,  on  leaving  her  home,  is  lifted  on  her  mule  by  a  negro, 
if  there  is  one  in  the  village.  There  is  great  rejoicing  at  the  birth  of  a  boy, 
and  the  mother  is  congratulated  and  decorated.  When  a  girl  is  born  there 
is  silence.  A  man  is  fined  if  he  slaughters  an  animal  and  eats  meat  except 
on  a  market  day,  because  it  would  pain  his  neighbors  to  see  him  eat  meat 
when  they  could  not  get  it.^  The  Kabyles  have  very  strict  rules  as  to  sex 
propriety  and  decency  of  language.  Any  violation  of  propriety  in  the 
presence  of  a  woman,  or  of  a  man  accompanied  by  one  of  his  female  rela- 
tives, calls  for  especial  punishment.  The  presence  of  a  woman  protects  her 
husband  from  violence  by  a  creditor,  and  in  general  imposes  peace  and 
decorum.'*  As  a  mark  of  respect  for  a  man  with  whom  she  is  talking,  a 
Tuareg  woman  will  turn  her  back  to  him,  or  draw  a  fold  of  her  garment 
over  her  mouth. ^  The  Kalmucks  consider  that  a  man  without  his  girdle  is 
in  extreme  undress.  He  never  shows  himself  before  old  people  without  his 
girdle.^ 

^  The  Chtirchmaji,  September  2,  1905,  343. 

2  Goodrich-Frear,  Inner  Jertisalem,  57. 

^  This  explanation  is  no  doubt  a  product  of  later  rationalization.  The  rule  is  a 
very  ancient  Semitic  one,  due  to  the  old  connection  between  sacrifice  and  com- 
mensality.    W.  Rob.  Smith,  Relig.  of  the  Semites,  283. 

*  Hanoteau  et  Letourneux,  La  Kabylie,  II,  and  III,  190,  237,  240. 

^  Duveyrier,  Les  Touaregs  du  Nord,  430. 

''  Riiss.  Ethnog.  (riiss.),  II,  445. 


THE  SOCIAL  CODES  457 

485.  Hindoo  ritual  of  the  toilet,  etc.  According  to  ancient 
Hindoo  custom,  younger  brothers  should  in  all  matters  yield  to 
elder  brothers. ^  Brahmins  use  only  the  left  hand  for  all  acts  of 
the  bodily  toilet.  They  have  a  very  elaborate  ritual  for  all  such 
acts,  and  consider  their  houses  defiled  by  the  presence  of  Euro- 
peans who  do  not  observe  any  such  ritual.  They  remove  shoes  on 
entering  a  house  on  account  of  the  impurity  of  leather.^  It  is 
not  good  manners  amongst  them  to  address  the  women  of  the 
house,  or  to  ask  for  them.  If  a  woman  takes  a  man's  arm  in 
public  she  is  supposed  to  be  his  mistress.  Gallantry  is  never 
displayed.  A  wife  would  resent  it  as  disrespectful,  fit  only  for  a 
woman  of  another  grade.  Only  courtesans,  dancers,  and  harlots 
are  taught  to  read,  sing,  or  dance.  An  honest  woman  would  be 
ashamed  to  know  how  to  read.  Brahmins  regard  the  use  of  the 
pocket  handkerchief  with  the  same  disgust  which  a  European 
feels  for  the  Hindoo  use  of  the  fingers  which  European  laborers 
practice.  Hindoos  clean  the  teeth  with  a  fresh  twig  every  day, 
and  are  horrified  that  Europeans  do  it  with  a  brush  made  of  the 
hair  of  an  animal,  and  do  it  frequently  with  the  same  brush. 
There  are  days  on  which  one  must  not  brush  the  teeth  on  pain 
of  hell.  "  Saliva  is  of  all  things  the  most  utterly  polluting."  ^ 
For  a  woman  to  have  to  part  with  her  hair  is  one  of  the  greatest 
of  degradations  and  the  most  terrible  of  all  trials.  Hindoo  women 
never  use  false  hair  if  they  lose  their  own.^  Women  are  safe  and 
are  treated  with  respect  in  public.  The  honor  of  a  Hindoo 
requires  that  he  look  no  higher  than  the  ankles  of  a  passing 
woman.^  He  must  not  touch  a  woman.  If  many  men  and 
women  meet,  for  instance  in  traveling,  they  may  lie  down  side 
by  side  to  sleep  without  impropriety.^  Not  one  man  in  a  hundred 
in  India  ever  tasted  liquor,  "  but  a  Hindoo  beggar  may  not  eat 
bread  made  with  yeast  or  baked  by  any  but  Hindoos  of  his  own 
or  a  better  caste."  ''   The  Angharmi  of  northeastern  India  consider 

1  Holtzmann,  Ind.  Sagen,  II,  267. 

2  Monier-Williams,  Brahmanism  and  Hinduism,  396. 

8  Ibid.,  376.  *  Ibid.,  375. 

5  Nivedita,   Web  of  Indian  life,  14. 

^  Dubois,  Ma-2irs  de  PInde  (1825),  II,  280,  329,  332,  334,  441,  476,  480. 
■^  Nivedita,  IVeb  of  Indiati  Life,  11. 


458  FOLKWAYS 

it  a  reproach  for  a  woman  to  bear  a  child  before  her  hair  is  long 
enough  to  be  tied  behind.  Until  marriage  the  women  shave  the 
head.  Spouses  are  therefore  separated  for  a  year  after  marriage.^ 
Modern  Egyptians  think  it  improper  for  a  man  to  "describe 
the  features  or  person  of  a  female  (as  that  she  has  a  straight 
nose  or  large  eyes)  to  one  of  his  own  sex,  by  whom  it  is  unlawful 
that  she  should  be  seen."  ^  Modern  Sicilian  peasants  at  their  balls 
dance  in  couples  of  men  and  couples  of  women,  "  such  an  idea  as 
a  man  putting  his  arm  around  a  woman's  waist  in  a  waltz  being 
considered  indecent."^ 

486.  Greek  rules  of  propriety.  Nausikaa  disregarded  the  lack 
of  dress  of  the  shipwrecked  when  they  needed  help,  but  she  had 
a  complete  code  of  propriety  and  good  manners  with  which  she 
compelled  them  to  comply.^  In  the  Greek  tragedies  modest  and 
proper  behavior  for  women  is  characterized  by  reserve,  retirement, 
reluctance.  They  ought  not  to  talk  publicly  with  young  men  or 
to  expose  themselves  to  the  gaze  of  men.  They  may  not  run  out 
into  the  street  with  hair  and  dress  disordered,  or  roam  about  the 
country,  or  run  to  look  at  sights.  Clytemnestra  told  Iphigenia 
to  be  reserved  with  Achilles  if  she  could  be  so  and  win  her 
point,  but  to  win  her  point.  Iphigenia  considered  it  a  cause  of 
shame  to  her  that  her  proposed  marriage  was  broken  off. 

487.  Erasmus's  rules.  Erasmus  wrote  a  book  of  manners  for 
a  youth,  his  pupil.  He  said  that  the  teeth  should  be  cleaned, 
but  that  it  was  girlish  to  whiten  them  with  powder.  He  thought 
it  excessive  to  rinse  the  mouth  more  frequently  than  once  in  the 
morning.  He  thought  it  lazy  and  thieflike  to  go  with  one's  hands 
behind  one's  back.  It  was  not  well-mannered  to  sit  or  stand  with 
one  hand  in  the  other,  although  some  thought  it  soldierly.^ 

488.  Eating.  Special  occasion  for  rules  of  propriety  is  offered  by  eat- 
ing. In  Melanesia  and  Polynesia  men  and  their  wives  remain  in  a  great 
measure  strangers  to  each  other.  They  lead  separate  lives.  Women 
have  their  lodgings,  meals,  work,  and  property  separate.^    Perhaps  it  is  a 

1  JAI,  XXVII,  27.  *  Od.,  VI,  285. 

2  Lane,  Mod.  Egyptians,  I,  265.  ^  De  Civilitate  Morum  Puerilmm,  I, 

3  Alec-Tweedie,  Suimy  Sicily,  265.  1,3,  5,  52,  54. 

6  JAI,  XXIV,  231. 


THE   SOCIAL  CODES  459 

consequence  that  the  rule  becomes  established  that  men  and  women  should 
never  see  each  other  eat.^  The  Varua  of  Central  Africa  put  a  cloth  before 
the  face  while  drinking,  in  order  not  to  be  seen,  especially  by  any  woman. ^ 
On  Tanna  (New  Hebrides)  a  woman  may  not  see  a  man  drink  kava?  A  man 
on  the  Andaman  Islands  may  not  eat  with  any  women  except  those  of  his 
own  household,  until  he  is  old.  The  unmarried  of  each  sex  eat  by  them- 
selves.'* Amongst  the  old  Semites  it  was  not  the  custom  for  a  man  to  eat 
with  his  wife  and  children.  In  northern  Arabia  "no  woman  will  eat  before 
men."  Some  Southern  Arabs  "would  rather  die  than  accept  food  at  the 
hands  of  a  woman."  ^  There  is  also  a  widespread  notion  that  one  should 
not  be  seen  to  eat  by  anybody.  The  Bakairi  are  ashamed  to  see  or  to  be 
seen  eating.^  In  northern  Abyssinia  people  when  eating  are  concealed. 
At  a  wedding  feast  the  guests  break  up  into  little  groups  of  four  to  six,  who 
eat  separately,  each  group  covered  by  a  sheet.*^  The  king  of  Loango  covers 
his  mouth  with  a  garment  to  eat  or  drink,  in  order  to  keep  up  an  ancient 
rule  that  no  one  may  see  him  eat  or  drink.*  The  Sudanese  think  that 
disease  or  death  would  follow  if  any  one  should  see  them  take  food.^  No 
Hindoos  like  to  be  looked  at  while  eating.  "  I  never  once  saw  a  single 
Hindoo,  except  of  the  lowest  caste,  either  preparing  or  eating  cooked  food 
of  any  kind."  ^^  If  a  man  of  inferior  caste  enters  the  kitchen  where  food  is 
being  prepared  all  must  be  thrown  away.  If  food  thus  contaminated  was 
eaten  it  would  taint  the  souls  as  well  as  the  bodies  of  the  eaters,  and  would 
cost  long  and  painful  expiation.  Schwaner^^  reports  that  the  Dyaks  with- 
drew "modestly"  when  he  was  about  to  eat.  That  the  cycle  of  variation 
may  be  complete,  we  find  one  case  of  people  (Kafans)  who  may  not  take 
food  or  drink  without  the  presence  of  a  legal  witness,  an  adult  of  the  same 
people  duly  authorized.  The  chief  has  a  slave  who  discharges  the  duty  of 
witness.  He  must  be  called  at  night  if  the  chief  has  to  take  medicine.  A 
stranger  must  conform  to  the  rule.  Spouses  must  eat  and  drink  together, 
from  the  same  dish  or  cup.  To  violate  this  rule  is  a  reason  for  divorce. ^^ 
The  best  explanation  of  the  rules  about  eating  in  private  is  the  fear  of  the 
evil  eye,  i.e.  the  envious  or  admiring  eye  of  a  hungry  man,  which  would 
bewitch  the  food. 

489.  Kissing.  Kissing  is  another  occasion  for  special  rules  of 
propriety.  In  China  and  Japan  kissing  is  regarded  with  disgust. 
It  is  unknown  amongst  Polynesians,  Malays,  negroes,  and  Indians 

1  Crawley  gives  a  list  of  cases  (JAI,  XXIV,  435). 

2  Ibid.,  433.  3  Austral.  Assoc.  Adv.  Sci.,  1S92,  660. 

4  JAI,  XII,  344.  6  w.  R.  Smith,  Relig.  of  the  Semites,  279. 

6  Berl.  Mus.,  1888,  66.  '^  Bent,  Ethiopia,  32. 

^  Bastian,  Loango-Kilste,  I,  262.        ^  Junker,  Afrika,  I,  156. 
1'^  Monier-Williams,  BrahtJianism  aiid  Hinduism,  128. 
"  Borneo,  II,  168.  i-  Paulitschke,  Ethnog.  N.O.  Afr.,  I,  248. 


460  FOLKWAYS 

of  South  America.^  They  rub  noses,  or  bite,  or  smell,  instead. 
It  is  said  of  a  Samoan  girl,  also,  that  she  "  looks  upon  kissing 
with  disgust."  ^  So  far  apart  may  human  beings  be  racewise  in 
their  judgment  of  what  is  pleasant  or  disgusting !  In  Europe, 
in  the  Middle  Ages,  the  custom  of  kissing  was  very  extended. 
Newcomers  were  saluted  with  kisses  ;  also  partners  in  the  dance. 
A  bishop  kissed  the  wife  of  Rudolf  of  Hapsburg  when  receiving 
her,  but  he  was  banished  until  Rudolf  died.^  From  a  fifteenth- 
century  sermon  it  is  learned  that  a  young  lady  of  rank  in  France, 
at  that  time,  would  rise  in  the  midst  of  divine  service,  incommod- 
ing everybody,  in  order  to  kiss  on  the  mouth  a  cavalier  who 
entered  the  church  at  that  time.^  The  custom  of  kissing  became 
more  general  in  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries,  but  dis- 
cussion about  it  shows  that  there  was  some  doubt  whether  it 
was  expedient.  "The  mores  won  a  victory  over  philosophy."^ 
In  modern  times  Europeans  have  taught  half-civilized  and 
barbarian  peoples  the  custom  of  kissing.  The  Hottentots,  for 
instance,  in  their  zeal  to  imitate  Europeans,  have  adopted  this 
custom.^ 

490.  Politeness,  etiquette,  manners.  Politeness,  courtesy,  and 
good  manners  are  usages,  but  they  rise  to  the  level  of  the  mores 
when  they  become  a  part  of  the  character  of  a  people,  for  then 
they  produce  characteristic  traits  which  affect  all  societal  relations.'' 
Uncivilized  people  often  pay  punctilious  attention  to  rules  of 
etiquette  about  salutations,  visits,  meetings,  the  aged,  etc.  As 
all  their  rules  are  imperative  and  admit  of  no  discussion  or 
exception,  they  constitute  a  social  ritual  which  may  educate  in 
certain  sentiments,  although  it  is  by  no  means  sure  to  do  so.  The 
functions  of  politeness  and  etiquette  exist  in  order  to  make  things 
go  smoothly  in  all  social  contact.  Orientals  have  very  thorough 
training  in  this  department.  They  have  systems  of  good  manners 
which  have  been  practiced  for  thousands  of  years.    The  Chinese 

1  Martius,  Ethnog.  Brasil.,  96.  ^  Becke,  Pacific  Tales,  179. 

^  Denecke,  Atistandsgefilhl  in  Deutschland,  VII. 

*  Lenient,  La  Satire  en  France  an  AI.  A.,  310. 

^  De  Maulde  la  Claviere,  Feitimes  de  la  Renaissance,  320. 

6  Globus,  LXXXV,  80. 

"^  See  Mallory  in  Amer.  Anthrop.,  Ill,  201. 


THE   SOCIAL  CODES  461 

Li-ki  ("  Ritual  of  Propriety  ")  dates  from  the  beginning  of  the 
Christian  era.  It  is  an  elaborate  text-book  of  correct  conduct  in 
all  affairs  of  life.  It  is  of  universal  application,  except  for  details 
of  the  mode  of  life  in  China,  and  it  shows  the  value  of  such  a 
code  and  the  use  of  the  habits  it  inculcates.  Chinese  and  Japa- 
nese are  well-disciplined  people  in  all  the  matters  of  conduct  and 
social  contact  which  are  controlled  by  the  mores. 

From  this  point  on  it  will  be  noticed  that  the  codes  to  be 
mentioned  are  further  removed  from  the  sex  mores. 

491.  Good  manners.  The  Andamanese  of  all  classes  show  great 
consideration  for  the  very  young,  weak,  aged,  or  helpless. ^  A 
white  man  gave  liquor  to  a  native  man  on  the  Chittagong  hills. 
The  latter  insisted  on  giving  some  of  it  to  the  women  first,  but 
they  required  much  urging  before  they  would  take  it.^  The 
Samoans  have  very  polished  manners.  They  had  a  court  language.^ 
The  Betsileo  on  Madagascar  have  a  careful  etiquette  about  the 
houses  of  their  chiefs,  about  proper  conduct  in  those  houses,  and 
about  the  utensils  there  ;  also  words  are  reserved  for  chiefs 
which  others  may  not  utter .^  In  East  Africa  any  violation  of  eti- 
quette towards  a  chief  is  summarily  and  severely  punished,  some- 
times by  death. ^  Many  an  A-Sande  has  lost  a  finger  or  his  life 
for  an  innocent  word  spoken  to  the  wife  of  a  chief.^  The  Tun- 
guses  of  Siberia  have  so  much  habitual  politeness  that  Wrangell 
called  them  "the  French  of  the  tundra."'  The  Yakuts  think  it 
bad  manners  to  give  a  big  piece  of  meat  to  a  poor  guest  and  a 
little  piece  to  a  rich  one.  Good  breeding,  according  to  their  code, 
calls  for  the  opposite  conduct.^  A  Fuegian  husband,  giving  an 
order  to  his  wife,  out  of  courtesy  tells  her  to  give  the  order  to 
some  one  else,  although  there  is  no  one  else.^  Amongst  North 
American  Indians  the  modes  of  sitting  or  squatting  for  each  sex 
are  strictly  prescribed. i*'  Sapper  says  of  the  Central  American 
Indians  that  when  the  white  man  asks  a  question  he  often  gets 

1  JAI,  XII,  93.  6  Junker,  Afr.,  II,  481. 

2  Lewin,  J?aces  ofS.E.  I)idia,  311.  ''  Hiekisch,  Timgiisen,  68. 

^  Austral.  Assoc.  Adv.  Sci.,  1892,  630.  ^  Sieroshevski,  Ya kitty,  {riiss.),  I,  440. 

*  JAI,  XXI,  223.  9  Scribner's  Mag.,  February,  1895. 

5  Ibid.,  XXII,  119.  10  Globus,  LXXIII,  253. 


462  FOLKWAYS 

no  answer  because  he  has  neglected  something  required  by  eti- 
quette. He  once  on  a  journey  asked  a  Kekchi  Indian  to  ask  the 
way  of  an  Indian  whom  they  saw  coming.  This  was  improper, 
because  not  any  one  in  the  company  might  ask  that  question, 
according  to  Kekchi  etiquette,  but  only  the  leader  of  the  com- 
pany.^ Schweinfurth'-^  rates  the  Dinka  above  Turks  and  Arabs 
in  respect  to  table  manners  and  decorum  of  eating.  All  recline 
on  the  ground  around  a  bowl  of  food,  each  with  a  gourd  cup  in 
his  hand,  but  they  manage  this  primitive  arrangement  with 
constant  care  for  propriety. 

492.  Etiquette  of  salutation,  etc.  The  modes  of  expressing 
good  will  and  the  etiquette  of  meeting  or  visiting  would  be 
another  large  section  under  this  head.  What  things  are  possible 
is  shown  by  the  report  that  a  Tibetan  host  at  a  feast  "  expressed 
his  respect  for  us  and  his  appreciation  of  our  remarks  by  rising 
to  his  feet  and  extending  his  tongue  at  full  length."  ^ 

493.  Literature  of  manners  and  etiquette.  Denecke*  is  able 
to  trace  an  indigenous  cultivation  of  good  manners  by  literature 
from  the  eleventh  century,  when  there  was  taught  courtesy  to 
women,  although  not  the  woman  cult  of  a  later  time.  He  men- 
tions a  series  of  books  down  to  the  nineteenth  century,  which 
inculcated  good  manners  according  to  the  changing  notions  and 
standards  of  the  times.  In  the  second  half  of  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury it  was  taught  in  von  Lichtenstein's  Fraiienbuch^  a  manual 
of  manners  and  morals  for  women,  that  a  woman  should  not 
salute  a  knight  at  his  approach  lest  he  infer  favor.  She  was  to 
be  covered  like  a  nun  ;  she  did  not  share  in  banquets  and  did  not 
kiss  guests  whom  she  received  ;  she  shunned  outside  festivities 
and  kept  a  good  name.  Knights  then  neglected  women  because 
they  cared  only  for  rude  pleasures,  drink,  and  hunting.  Later, 
rules  were  made  for  the  conduct  of  men.^  The  history  of  man- 
ners shows  that  what  was  inculcated  in  books  never  became  real 
practice.  The  conquest  of  the  art  of  eating  with  propriety  was 
accomplished  by  the  introduction  of  forks.    Before  that  the  bread 

1  Globus,  LXXXVII,  128.        •  3  Ceiitury  Mag.,  January,  1904. 

2  Heart  of  Africa,  I,  157.  ^  Anstandsgefiihl  in  Detitschlayid. 

^  Denecke,  XII. 


THE  SOCIAL  CODES  463 

was  a  tool  with  which  to  eat,  and  it  required  cultivated  skill  to 
handle  it  properly.  Salt  and  mustard  still  presented  problems,  — 
knife  or  fingers  ?    Each  one  brought  his  own  knife. 

494.  Honor,  seemliness,  common  sense,  conscience.  Honor, 
common  sense,  seemliness,  and  conscience  seem  to  belong  to  the 
individual  domain.  They  are  reactions  produced  in  the  individual 
by  the  societal  environment.  Honor  is  the  sentiment  of  what 
one  owes  to  one's  self.  It  is  an  individual  prerogative,  and  an 
ultimate  individual  standard.  Seemliness  is  conduct  which  befits 
one's  character  and  standards.  Common  sense,  in  the  current 
view,  is  a  natural  gift  and  universal  outfit.  As  to  honor  and 
seemliness,  the  popular  view  seems  to  be  that  each  one  has  a 
fountain  of  inspiration  in  himself  to  furnish  him  with  guidance. 
Conscience  might  be  added  as  another  natural  or  supernatural 
"voice,"  intuition,  and  part  of  the  original  outfit  of  all  human 
beings^as  such.  If  these  notions  could  be  verified,  and  if  they 
proved  true,  no  discussion  of  them  would  be  in  place  here,  but  as 
to  honor  it  is  a  well-known  and  undisputed  fact  that  societies 
have  set  codes  of  honor  and  standards  of  it  which  were  arbitrary, 
irrational,  and  both  individually  and  socially  inexpedient,  as  ample 
experiment  has  proved.  These  codes  have  been  and  are  impera- 
tive, and  they  have  been  accepted  and  obeyed  by  great  groups  of 
men  who,  in  their  own  judgment,  did  not  believe  them  sound. 
Those  codes  came  out  of  the  folkways  of  the  time  and  place. 
Then  comes  the  question  whether  it  is  not  always  so.  Is  honor, 
in  any  case,  anything  but  the  code  of  one's  duty  to  himself  which 
he  has  accepted  from  the  group  in  which  he  was  educated  .? 
Family,  class,  religious  sect,  school,  occupation,  enter  into  the 
social  environment.  In  every  environment  there  is  a  standard  of 
honor.  When  a  man  thinks  that  he  is  acting  most  independently, 
on  his  personal  prerogative,  he  is  at  best  only  balancing  against 
each  other  the  different  codes  in  which  he  has  been  educated, 
e.g.  that  of  the  trades  vmion  against  that  of  the  Sunday  school, 
or  of  the  school  against  that  of  the  family.  What  we  think 
"natural  "  and  universal,  and  to  which  we  attribute  an  objective 
reality,  is  the  sum  of  traits  whose  origin  is  so  remote,  and  which 
we  share  with  so  many,  that  we  do  not  know  when  or  how  we 


464  FOLKWAYS 

took  them  up,  and  we  can  remember  no  rational  selection  by 
which  we  adopted  them.  The  same  is  true  of  common  sense. 
It  is  the  stock  of  ways  of  looking  at  things  which  we  acquired 
unconsciously  by  suggestion  from  the  environment  in  which  we 
grew  up.  Some  have  more  common  sense  than  others,  because 
they  are  more  docile  to  suggestion,  or  have  been  taught  to  make 
judgments  by  people  who  were  strong  and  wise.  Conscience 
also  seems  best  explained  as  a  sum  of  principles  of  action  which 
have  in  one's  character  the  most  original,  remote,  undisputed, 
and  authoritative  position,  and  to  which  questions  of  doubt  are 
habitually  referred.  If  these  views  are  accepted,  we  have  in 
honor,  common  sense,  and  conscience  other  phenomena  of  the 
folkways,  and  the  notions  of  eternal  truths  of  philosophy  or  ethics, 
derived  from  somewhere  outside  of  men  and  their  struggles  to  live 
well  under  the  conditions  of  earth,  must  be  abandoned  as  myths. 

495.  Seemliness.  Honor,  common  sense,  and  conscience  can 
never  be  predicated  of  groups  except  by  a  figure  of  speech.  The 
case  with  seemliness  is  different.  That  also  is  an  individual  trait. 
It  is  lighter  and  less  definable  than  honor  and  propriety.  The 
individual  alone  must  decide  what  it  is  fitting  for  him  to  do  or 
refuse  to  do.  He  will  get  his  standards  for  this  decision  from 
his  nearest  social  environment.  Seemliness,  however,  can  be 
predicated  of  a  society.  A  civilized  state  may  act  in  a  seemly  or 
unseemly  manner,  that  is,  in  a  way  worthy  of  its  history  and 
character,  or  the  contrary.  Also  the  people  of  a  group,  in  their 
unorganized  acts,  can  obey  unworthy  motives  and  yield  to  impulses, 
groupwise,  which  are  beneath  the  level  of  culture  which  they 
really  have  obtained,  or  belong  to  policies  which  are  narrower 
than  those  by  which  they  pretend  to  act. 

496.  Cases  of  unseemliness.  The  Assyrians  were  fierce,  cruel, 
bloodthirsty,  and  pitiless.  They  have  left,  cut  in  the  hardest 
stone,  —  it  must  have  been  by  immense  labor,  —  pictures  of  cruel 
tortures  and  executions  and  of  immense  slaughters.  A  king  is 
represented  putting  out  the  eyes  of  prisoners.  What  the  pictures 
reveal  is  the  lust  of  conquest,  the  delights  of  revenge,  and  the 
ecstasy  of  tyranny.  After  Assurbanipal  took  Susa  he  broke  open 
the   tombs   of  the  old  heroes  of  Elam,  who  had  in   their  day 


THE  SOCIAL  CODES  465 

defeated  the  Assyrians.  He  desecrated  the  tombs,  insulted  the 
monuments,  and  carried  the  bones  away  to  Nineveh.  It  was 
beheved  that  the  ghosts  of  these  dead  heroes  would  suffer  the 
captivity  inflicted  on  their  bones,  and  sacrifices  were  made  to 
them  just  sufficient  to  prolong  their  existence  and  suffering. 
This  policy  was  pursued  with  all  the  ingenious  refinements  which 
the  dogmas  suggested,  in  order  to  glut  the  vengeance  of  the  Assyr- 
ian king.^  The  Babylonians  were  peaceful  and  industrial,  but  the 
Persians  combined  with  great  luxury  and  licentiousness  a  fiendish 
ingenuity  in  torture  and  painful  modes  of  execution.  It  is  very 
interesting  to  notice  in  Homer  criticism  of  conduct  from  the 
standpoint  of  taste  and  judgment  as  to  what  is  seemly.^  Homer 
thought  it  unseemly  for  Achilles  to  drag  the  corpse  of  Hector 
behind  his  chariot.  He  says  that  the  gods  thought  so  too.^  He 
disapproved  of  the  sacrifice  of  twelve  Trojan  youths  on  the  pyre 
of  Patroclus.^  In  the  poems  there  are  recorded  many  unseemly 
acts.  Achilles  spurned  the  prayer  of  Hector  that  his  body  might 
be  redeemed,  and  wished  that  he  could  eat  part  of  the  body  of 
his  conquered  foe.  The  Greeks  mutilated  the  corpse  with  their 
weapons.^  Agamemnon  and  Ajax  Oileus  cut  off  the  heads  of  the 
slain.^  Odysseus  ordered  twelve  maidens  who  had  been  friends 
to  the  suitors  to  be  put  to  the  sword.  Telemachus  hanged  them. 
Melantheus,  who  had  traitorously  taken  the  suitors'  side,  was 
mutilated  alive,  member  by  member.''  Odysseus  tells  Eurykleia 
that  it  is  a  cruel  sin  to  exult  over  a  dead  enemy,  but  the  heroes 
often  did  it.  This  doctrine  expresses  the  better  sense  of  the 
age,  but  a  doctrine  which  was  beyond  their  self-control  when 
their  passions  were  aroused.  The  Olympian  household  must  be 
taken  to  represent  the  society  of  the  time,  especially  if  we  throw 
out  the  stories  of  the  violations  of  the  sex  taboo  which  were 
often  myths  of  nature  processes  or  survivals  of  earlier  mores. 
The   Olympian  gods   show  no  dignity,   magnanimity,   or    moral 

1  Maspero,  Peuples  de  rOrient,  III,  436-439. 

2  Professor  Keller  calls  my  attention  to  a  number  of  words  used  by  Homer  to 
subject  conduct  to  this  test  of  seemliness.  It  seems  to  be  for  him  the  standard 
of  right.  5 /3zV/.,  XXII,  33S. 

3  //.,  XXII,  395  ;  XXIV,  51.  6  iiid,^  XI,  147  ;  XIII,  102. 
*  Ibid.,  XXIII,  164.  T  Od.,  XXII,  441,  447. 


466  FOLKWAYS 

earnestness.  They  entertain  mean  sentiments  of  jealousy,  envy, 
offended  vanity,  resentment,  and  rancor.  They  are  divided  by 
enmities  and  feuds.  The  females  are  frivolous  and  shallow  ;  their 
fathers  and  husbands  are  often  angry  with  them  for  levity,  folly, 
disobedience,  and  self-will ;  but  they  have  to  remember  that  the 
goddesses  are  females  and  make  the  best  of  it  with  a  groan  and 
a  laugh.  The  gods  have  great  weakness  for  feminine  grace 
and  charm.  They  make  allowances  for  the  women,  pet  them, 
and  despise  them.  There  is  some  recognition  of  a  possibly  nobler 
relation  of  men  to  women,  but  it  is  only  a  transitory  ideal.  The 
goddesses  get  into  difficulties  by  their  intrigues  and  follies,  but 
they  avail  themselves  to  the  utmost  of  their  feminine  privi- 
leges to  escape  the  penalties.  They  fool  the  gods.  It  reminds  us 
of  a  modern  French  novel.  We  meet  with  the  same  sentiments, 
maxims,  and  philosophy.  What  were  the  gods  for }  They  were 
superfluous  and  useless,  or  mischievous,  but  theology  taught  that 
they  kept  the  whole  thing  going.  They  dealt  meanly  with  men. 
Athena  took  the  form  of  Deiphobus  in  order  to  persuade  Hector 
to  meet  Achilles  and  be  killed.^  They  sent  dreams  to  men  to 
mislead  them.  What  can  men  do  against  that .''  They  mixed  in 
the  fights  of  men,  but  availed  themselves  of  their  godship,  if 
things  went  against  them,  and  especially  in  order  to  get  revenge 
for  defeat.  There  was  no  chivalry  or  nobility  of  mind  or  behavior. 
It  is  plain  that  the  gods  are  not  idealized  men.  They  are  worse 
than  the  men.  Von  der  March  ^  has  collected  evidence  that  the 
heroes  were  savage,  cruel,  cowardly,  venal,  rancorous,  vain,  and 
lacking  in  fortitude,  when  compared  with  German  epic  heroes. 
It  is  far  more  important  to  notice  that  this  evidence  proves  that 
the  Greeks  did  not  have,  and  therefore  could  not  ascribe  to  the 
gods,  a  standard  of  seemliness  above  what  these  traits  of  the 
picture  disclose.  Since  that  is  so,  it  follows  that  the  standard  of 
what  is  fit,  seemly,  becoming,  good  form,  is  a  function  of  the 
folkways,  or  rather  of  class  ways,  since  it  is  only  selected  classes 
who  cultivate  seemliness.  Seemliness  is  a  light,  remote,  and  less 
important  form  of  propriety.  It  is  a  matter  of  taste,  and  taste  is 
cultivated  by  the  folkways. 

1  //.,  XXII,  226.  a  Vdlkerideale,  I,  Chap.  I. 


THE   SOCIAL   CODES  467 

497.  Greek  tragedies  and  notions  of  seemliness.  We  think  it 
unseemly  to  criticise  the  ways  of  Divine  Providence,  and  we  refrain 
from  it,  whatever  we  may  think.  Since  Christianity  is  no  longer 
imposed  by  pains  and  penalties,  we  think  it  unseemly  to  assail 
Christianity  in  the  interest  of  a  negative  or  destructive  philosophy. 
The  Greeks  of  the  fifth  century  B.C.  had  not  these  notions.  They 
upbraided  the  gods  for  their  ways  to  men  and  for  their  vices. 
The  antagonisms  of  the  mores  were  antagonisms  of  gods.  In  the 
Eumenides  the  most  tragic  consequences  follow  from  the  antag- 
onism of  the  mores  of  the  mother  and  father  family.  The  Furies 
do  not  insist  on  the  duty  of  Orestes  to  kill  his  mother,  in  blood 
revenge  for  the  murder  of  his  father,  because  they  belong  to  the 
old  system,  in  which  the  son  was  of  the  mother's  blood  ;  but 
Apollo,  the  god  of  the  new  system,  orders  it.  A  new  doctrine  of 
procreation  has  to  be  promulgated.  "The  mother  does  not  pro- 
create the  son  ;  she  only  bears  and  cherishes  the  awakened  life." 
[Here  we  see  how  the  doctrines  are  invented  afterwards  to  fit 
the  exigencies  of  new  folkways.]  Orestes  obeys  Apollo  and  is  a 
victim.  Since  the  command  comes  from  a  god,  how  shall  the 
man  not  obey  1  To  us  it  is  a  simple  case  of  a  common  tragedy, 
that  an  individual  is  the  victim  of  a  great  social  movement.  In 
the  HeraklcidcE,  Alcmena  urges  that  a  war  captive  be  slain.  The 
king  of  Athens  forbids  that  any  one  be  slain  who  was  taken  alive. 
The  former  prevailed.  The  Athenian  doctrine  was  new  and  high 
and  not  yet  current.  In  the  Ion  Ion  tells  Zeus  and  Poseidon 
that  if  they  paid  the  penalties  of  all  their  adulteries  they  would 
empty  their  temple  treasuries.  They  act  wrongly  when  they  do 
not  observe  due  measure  in  their  pursuit  of  pleasure.  It  is  not 
fair  to  call  men  wicked  when  they  imitate  the  gods.  Let  the  evil 
examples  be  blamed.  In  the  Andromache  horror  is  expressed  of 
the  folkways  of  the  barbarians,  in  which  incest  is  not  prevented. 
In  the  Medea  Jason,  who  is  a  scoundrel  and  a  cur,  prates  to 
Medea  about  her  gain  in  coming  to  Greece  :  "  Thou  hast  learned 
what  justice  means,  and  how  to  live  by  law,  not  by  the  dictates 
of  brute  force."  She  had  not  learned  it  at  all  —  quite  the  contrary. 
In  the  Hekiiba  it  is  said  to  be  a  disgrace  to  murder  guests  in 
Greece,  and  in  IpJiigenia  amongst  the  Taurians  the  same  doctrine 


468  FOLKWAYS 

is  stated  when  Greeks  are  to  be  the  victims  of  the  contrary  rule. 
"  Barbarian  "  was  a  cultural  category.  To  be  Greek  was  to  have 
city  life  with  market  place,  gymnastic  training,  and  a  share  in  the 
games.i  These  were  arbitrary  marks  of  superiority  such  as  the 
members  of  an  esoteric  corporation  always  love,  but  the  time 
came  when  the  Greek  history  contained  so  many  shameful  things 
that  the  Greeks  ceased  to  talk  of  the  contrast  with  barbarians. 
It  was  proposed  to  Pausanias  that  he  should  repay  on  the  corpse 
of  Mardonius  the  insults  inflicted  by  Xerxes  on  the  body  of 
Leonidas.  He  indignantly  refused .^  The  old  laws  of  war  put 
the  life  and  property  of  the  vanquished,  and  their  wives  and  chil- 
dren, at  the  mercy  of  the  conquerors,  but  the  Greeks,  when  the 
Peloponnesian  war  began,  felt  the  shame  of  this  law  as  between 
Greeks.  Therefore  they  sinned  against  their  own  better  feeling 
when  in  that  war  they  enslaved  and  slaughtered  the  vanquished. 
That  they  knew  better  is  shown  by  the  conduct  of  the  Athenians 
towards  Mytilene,  in  427.  At  first  all  adult  males  were  sentenced 
to  death,  and  the  women  and  children  to  slavery,  but  later  this 
sentence  was  revoked.  Cases  also  occurred  in  which  the  lavv  of 
war  was  not  followed,  but  the  conquered  were  spared.  By  retali- 
ation they  inflamed  their  own  passions  and  went  on  from  bad  to 
worse  until  there  was  a  revulsion  of  pure  shame.  Lysander  put 
to  death  three  thousand  Athenians,  captives,  after  the  battle  of 
vEgospotami,  as  reprisals  for  the  barbarities  executed  by  the 
Athenians  against  Sparta  and  her  allies.  The  allies  wanted  to 
exercise  war  law  on  Athens,  but  Sparta  would  not  consent.  To 
her  then  belongs  the  honor  of  fixing  a  new  precedent.  It  was 
her  duty  to  do  so  after  the  act  of  Lysander.  Beloch  thinks  that 
science  made  the  greater  humanity  of  the  fourth  century.^  It  is 
more  probable  that  it  was  due  to  a  perception  of  the  horror  and 
shame  of  the  other  course.  The  parties  in  the  cities,  in  the  later 
centuries,  were  also  guilty  of  excess,  rancorous  passion,  revenge, 
and  oppression.  These  cases  come  under  the  head  of  unseemli- 
ness in  so  far  as  they  show  a  lack  of  sense  of  where  to  stop.  That 
sense,  especially  in  the  pohtical  acts  of  democracies,  must  be  a 

1  Burckhardt,  Grieck.  Kulturgesch.,  I,  314.  -  Herodotus,  IX,  78. 

*  Beloch,  Griech.  Kulturgesch.,  I,  470,  594;   II,  103,  107,  364,  441. 


THE  SOCIAL  CODES  469 

resultant,  in  the  minds  of  men  of  the  most  numerous  classes,  from 
the  spirit  and  temper  of  the  folkways. 

498.  Seemliness  in  the  Middle  Ages.  In  the  Middle  Ages  very 
great  attention  was  given  to  seemliness  in  the  private  conduct  of 
individuals.  Moderation  especially  was  to  be  cultivated.  Women 
were  put  under  minute  rules  of  dress,  posture,  walk,  language, 
tone  of  voice,  and  attitude.  The  guiding  spirit  of  the  regulations 
was  restraint  and  limit. ^  Public  life,  however,  was  characterized  by 
great  unseemliness,  and  the  examples  of  it  are  especially  valuable 
because  they  show  how  necessary  a  sense  of  seemliness  is  to 
prevent  great  evils,  although  the  virtue  itself  is  vague  and  refined, 
and  entirely  beyond  the  field  of  positive  cultivation  by  education 
or  law.  When  the  crusaders  captured  Mohammedan  cities  they 
showed  savage  ferocity.  A  case  is  recorded  of  a  quarrel  between 
a  man  of  rank  and  a  cook.  The  former  proceeded  to  very  extreme 
measures,  and  the  cook,  since  he  was  a  cook,  could  get  no  redress 
or  attention.^  In  the  fifteenth  century  a  rage  for  indecent  con- 
duct arose.  The  type  which  the  Germans  call  the  Grobimi  was 
affected.  Rudeness  of  manners  in  eating,  dancing,  etc.,  was  culti- 
vated as  a  pose.  This  fashion  lasted  for  more  than  a  century. 
In  1570  a  society  was  formed  of  twenty-seven  members,  who 
swore  to  be  nasty,  not  to  wash  or  pray,  and  to  practice  blasphemy, 
etc.  When  drunk  such  persons  committed  great  breaches  of 
order,  decency,  etc.^ 

499.  Unseemly  debate.  The  folkways  of  the  Middle  Ages  were 
fantastic  and  extravagant.  The  people  had  their  chief  interest  in 
the  future  world,  about  which  there  could  be  no  reality.  They 
lived  in  a  world  of  phantasms.  The  phantasms  were  dictated  to 
them  upon  authority  in  the  shape  of  dogmas  of  world  philosophy 
and  precepts  of  conduct.  In  discussing  the  world  philosophy  and 
its  application  they  attained  to  extremes  of  animosity  and  feroc- 
ity. Whether  Jesus  and  his  apostles  lived  in  voluntary  beggary  ; 
whether  any  part  of  the  blood  of  Jesus  remained  on  earth ; 
whether  the  dead  went  at  once,  or  only  at  the  judgment  day, 
into  the  presence  of  God, — are  specimens  of  the  questions  they 

1  Weinhold,  D.  R,  I,  159-168.  2  Schultz,  I/of.  Lebe?i,  II,  448. 

3  Denecke,  Anstandsgefuhl  in  Deiitschland,  XXI. 


470  FOLKWAYS 

debated.  The  unseemliness  was  in  the  mode  of  discussion,  not 
in  the  absurdity  of  the  subject.  They  all  went  into  the  debate 
understanding  that  the  defeated  or  weaker  party  was  to  be  burned. 
That  was  the  rule  of  the  game.  All  the  strife  of  sects  and  parties 
was  carried  on  in  unseemly  ways  and  with  scandalous  incidents. 
The  lack  of  control,  measure,  due  limit,  was  due  to  the  lack  of 
reality.  Torture,  persecution,  violent  measures,  would  all  have 
been  impossible  if  there  had  been  a  sense  of  seemliness.  The 
punishments,  executions,  and  public  amusements  grossly  outraged 
any  human  and  civilized  taste.  The  treatment  of  the  Templars, 
although  it  was  no  doubt  good  statecraft  to  abolish  the  order, 
was  a  scandalous  outrage.  In  the  face  of  Christendom  torture 
was  used  to  extort  the  evidence  which  was  wanted  to  destroy  the 
order,  without  regard  to  truth  and  justice.^  The  crusades  were 
extravagant  and  fantastic,  and  were  attended  by  incidents  of 
shameful  excess,  gross  selfishness,  venality,  and  bad  faith.  It  is 
one  of  the  most  amazing  facts  about  witch  persecutions  in  the 
sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  that  jurists  did  not  see 
the  unseemliness  of  their  acts  compared  with  the  civilization  of  the 
period  and  the  character  claimed  by  their  states.  How  was  it 
possible  for  grave,  learned,  and  honest  men  to  go  on  torturing 
and  burning  miserable  old  women  ?  It  is  not  until  the  end  of  the 
seventeenth  century  that  we  hear  of  sheriffs  in  England  who 
refused  to  burn  witches.  One  of  the  most  unseemly  incidents  in 
history  is  the  execution  of  Damiens  for  attempting  to  kill 
Louis  XV.  The  authorities  of  the  first  state  in  Christendom 
multiplied  tortures  of  the  extremest  kind,  and  caused  them  to  be 
executed  in  public  on  the  culprit.  The  treatment  of  the  Tories 
in  the  American  Revolution  was  unseemly.  It  left  a  deep  stain 
on  our  history. 

500.  Unseemliness  of  lynching,  torture,  etc.  It  is  an  unseemly 
thing  and  unworthy  of  our  age  and  civilization  that  persons 
should  be  lynched  for  alleged  crime,  without  the  trial  and  proof 
which  our  institutions  provide  for.  The  arguments  in  defense  of 
lynching  (except  on  the  frontier,  where  civil  institutions  do  not 

1  Lea,  Itiquis.,  Ill,  238,  260,  319;  Schotmiiller,  Der  Untergang  des  Templer- 
Ordens,  I,  625. 


THE  SOCIAL  CODES  471 

yet  exist)  never  touch  on  this  point.  It  is  unseemly  that  any  one 
should  be  burned  at  the  stake  in  a  modern  civilized  state.  It  is 
nothing  to  the  purpose  to  show  what  a  wicked  wretch  the  victim 
was.  Burning  alive  has  long  been  thrown  out  of  the  folkways  of 
our  ancestors.  The  objection  to  reviving  it  is  not  an  apology  for 
the  bad  men  or  a  denial  of  their  wickedness  :  it  is  the  goodness 
of  the  lynchers.  They  fall  below  what  they  owe  to  themselves. 
Torture  has  also  long  been  thrown  out  of  our  folkways.  It  might 
have  been  believed  a  few  years  ago  that  torture  could  not  be 
employed  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States,  and  that,  if 
it  was  employed,  there  would  be  a  unanimous  outburst  of  indig- 
nant reprobation  against  those  who  had  so  disgraced  us.  When 
lorture  was  employed  in  the  Philippines  no  such  outburst  occurred. 
The  facts  and  the  judgment  upon  them  were  easily  suppressed. 
The  recognition  of  Panama  was  unseemly.  It  was  unworthy 
of  the  United  States.  It  was  defended  and  justified  by  the  argu- 
ment that  we  got  something  which  we  very  earnestly  wanted. 

501.  Good  taste.  Finally  we  may  notice  here  also  the  matter 
of  taste.  Good  taste  is  the  most  subtle  of  all  the  codes  of  judg- 
ment which  are  cultivated  by  the  mores.  What  we  now  con- 
sider good  taste  was  violated  in  the  dramas  of  the  Greeks  and 
Romans.  This  is  entirely  aside  from  obscenity  or  vulgarity. 
For  instance,  it  does  not  appear  that  the  author  of  the  Medea 
appreciated  the  dastardly  conduct  of  Jason.  De  Julleville  ^  says 
that  in  the  thirteenth  century  no  one  knew  the  distinction  between 
good  and  bad  taste.  The  assertion  is  fully  justified.  The  medi- 
aeval people  may  have  had  good  taste  in  architecture,  stained 
glass,  and  hammered  iron  (as  we  are  told),  but  their  literature, 
administration  of  justice,  and  politics  show  that  they  lacked 
good  taste,  and  also  the  case  shows  what  a  high  protection 
.against  folly  and  error  good  taste  is.  This  last  office  it  shares 
with  the  sense  of  humor.  The  sports  of  that  age  were  cruel. 
People  found  fun  in  the  sufferings  of  the  weak  under  derision 
and  abuse.  "The  Middle  Ages  did  not  shrink  from  presenting 
as  funny  situations  which  were  painful  or  atrocious,  the  horror 
of  which  we  to-day  could  not  endure."    Although  the  age  was 

1  Comedie  eii  France  au  M.  A.,  21. 


472  FOLKWAYS 

full  of  religiosity,  the  extravagances  of  which  ought  to  have  been 
restrained  by  good  taste,  if  it  had  existed,  there  was,  on  the  other 
hand,  no  true  reverence  for  what  were  "  sacred  things."  The 
churches  were  put  to  uses  which  would  to-day  be  considered 
improper.  Parodies  and  caricatures  of  ecclesiastical  persons, 
institutions,  and  ritual  called  out  no  remonstrance.  Mock  ser- 
mons were  a  favorite  form  of  monologue  in  a  theatrical  enter- 
tainment. In  a  morality  produced  late  in  the  fifteenth  century, 
called  Les  Blaspheniatcitrs^  the  actors  tortured  and  wounded 
the  figure  on  a  crucifix.  The  Virgin  and  two  angels  came  down 
to  catch  in  a  cup  the  blood  which  miraculously  flowed  from  the 
body,  but  the  actors  kept  on.  "  The  hideous  scene  is  intermi- 
nable." Personalities  were  employed  beyond  all  decent  toleration, 
not  only  in  theological  disputes,  but  in  political  conflicts  of  all 
kinds.  Of  course  the  fanaticism  of  the  age  accounts  for  the 
extravagance  of  the  acts  and  doctrines,  and  good  taste  seems  to 
be  only  a  trivial  defense  against  fanaticism,  but  good  taste  con- 
sists largely  in  a  sense  of  due  limits,  and  if  there  had  been  a 
good  code  of  social  usage  tempered  by  taste,  it  would  have  pre- 
vented many  of  the  greatest  scandals  in  the  history,  especially 
the  church  history,  of  the  period.  Buffoons  had  a  share  in  the 
great  "  moralities,"  although  they  did  not  have  a  role  in  the 
action.  Their  function  was  to  interject  comical  comments  from 
time  to  time.  The  comments  aimed  to  be  witty,  but  were  gener- 
ally gross,  coarse,  and  obscene.  Late  in  the  fifteenth  century, 
in  France,  a  buffoon  recited  a  prelude  containing  licentious  jests 
to  an  edifying  morality  called  CJiarity} 

502.  Whence  good  taste  is  derived.  Good  taste  is  a  more  deli- 
cate and  refined  philosophy  of  action  than  any  which  have  been 
mentioned  above.  It  would  escape  from  any  attempt  to  formu- 
late it,  more  completely  than  propriety  or  politeness.  It  floats 
in  the  ways  of  the  group,  and  is  absorbed  by  those  who  grow  up 
in  it.  It  is  a  product  of  breeding.  We  have  a  well-worn  saying 
that  there  is  no  disputing  about  it.  That  is  true,  but  for  equal 
reason  there  is  no  disputing  about  decency,  propriety,  obscenity, 
or  sex  taboo.    Good   taste  is   a   product   of   the  group.    It   is 

1  De  Julleville,  21,  74,  86,  89,  107,  304. 


THE  SOCIAL   CODES  473 

absorbed  from  the  group.  Like  honor,  however,  it  calls  for  an 
individual  reaction  of  assent  and  dissent,  and  becomes  an  indi- 
vidual trait  or  possession  in  the  form  which  it  ultimately  takes. 
503.  The  great  variety  in  the  codes.  All  the  topics  which  have 
been  treated  in  this  chapter  are  branches  or  outreachings  of  the 
social  code.  They  show  how  deep  is  the  interest  of  human  beings 
in  the  sex  taboo,  and  in  the  self-perpetuation  of  society.  Men 
have  always  tried,  and  are  trying  still,  to  solve  the  problem  of 
well  living  in  this  respect.  The  men,  the  women,  the  children,  and 
the  society  have  joint  and  several  interests,  and  the  complication 
is  great.  At  the  present  time  population,  race,  marriage,  child- 
birth, and  the  education  of  children  present  us  our  greatest  prob- 
lems and  most  unfathomable  mysteries.  All  the  contradictory 
usages  of  chastity,  decency,  propriety,  etc.,  have  their  sense  in 
some  assumed  relation  to  the  welfare  of  society.  To  some  extent 
they  have  come  out  of  caprice,  but  chiefly  they  have  issued  from 
experience  of  good  and  ill,  and  are  due  to  efforts  to  live  well.  Thus 
we  may  discern  in  them  policies  and  philosophies,  but  they  never 
proceed  to  form  any  such  generalities  as  do  rationally  adopted 
motives.  There  is  logic  in  the  folkways,  but  never  rationality. 
Given  the  premises,  in  a  notion  of  kin,  for  instance,  and  the 
deductions  are  made  directly  and  generally  correctly,  but  the 
premises  could  never  be  verified,  and  they  were  oftener  false 
than  true.  Each  group  took  its  own  way,  making  its  own 
assumptions,  and  following  its  own  logic.  So  there  was  great 
variety  and  discord  in  their  policies  and  philosophies,  but  within 
the  area  of  a  custom,  during  its  dominion,  its  authority  is  abso- 
lute; and  hence,  although  the  usages  are  infinitely  various,  directly 
contradictory,  and  mutually  abominable,  they  are,  within  their 
area  of  dominion,  of  equal  value  and  force,  and  they  are  the 
standards  of  what  is  true  and  right.  The  groups  have  often 
tried  to  convert  each  other  by  argument  and  reason.  They  have 
never  succeeded.  Each  one's  reasons  are  the  tradition  which  it 
has  received  from  its  ancestors.  That  does  not  admit  of  argu- 
ment. Each  tries  to  convince  the  other  by  going  outside  of  the 
tradition  to  some  philosophic  standard  of  truth.  Then  the  tradi- 
tion is  left  in  full  force.    Shocking  as  it  must  be  to  any  group 


474  FOLKWAYS 

to  be  told  that  there  is  no  rational  ground  for  any  one  of  them 
to  convert  another  group  to  its  mores  (because  this  seems  to 
imply,  although  it  does  not,  that  their  folkways  are  not  better 
than  those  of  other  groups),  yet  this  must  be  said,  for  it  is  true. 
By  experience  and  science  the  nations  which  by  name  are  Chris- 
tian have  reached  ways  which  are  better  fitted,  on  the  whole, 
for  well  living  than  those  of  the  Mohammedan  nations,  although 
this  superiority  is  not  by  any  means  so  complete  and  sweeping 
as  current  opinion  in  Christian  countries  believes.  If  Christians 
and  Mohammedans  come  together  and  argue,  they  never  make 
the  slightest  impression  on  each  other.  During  the  crusades,  in 
Andalusia,  and  in  cities  of  the  near  East  where  they  live  side  by 
side,  they  have  come  to  peace,  mutual  respect,  and  mutual  influ- 
ence. Syncretism  begins.  There  is  giving  and  taking.  In  Egypt 
at  present  the  Moslems  see  the  power  of  the  English  to  carry 
on  industry,  commerce,  and  government,  and  this  observation 
produces  effect  on  the  folkways.  That  is  the  chief  way  in  which 
folkways  are  modified  or  borrowed.  It  was  by  this  process  that 
Greeks  and  Romans  influenced  the  folkways  of  barbarians,  and 
that  white  men  have  influenced  those  of  negroes,  Indians,  Poly- 
nesians, Japanese,  etc. 

504.  Morals  and  deportment.  Different  groups  and  different 
ages  have  differed  much  in  the  place  in  the  social  codes  in  which 
certain  subjects  have  been  placed  ;  that  is,  for  instance,  as  to 
whether  the  treatment  of  women  by  men  should  be  put  under 
morals,  or  under  manners,  or  under  good  taste  ;  whether  public 
exhibitions  deserved  more  attention  than  deportment,  etc.  For 
instance  :  "  There  is  hardly  a  word,  in  the  instructions  of  Plu- 
tarch, upon  schools  and  schooling,  but  he  alludes  casually  to  the 
strange  scenes  which  boys  were  allowed  to  witness,  —  criminals 
dressed  up  with  robes  and  crowns,  and  presently  stripped  and 
publicly  tortured  ;  paintings  of  subjects  so  objectionable  that 
we  should  carefully  explain  to  the  child  the  distinction  between 
art  as  such  and  art  as  a  vehicle  of  morals.  On  the  other  hand, 
deportment  was  strictly  watched  :  for  example,  it  was  the  rule 
not  to  use  the  left  hand  unless  it  were  to  hold  bread  at  dinner, 
while  other  food  was  taken  with  the  right ;  to  walk  in  the  street 


THE  SOCIAL  CODES  475 

without  looking  up  ;  to  touch  salt  fish  with  one  finger ;  fresh 
fish,  bread,  and  meat,  with  two  ;  to  scratch  yourself  thus  ;  to 
fold  your  cloak  thus."  ^ 

505.  The  relation  of  the  social  codes  to  philosophy  and  religion. 
Amongst  the  widest  differences  of  opinion  would  be  that  on  the 
question  whether  the  social  codes  issue  out  of  and  are  enthused 
by  philosophy  or  religion.  We  are  told  that  "for  most  men, 
actions  stand  in  no  necessary  connection  with  any  theoretical 
convictions  of  theirs,  but  are,  on  the  contrary,  independent  of 
the  same,  and  are  dominated  by  inherited  and  acquired  motives."  ^ 
Why  is  this  not  true .?  Also,  "  the  antagonism  between  the 
principles  of  our  religion  and  our  actual  behavior,  even  of  the 
faithful,  as  well  as  the  great  difference  in  the  ethical  views  of 
different  peoples  who  profess  the  same  religion,  sufficiently  proves 
that  the  motives  of  our  acts,  and  our  judgments  on  the  acts  of 
others,  proceed  primarily  from  practical  life  [i.e.  from  the  cur- 
rent mores],  and  that  what  we  believe  has  comparatively  little 
influence  on  our  acts  and  judgments."  ^  Religion  and  philosophy 
are  components  of  the  mores,  but  not  by  any  means  sources  or 
regulators  of  them. 

506.  Rudeck's  conclusions.  A  recent  German  writer  on  the 
history  of  public  morality  *  says  of  the  moral  development  of  the 
German  people  that  one  cannot  bear  to  contemplate  it,  because 
the  people  face  the  facts  with  absolute  indifference.  There  is 
not  a  trace  of  moral  initiative  or  of  moral  consciousness.  Exist- 
ing morality  presents  itself  to  us  as  a  purely  accidental  product 
of  forces  which  act  without  sense  or  intelligence.  We  can  find 
all  kinds  of  forces  in  history  except  ethical  forces.  Those  are 
entirely  wanting.  There  is  no  development,  for  development 
means  the  unfolding  and  growth  of  a  germ  according  to  the  ele- 
ments which  it  contains.  The  people  allow  all  kinds  of  mores 
to  be  forced  on  them  by  the  work  of  their  own  hands,  that  is, 
by  the  economic  and  political  arrangements  which  they  have 

1  Mahaffy,  The  Greek  World  under  Roma7i  Sway,  324. 

2  Schultze-Gavernitz  in  Ammon,  Gesellschaftsordiui?ig,  117. 
^  Schallmeyer,  Vererbung  and  Auslese,  231. 

*  Rudeck,  Gesch.  der  Oeffentl.  Stttlichkeit  in  Deiitschhuid,  422. 


476  FOLKWAYS 

adopted.  The  German  people  has  no  subjective  notion  of  public 
morality  and  no  ethical  ideal  for  public  morality.  They  distin- 
guish only  between  good  and  bad  mores  {Sitten  tmd  Unsitten), 
without  regard  to  their  origin. 

507.  Rudeck's  book  is  really  a  chapter  in  the  history  of  the 
mores.  The  above  are  the  conclusions  which  seem  to  be  forced 
upon  him,  but  he  recoils  from  them  in  dismay.  The  conclusions 
are  unquestionably  correct.  They  are  exactly  what  the  history 
teaches.  They  ought  to  be  accepted  and  used  for  profit.  The 
fact  that  people  are  indifferent  to  the  history  of  their  own  mores 
is  a  primary  fact.  We  can  only  accept  it  and  learn  from  it.  It 
shows  us  the  immense  error  of  that  current  social  discussion 
which  consists  in  bringing  "ethical  "  notions  to  the  criticism  of 
facts.  The  ethical  notions  are  figments  of  speculation.  Criticism 
of  the  mores  is  like  criticising  one's  ancestors  for  the  physique 
one  has  inherited,  or  one's  children  for  being,  in  body  and  mind, 
one's  children.  If  it  is  true  of  the  German  people  that  there  is 
no  moral  initiative  or  consciousness  in  their  tone  and  attitude 
towards  their  mores,  they  are  to  be  congratulated,  for  they  have 
kept  out  one  great  influx  of  subjective  and  dogmatic  mischief. 
Other  nations  have  a  "  nonconformist  conscience  "  or  a  party 
of  "great  moral  ideas,"  which  can  be  caught  by  a  phrase,  or 
stampeded  by  a  catching  watchword  with  a  "moral"  suggestion. 
"  Existing  morality  does  present  itself  as  a  purely  accidental  [i.e. 
not  to  be  investigated]  product  of  forces  which  act  without  sense 
or  intelligence,"  but  the  product  is  in  no  true  sense  accidental. 
It  is  true  that  there  are  no  ethical  forces  in  history.  Let  us 
recognize  the  fact  and  its  consequences.  Some  philosophers 
make  great  efforts  to  interpret  ethical  forces  into  history,  but 
they  play  with  words.  There  is  no  development  of  the  mores 
along  any  lines  of  logical  or  other  sequence.  The  mores  shift 
in  endless  readjustment  of  the  modes  of  behavior,  effort,  and 
thinking,  so  as  to  reach  the  greatest  advantage  under  the  condi- 
tions. "  The  people  allow  all  kinds  of  mores  to  be  forced  on 
them  by  the  work  of  their  own  hands,"  that  is,  by  the  economic 
and  political  arrangements  which  have  been  unconsciously  forced 
on  them  by  their  instinctive  efforts  to  live  well.    That  is  just 


THE  SOCIAL   CODES  477 

what  they  do,  and  that  is  the  way  in  which  mores  come  to  be. 
"  The  German  people  has  no  subjective  notion  of  pubUc  morality 
and  no  ethical  ideal  for  public  morality."  Nor  has  any  other 
people.  A  people  sometimes  adopts  an  ideal  of  national  vanity, 
which  includes  ambition,  but  an  ethical  ideal  no  group  ever  has. 
If  it  pretended  to  have  one  it  would  be  a  humbug.  That  is  why 
the  introduction  of  "moral  ideas"  into  politics  serves  the  most 
immoral  purposes  and  plays  into  the  hands  of  the  most  immoral 
men.  All  ethics  grow  out  of  the  mores  and  are  a  part  of  them. 
That  is  why  the  ethics  never  can  be  antecedent  to  the  mores, 
and  cannot  be  in  a  causal  or  productive  relation  to  them.  "  The 
German  people  distinguishes  only  between  customs  and  abuses 
\_Sitten  tend  Unsitteft]  without  regard  to  their  origin."  They  are 
quite  right  to  do  so,  because  the  origin  is  only  a  matter  for  his- 
torians. For  the  masses  the  mores  are  facts.  They  use  them 
and  they  testify  that  they  are  conducive  to  well  living  [Sitten)^ 
or  the  contrary  {Unsittcii).  The  men,  women,  and  children  who 
compose  a  society  at  any  time  are  the  unconscious  depositaries 
and  transmitters  of  the  mores.  They  inherited  them  without 
knowing  it ;  they  are  molding  them  unconsciously ;  they  will 
transmit  them  involuntarily.  The  people  cannot  make  the  mores. 
They  are  made  by  them.  Yet  the  group  is  at  once  makers  and 
made.  Each  one  may  put  into  the  group  life  as  much  as  he  can, 
but  the  group  will  give  back  to  him  order  and  determination 
from  which  he  cannot  escape.  The  mores  grow  as  they  must 
grow  under  the  conditions.  They  are  products  of  the  effort  of 
each  to  live  as  well  as  he  can,  and  they  are  coercions  which  hold 
and  control  each  in  his  efforts  to  live  well.  It  is  idle  to  try  to  get 
outside  of  this  operation  in  order  to  tell  which  part  of  it  comes 
first  and  makes  the  other.  "  Our  age  presents  us  the  incredible 
spectacle  that  the  dependence  of  the  higher  social  culture  on  the 
economic  development  is  not  only  clearly  recognized  by  social 
science,  but  is  proclaimed  as  the  ideal."  Social  science  does  not 
proclaim  this  as  an  ideal.  It  does  not  deal  in  ideals.  It  accepts 
the  dependence  of  culture  on  economic  development  as  a  fact. 
In  fact,  Rudeck  is  not  justified  in  saying  (p.  426)  that  "  culture  is 
the  unity  of  the  moral  will  in  all  the  life  phenomena  of  a  people," 


478  FOLKWAYS 

and  that  "  that  people  alone  is  a  culture  people  which  sets  before 
itself,  as  the  purpose  of  its  entire  existence,  the  production  of 
the  greatest  possible  amount  of  specified  moral  qualities."  These 
are  notions  of  culture  and  of  a  culture  people  which  an  ethical 
philosopher  might  think  it  fine  should  be.  Rudeck  has  just 
found  that  no  such  things  ever  have  existed  in  Germany ;  yet 
Germany  possesses  culture  and  the  Germans  are  a  culture  people. 
He  is  really  complaining  that  these  fine  ethical  notions  have  never 
had  any  place  in  history.  Such  being  the  case,  the  true  inference 
would  be  that  they  are  unrealities  and  ought  to  be  discarded 
altogether.  Rudeck  can  find,  in  the  eighteenth  century,  only 
one  act  of  the  state  which  had  an  improving  effect  on  "  external 
morals."  That  was  the  abolition  of  obscene  playing  cards,  and 
this  improving  effect  was  not  won  intentionally,  but  as  an  inci- 
dental consequence  of  a  tax  which  was  imposed  for  revenue. 
The  case  is  interesting  and  instructive.  It  is  thus  alone  that 
the  state  acts.  It  needs  revenue  and  lays  a  tax.  Other  conse- 
quences follow.  Sometimes  "  moral  "  consequences  follow.  The 
Methuen  treaty  caused  Englishmen  to  drink  port  instead  of 
claret  for  a  hundred  and  fifty  years,  to  the  great  increase  of  gout 
and  drunkenness.  The  statesman  might  well  be  appalled  if  he 
should  realize  that  he  probably  never  can  lay  a  tax  without  effects 
on  industry,  health,  education,  morals,  and  religion  which  he 
cannot  foresee  and  cannot  control.  In  the  case  of  the  cards, 
the  consequence  was  favorable  to  good  morals.  That  consequence 
was  the  purest  accident.  The  state  went  on  its  way  and  got  its 
revenue.  The  people  met  the  effect  through  the  mores  and 
made  the  best  of  it,  just  as  they  did  with  the  effects  of  the 
Methuen  treaty.  The  cases  are  useful  for  a  statesman  to  con- 
sider, when  he  needs  to  get  revenue  and  the  question  by  what 
taxes  to  get  it  is  yet  in  his  mind  and  before  him.  When  he  has 
decided  and  acted  it  remains  only  to  take  the  consequences,  for, 
through  the  mores,  they  will  enter  into  the  web  of  life  which 
the  people  are  weaving  and  must  endure.  That  web  contains  all 
the  follies  and  errors,  just  as  well  as  all  the  wisdom  and  all  the 
achievements,  of  the  past.  The  whole  inheritance  passes  on 
together,  including  all  the  luck. 


CHAPTER   XII 

INCEST 

Definition.  —  Incest  notion  was  produced  from  the  folkways.  —  The  notion 
that  inbreeding  is  hamiful. —  Status-wife,  work-wife,  love-wife.  —  The  abomi- 
nation of  incest.  —  The  incest  taboo  is  strongest  in  the  strongest  groups.  — ■ 
Incest  in  ethnography.  —  Incest  in  civilized  states.  — Where  the  line  is  drawn, 
and  why.  —  Human  self-selection.  —  Restriction  by  biological  doctrine  not 
sufficiently  warranted. —  Summary  of  the  matter  now. 

508.  Definition  of  incest.  Incest  is  the  marital  union  of  a  man 
and  a  woman  who  are  akin  within  the  hmits  of  a  prohibition  cur- 
rent at  the  time  in  the  laws  or  mores  of  the  group.  The  primi- 
tive notion  of  kinship  did  not  divide  kinship  into  grades  of 
remoteness  as  we  do.  Very  often  it  was  counted  by  classes  or 
age  strata.  In  the  totem  system  all  the  women  of  his  mother's 
totem  were  tabooed  to  a  man,  although  their  cousinship  to  him- 
self might  be  very  remote.  At  the  same  time,  he  could  marry 
his  father's  sister's  daughter,  or  his  mother's  brother's  daughter, 
unless  his  father  and  his  uncle  had  married  women  of  the  same 
totem.  Inasmuch  as  a  man  and  his  wife  must  have  different 
totems  and  the  children  took  the  totem  of  their  mother,  a  man 
might  marry  his  own  daughter.  Generally  this  was  forbidden  by 
supplementary  rules,  but  in  Buka  and  North  Bougainville  it 
occurs  not  infrequently. ^  The  varieties  of  the  consanguinity 
taboo  are  very  numerous.  They  are  entirely  different  in  theory 
under  the  mother  family  and  the  father  family.  They  are  now 
very  different  in  different  states  of  our  Union .^  If  the  taboo  on 
marriage  is  not  defined  in  terms  of  "blood  "  or  assumed  kinship, 
violation  of  it  is  not  incest.  For  instance,  in  the  mediaeval 
church,  two  persons  who  had  been  sponsors  in  baptism  to  the 
same  child  might  not  marry.    Also,  if  two  persons  are  debarred 

^  Parkinson,  Et/uioff.  d.  iVordwestl.  Salomo  Ifis.,  6. 
2  Snyder,  Geog.  of  Marriage. 

479 


480  FOLKWAYS 

by  affinity,  violation  is  not  incest.  In  England  a  man  may  not 
marry  his  deceased  wife's  sister.  If  he  does  it,  his  marriage  is 
unlawful,  but  it  is  not  incest.  The  definition  of  incest  must 
include  the  notion  of  a  blood  connection  as  blood  connection  is 
understood  in  that  group  at  the  time.  Other  prohibitions  may 
be  expedient,  or  may  seem  required  by  propriety  (e.g.  the  mar- 
riage of  a  man  with  his  father's  widow),  but  they  do  not  come 
under  incest. 

Restrictions  on  marriage  by  kinship,  as  the  people  in  question 
construed  kinship,  go  back  to  the  most  primitive  society.  Some 
very  primitive  people  have  intricate  restrictions,  and  they  main- 
tain them  by  the  severest  social  sanctions. 

509.  Incest  notion  produced  from  the  folkways.  It  is  evident 
that  primitive  people  must  have  received  a  suggestion  or  impres- 
sion of  some  important  interest  at  stake  in  this  matter.  They 
adopted  taboos  and  established  folkways  to  protect  interests.  In 
time  these  taboos  and  folkways  won  very  great  force  and  high 
religious  sanction  ;  also  a  sense  of  abomination  was  produced 
which  seemed  to  be  a  "natural"  feeling.  There  certainly  is  no 
natural  feeling.  The  abomination  is  conventional  and  traditional. 
The  Pharaohs,  Ptolemies,  and  Incas,  also  the  Zoroastrians,  are 
sufficient  to  show  that  there  is  no  reason  for  the  abomination  in 
any  absolute  or  universal  facts.  The  sanctions  by  which  savage 
people  sustained  the  taboo  were  the  strongest  possible,  —  exile  and 
death.  Here  we  have,  therefore,  a  social  limitation  of  the  great- 
est force,  sanctioned  by  religion  and  group  consent  and  growing 
into  an  abomination  which  has  come  down  to  us  and  which  we 
all  feel,  but  which  is  a  product  of  the  most  primitive  folkways  ; 
and  yet  we  do  not  know  the  motive  for  it  in  the  minds  of  primi- 
tive men.  In  the  matter  of  cannibalism  we  saw  (Chapter  VIII) 
that  with  advancing  civilization  a  taboo  has  been  set  up  against 
a  food  custom  which  appears  to  have  been  universal  amongst 
primitive  men  ;  that  is,  we  have  reversed  and  holcl  in  abomination 
what  they  did.  In  regard  to  incest  we  have  accepted  and  fully 
ratified  their  taboo. 

510.  Notion  that  inbreeding  is  harmful.  This  taboo  and  the 
reasons  for  it  are  a  complete  enigma  unless  the  primitive  people 


INCEST  481 

had  observed  the  evils  of  close  inbreeding.  Inbreeding  maintains 
the  excellence  of  a  breed  at  the  expense  of  its  vigor.  Outbreed- 
ing (unless  too  far  out)  develops  vigor  at  the  expense  of  the 
characteristic  traits.  It  is  very  probable,  but  not  absolutely 
certain,  that  inbreeding  is  harmful.  Any  marriage  between  per- 
sons who  have  the  same  faults  of  inheritance  causes  the  offspring 
to  accumulate  faults  and  to  degenerate.  Close  kinship  creates  a 
probable  danger  that  faults  will  be  accumulated.  This  is  a  logical 
deduction.  Embryology,  at  present,  seems  to  teach  that  there  is 
a  combination  and  extrusion  of  germ  units  of  such  a  kind  that  the 
physiological  process  conforms  only  in  a  measure  to  this  logical 
deduction,  and  the  historical-statistical  verification  of  the  harm 
of  inbreeding  remains  very  imperfect.  It  is  possible  that  at  first, 
and  within  limits,  inbreeding  is  not  harmful,  but  becomes  such 
if  repeated  often.  Is  it  possible  that  the  lowest  savages  can  have 
perceived  this  and  built  a  policy  on  it .?  Morgan  ^  thinks  that  it 
is  possible.  Westermarck  ^  thinks  it  beyond  the  mental  power  of 
the  lowest  races.  He  thinks  that,  by  natural  selection,  those 
groups  which  practiced  inbreeding  for  any  reason  died  out  or 
were  displaced  by  those  who  followed  the  other  policy.  He  goes 
on  to  propose  a  theory  that  persons  who  grew  up,  or  who  now 
grow  up,  in  intimacy  develop  an  instinctive  antipathy  to  sex 
relations  with  each  other ,^  While  it  is  true  that  primitive  savages 
do  not  observe  and  reflect,  it  is  also  true  that,  in  their  own  blunder- 
ing way,  when  their  interests  are  sharply  at  stake,  they  do  observe, 
and  they  change  their  ways  accordingly.  Therefore  they  appear 
to  us  at  one  time  hopelessly  brutish  ;  at  another  time  we  are 
amazed  at  their  ingenuity  and  their  mental  activity  (myths, 
legends,  proverbs,  maxims).  If  the  loss  or  pain  is  great  enough, 
the  savage  man  is  capable  of  astounding  cleverness  to  escape  it. 
After  animal  breeding  began  men  had  ample  opportunity  to 
observe  the  effects  of  close  inbreeding.  There  is  more  doubt  now 
about  the  penalties  of  inbreeding  than  there  is  about  the  power  of 
savage  men  to  perceive  them  and  try  to  escape  them,  if  they  exist. 
511.  Status-wife,  work-wife,  love-wife.  In  the  primitive  horde 
it  appears  that  there  was  a  prescribed  wife  for  each  man,  or  the 

^  Anc.  Soc,  424.  2  Marriage,  317.  ^  Ibid.,  319,  334,  352. 


482  FOLKWAYS 

classification  was  such  that  his  choice  was  restricted  to  a  very 
small  number.  The  prescribed  wife  was  a  status-wife.  She  alone 
could  hold  the  position  of  a  true  "wife."  The  man  might  also 
capture  a  woman  abroad  who  would  be  a  worker,  or  work-wife, 
and  she  might  win  the  man,  so  that  she  became  a  love-wife. 
There  would  often  be  a  comparison  between  the  children  of  the 
status-wife  and  the  children  of  a  work-wife  or  love-wife,  in  which 
the  latter  would  appear  the  more  vigorous.  If  so,  there  would  be 
a  school  in  which  the  advantages  of  outbreeding  would  appear 
as  a  fact,  although  not  explained. 

512.  Abomination  of  incest.  The  taboos  in  the  mores  contain 
prescriptions  as  to  the  allowable  consanguinity  of  spouses.  There 
is  a  great  horror  of  violating  them.  This  sentiment  is  met  with 
amongst  people  who  have  scarcely  any  other  notion  of  crime, 
or  of  right  and  wrong.  The  rules  are  enforced  by  death  or  banish- 
ment as  penalties  of  violation.  The  notion  of  harm  in  inbreeding 
has  spread  all  over  the  earth.  It  has  come  down  to  ourselves.  In 
the  form  in  which  it  was  held  by  savage  people  it  was  mistaken 
to  such  a  degree  that  they  might,  in  spite  of  it,  practice  close 
inbreeding.  Our  study  of  the  mores  teaches  us  that  there  must 
have  been,  antecedent  to  this  state  of  the  mores  in  regard  to 
this  matter,  a  long  development  of  interests,  folkways,  rites,  and 
superstitions. 1  It  is  believed,  not  without  reason,  that  the  horde 
life  would  tend  to  run  into  grooves  in  which  the  prescribed  wife 
would  be  a  close  relative,  in  the  final  case  a  sister.  Experience 
of  this  might  produce  the  rules  of  prohibition.  The  captured  wife 
was  also  a  trophy,  and  the  play  of  this  fact  on  vanity  would  always 
tend  to  disintegrate  the  system  of  endogamy.  There  are  many 
reasons  why  endogamy  seems  more  primitive  than  exogamy,  and 
it  required  force  of  interest,  superstition,  or  vanity  to  carry  a 
society  over  from  the  former  to  the  latter.  A  calamity  might 
come  to  reenforce  the  interest,^  but  can  hardly  be  postulated  to 
explain  a  custom  so  widespread.  All  the  ultimate  causes  of  the 
law  of  incest,  therefore,  lie  beyond  our  investigation.  They  are 
open    only   to    conjecture   and    speculation.    The    case    is  very 

1  Durkheim  in  UAntiee  Sociologiqice,  I,  59-65. 

2  Starcke,  Prim.  Fam.,  230. 


INCEST  483 

important,  however,  to  show  the  operation  of  the  mores  on  facts 
erroneously  assumed,  and  their  power  to  work  out  their  effects, 
as  an  independent  societal  operation,  without  regard  to  error 
in  the  material  to  which  they  are  applied. 

513.  Incest  taboo  strongest  in  the  strongest  groups.  We  shall 
see,  in  the  cases  to  be  presented,  that  incest  has  a  wider  defini- 
tion and  a  stricter  compulsion  in  great  tribes,  and  in  prosperity 
or  wealth,  than  in  small  groups  and  poverty.  The  definiteness  of 
this  taboo,  and  the  strictness  with  which  it  is  enforced,  seem  to 
be  correlative  with  the  energy  of  the  tribal  discipline  in  general 
and  the  vigor  of  the  collective  life  of  the  group.  Wives  can  be 
got  abroad,  either  by  capture  or  contract,  only  by  those  who  com- 
mand respect  for  their  power  or  who  use  power.  On  the  other 
hand,  endogamy  is  both  cause  and  effect  of  weakness  and  pro- 
ceeds with  decline.  Some  cases  will  be  given  below  in  which 
incestuous  marriages  occur  where  the  parties  are  unable  to  obtain 
any  other  wives.  Neglect  of  the  incest  taboo  is  rather  a  symptom 
than  a  cause  of  group  decline. 

514.  Incest  in  ethnography.  Martius  says  of  the  tribes  on  the  upper 
Amazon,  in  general,  that  incest  in  all  grades  is  frequent  amongst  them.  In 
the  more  southern  regions  the  taboo  is  stricter  and  better  observed. 
Amongst  the  former  it  is  shameful  for  a  man  to  marry  his  sister  or  his 
brother's  daughter.  The  usages  are  the  more  strict  the  larger  the  tribe  is. 
In  small  isolated  groups  it  frequently  happens  that  a  man  lives  with  his 
sister.  He  heard  of  two  tribes,  the  Coerunas  and  the  Uainumus,  who 
observed  little  rule  on  the  subject.  They  were  dying  out.^  "  Not  seldom  an 
Indian  is  father  and  brother  of  his  son."  ^  Effertz  writes  that,  amongst  the 
Indians  of  the  Sierra  Madre,  Mexico,  incest  between  father  and  daughter 
"is  of  daily  occurrence,"  although  incest  between  brother  and  sister  is 
entirely  unknown.  The  former  unions  are  due  to  economic  interest.  The 
Indian  tills  small  bits  of  land  scattered  in  the  hills.  He  cannot  exist  with- 
out a  woman  to  grind  corn  for  him.  When  he  goes  to  a  distant  patch  of 
land  he  takes  his  daughter  with  him.  He  has  but  one  blanket  and  the 
nights  are  cold.  If  he  has  no  daughter  he  must  take  another  woman,  but 
then  he  must  share  his  crop  with  her.^ 

515.  The  tribes  of  South  Australia  are  "forbidden  to  have  intercourse 
with  mothers,  sisters,  and  first  or  second  cousins.  This  religious  law  is 
strictly  carried  out  and  adhered  to  under  penalty  of  death."    The  most 

1  Ethnog.  BrasiL,  115.  2  /^/^.^  334  note.  »  Jjmschau,  VIII,  496. 


484  FOLKWAYS 

opprobrious  epithet  for  an  opponent  in  a  quarrel  is  one  which  means  a  per- 
son who  has  sex  intercourse  with  kin  nearer  than  second  cousins.^  Some 
Dyaks  are  indifferent  to  the  conduct  of  their  wives,  and  both  sexes  practice 
sex  vice,  but  they  insist  on  drowning  any  one  who  violates  the  taboo  of 
incest.^  Other  Dyaks  (the  Ot  Danom)  have  no  notion  of  incest.  The 
former  are  on  the  coast,  the  latter  inland.  Hence  it  seems  probable  that 
the  notion  of  incest  came  to  the  Dyaks  from  outside.^  The  Khonds  practice 
female  infanticide,  from  a  feeling  that  marriage  in  the  same  tribe  is  incest.'* 
Cucis  are  allowed  to  marry  without  regard  to  relationship  of  blood,  except 
mother  and  son.^  The  Veddahs  think  marriage  with  an  older  sister  abomi- 
nable, but  marriage  with  a  younger  sister  is  prescribed  as  the  best.  Some- 
times a  father  marries  his  daughter  ;  in  other  subdivisions  a  first  cousin 
(daughter  of  the  father's  sister  or  mother's  brother)  is  the  prescribed  wife.^ 
Mantegazza  reports  that  father  and  daughter,  mother  and  son,  are  not 
rarely  united  amongst  the  Anamites  and  that  Cambodian  brothers  and  sisters 
marry .'^  Amongst  the  Kalongs  on  Java  sons  live  with  mothers,  and  luck 
and  prosperity  are  thought  to  be  connected  with  such  unions.  Not  long 
ago,  on  Minahasa  in  the  Tonsawang  district,  the  closest  blood  relatives 
united  in  marriage  ;  also  on  Timorlaut.  The  Balinese  had  a  usage  that 
twins  of  different  sex,  in  the  highest  castes,  were  united  in  marriage.  They 
could  have  no  notion  of  incest  at  all.^  The  Bataks  have  a  tradition  that 
marriage  between  a  man  and  his  father's  sister's  daughter  was  formerly 
allowed,  but  that  calamities  occurred  which  forced  a  change  of  custom." 

516.  The  people  of  Teita,  in  East  Africa,  who  are  very  dirty  and  low, 
marry  mothers  and  sisters  because  they  cannot  afford  to  buy  wives.  They 
have  been  in  touch  with  whites  for  fifty  years. ^°  The  chiefs  of  the  Niam 
Niam  take  their  daughters  to  wife.^^  The  Sakalava,  on  Madagascar,  allow 
brother  and  sister  to  marry,  but  before  such  a  marriage  the  bride  is  sprinkled 
with  consecrated  water  and  prayers  are  recited  for  her  happiness  and  fecun- 
dity, as  if  there  were  fears  that  the  union  was  not  pleasing  to  the  higher 
powers,  and  as  if  there  was  especial  fear  that  there  might  be  no  offspring. 
Such  marriages  are  contracted  by  chiefs  who  cannot  find  other  brides  of 
due  rank.^^ 

517.  The  Ossetes  think  a  marriage  with  a  mother's  sister  right,  but 
marriage  with  a  father's  sister  is  severely  punished.  They  have  the  strictest 
father  family.     Marriage  with  a  father's  relative  to  the  remotest  cousinship 

1  JAI,  XXIV,  169.  3  Wilken,   Volketikiinde,  267. 

2  Perelaer,  Dyaks,  59.  *  Hopkins,  Relig.  of  India,  531. 
^  Lewin,   Wild  Races  of  S.  E.  India,  276. 

^  N.  S.  Ethnol.  Soc,  London,  II,  311  ;   Sarasin,   Veddahs,  466. 
''  Gli  Aniori  degli  Uomini,  272. 

8  Bijdragen  tot  T.  L.  en  V.-kunde,  XXXV,  151. 

9  Ibid.,  XLI,  203.  11  Junker,  Afrika,  III,  291. 

10  JAI,  XXI,  361.  ■  12  Sibree,  Great  Afr.  Islatid,  252. 


INCEST  485 

is  forbidden,  but  consanguinity  through  the  mother  they  do  not  notice  at  all.^ 
The  Ostiaks  also  have  strict  father  family,  and  allow  marriage  with  any 
relative  on  the  female  side,  but  with  none  on  the  male  side.  It  is  an  espe- 
cially fortunate  marriage  to  take  two  sisters  together.^ 

518.  Amongst  the  Tinneh,  men  sometimes  marry  their  mothers,  sisters,  or 
daughters,  but  this  is  not  approved  by  public  opinion.^  As  the  Yakuts  had 
no  word  for  uterine  brother  and  sister  but  only  for  tribal  brother  and  sister, 
the  statements  about  the  taboo  lack  precision,  but  they  care  nothing  for 
incest,  and  it  occurs.  They  laugh  at  the  Russian  horror  of  it.  They  for- 
merly had  endogamy,  and  it  is  stated  that  brothers  and  sisters  married.  Now 
they  have  exogamy  between  subdivisions  of  the  nation,  but  a  girl's  brothers 
never  let  her  depart  as  a  virgin,  lest  she  take  away  their  luck.^  A  Hudson 
Bay  Eskimo  took  his  mother  to  wife,  but  public  opinion  forced  him  to 
discard  her.^  Marriages  of  brothers  and  sisters  appear  to  have  been  allowed 
formerly  amongst  the  Mordvin,  in  central  Russia.  A  case  is  mentioned  of 
a  girl  who  was  sent  from  home  for  a  time,  and  on  her  return  given  to  her 
brother  as  his  wife.*^  Langsdorff  '  reported  of  the  Aleuts  on  the  island  of 
Kodiak,  at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century,  that  parents  and  chil- 
dren, brothers  and  sisters,  cohabited  there. 

519.  Incest  in  civilized  states.  The  ancient  kings  of  Teneriffe, 
if  they  could  not  find  mates  of  equal  rank,  married  their  sisters 
to  prevent  the  admixture  of  plebeian  blood.^  In  the  Egyptian 
mythology  Isis  and  Osiris  were  sister  and  brother  as  well  as 
wife  and  husband.  The  kings  of  ancient  Egypt  married  their 
sisters  and  daughters.  The  doctrine  of  royal  essence  was  very 
exaggerated,  and  was  applied  with  quantitative  exactitude.  A 
princess  covild  not  be  allowed  to  transmit  any  of  it  away  from 
the  possessor  of  the  throne.  There  is  said  to  be  evidence  that 
Ramses  II  married  two  of  his  own  daughters  and  that  Psammetik  I 
married  his  daughter.  Artaxerxes  married  two  of  his  daughters.^ 
The  Ptolemies  adopted  this  practice.  The  family  married  in  and 
in  for  generations,  especially  brothers  and  sisters,  although  some- 
times of  the  half-blood.  "  Indicating  the  Ptolemies  by  numbers 
according  to  the  order  of  their  succession,  II  married  his  niece 
and   afterwards   his    sister;    IV   his   sister;   VI    and   VII   were 

1  von  Haxthausen,  Transkatikasia,  II,  27.  ^  Bur.  Et/i.,  XI,  180. 

2  Pallas,  Voyages  (Frejtck),  IV,  69.  ^  Abercromby,  Finns,  I,  182. 

3  Sniithson.  Rep.,  1866,  310.  '^  Voyages  a?id  Travels,  358. 

*  Sieroshevski,  Yakuty  (ntss.),  I,  560.  ^  iV.  S.  Amer.  Anthrop.,  II,  478. 

^  Maspero,  Peuples  de  FOrieiit,  I,   50. 


486  FOLKWAYS 

brothers  and  they  consecutively  married  the  same  sister ;  VII 
also  subsequently  married  his  niece  ;  VIII  married  two  of  his 
own  sisters  consecutively ;  XII  and  XIII  were  brothers  and 
consecutively  married  their  sister,  the  famous  Cleopatra."  "The 
line  of  descent  was  untouched  by  these  intermarriages,  except  in 
the  two  cases  of  III  and  VIII."  The  close  intermarriages  were 
sterile.  The  line  was  continued  by  others.^  The  Peruvian  Incas, 
but  not  other  Peruvians,  married  their  sisters.^  In  the  Vedic 
mythology  the  first  man  and  king  of  the  dead,  Yama,  had  his 
sister,  Yami,  to  wife.  In  a  hymn  these  two  are  represented  as 
discussing  the  propriety  of  marriage  between  brother  and  sister. 
This  shows  the  revolt  of  later  mores  against  what  once  was  not 
tabooed.^  The  scholars  think  that  Herodotus  (III,  31),  by  his 
story  of  the  question  whether  Cambyses  could  marry  his  sister, 
shows  that  such  marriages  were  not  allowed  amongst  the  ancient 
Persians.  They  are  mentioned  as  a  usage  of  the  magi.  In  the 
Avesta  they  are  prescribed  as  holy  and  meritorious.  They  are 
enjoined  by  religion.  They  were  practiced  by  the  Sassanids,^ 
although  in  the  Dinkart  version  of  the  law  they  are  apologized 
for  and  to  some  extent  disavowed.^  After  the  time  of  Cambyses 
such  marriages  occurred,  especially  in  the  royal  family.  They 
now  occur  amongst  the  Persians.^ 

520.  In  the  Chaldean  religion  the  gods  and  goddesses  were 
fathers,  sons,  brothers,  sisters,  and  mothers,  as  well  as  husbands 
and  wives,  to  each  other.  The  notions  of  "son  of  god"  and 
"  mother  of  god  "  were  very  current.  Marduk  is  son  of  Ea  and 
intercessor  for  men  with  him."  In  the  laws  of  Hammurabi,  if  a 
man  consorts  with  his  mother  after  the  death  of  his  father,  both 
are  to  be  burned.  Incest  with  a  daughter  is  pvmished  only  by 
banishment.  This  light  punishment  may  be  only  a  concession 
to  public  opinion,  since  the  culprits  injured  no  interest  but  their 
own.^ 

1  Galton,  Hered.  Genius,  151.  2  Prescott,  Peru,  I,  117. 

3  Hopkins,  Relig.  of  India,  131  ;  Zimmer,  Altiud.  Leben,  t^-^t^. 

*  Darmstetter,  Zend-Avesta,  Introd.,  xlv. 

^  Justi,  Persien,  225.  ^  Geiger,  Ost-Ira7i.  Kiiltur,  245-247. 

^  Tiele,  Gesch.  der  Relig.  im  AltertJnim,  I,  174. 

8  Miiller,  Hainmtirabi,  129. 


INCEST  487 

521.  In  the  Old  Testament  Abraham  married  his  half-sister 
by  the  same  father.  In  2  Sam.  xiii.  13  it  is  shown  that  such  a 
marriage  was  allowable  in  David's  time,  but  Ezek.  xxii.  1 1  refers 
to  such  a  marriage  as  an  abomination.  Nahor's  wife  was  his 
niece  by  his  brother.  Jacob  married  two  sisters  at  the  same 
time,  both  his  cousins.  Esau  married  his  cousin.  Judah  took 
to  wife  his  son's  widow,  but  disapproval  of  that  is  expressed. 
Amram,  the  father  of  Moses,  married  his  paternal  aunt.  These 
unions  were  all  in  contravention  of  the  Levitical  law.  There  are 
statements  of  the  law  which  differ:  Levit.  xviii  and  xx ;  Deut. 
xxi.  20  ;  xxvii.  20—23.  In  Ezek.  xxii.  10  and  1 1  incest  is  charged 
as  a  special  sin  of  the  Jews.  In  the  post-exilic  and  rabbinical 
periods  the  law  varied  from  the  old  law.  In  general  it  was 
extended  to  include  under  the  taboo  more  distant  relatives.^ 

Marriages  between  brothers  and  sisters  were  allowed  in  Phoe- 
nicia, but  were  contracted  probably  only  when  the  woman  had 
inherited  something  in  which  her  brother  had  no  share.^ 

522.  In  Homer  Zeus  and  Hera  are  brother  and  sister.  Union 
of  mother  and  son  is  regarded  as  shocking,  but  not  that  of  brother 
and  sister.^  Arete  was  niece  and  wife  of  Alcinous,  and  was 
especially  respected.*  In  the  case  of  CEdipus  the  union  of  mother 
and  son,  by  error,  was  terribly  punished.^  In  the  tragedy  of 
Andromache  marriages  between  mother  and  son,  father  and 
daughter,  brother  and  sister,  are  mentioned  as  characteristic  of 
barbarians.  Dionysius  of  Syracuse,  having  lost  his  wife,  married 
Doris  and  Aristomache  on  the  same  day.  With  Doris  he  had 
three  children  and  with  Aristomache  four.  His  son  by  Doris, 
Dionysius,  married  Sophrosyne,  his  daughter  by  Aristomache. 
Dion,  the  brother  of  Aristomache,  married  a  daughter  of  Aris- 
tomache.*^ Whether  these  marriages  were  extraordinary  in  Sicily 
we  do  not  know.  They  may  not  represent  the  current  mores  as 
to  marriage,  but  only  the  shamelessness  possible  to  a  Sicilian 
tyrant.    At  Athens  the  only  limitations  were  on  the  ascending 

'^  Jeivish  Encvc,  s. v.  "Incest,"  VI,  571.         2  Pietschmann,  Phoeuizier,  237. 
3//.,   IV,   58;    XIV,   296;    XI,    223;    Od.,   X,    7;    cf.    VIII,    267,    XI,    271; 
VIII,  306;  VII,  65. 

*  Od.,  XII,  338;   XIII,  57.  5  Keller,  Hotner.  Soc,  205,  232. 

^  Burckhardt,  Griech.  A'lilturgesch.,  I,  197. 


488  FOLKWAYS 

and  descending  relationships,  but  it  appears  that  in  later  times 
marriages  between  brother  and  sister  were  disapproved.^ 

523.  The  term  "incest  "  was  applied  at  Rome  to  the  case  of  a 
man  present  at  the  purification  of  women,  on  the  feast  of  the 
Bona  Dea,  May  i  ?  The  sense  of  the  word  is,  then,  nearly  equal 
to  "profane."  The  emperor  Claudius  married  his  niece  Agrip- 
pina  and  made  such  marriages  lawful.  Gaius  ^  restricted  this 
precedent  to  its  exact  form,  marriage  of  a  brother's  daughter,  not 
sister's  daughter,  and  further  restricted  it,  if  the  brother's 
daughter  was  in  any  forbidden  degree  of  affinity. 

524.  In  the  Ynglinga  saga  Niord  takes  his  sister  to  wife, 
because  the  law  of  Van-land  allowed  it,  although  that  of  the 
Ases  did  not.'*  Other  cases  in  the  Edda  go  to  show  that  the 
taboo  on  such  marriages  was  not  in  the  ancient  mores  of  Scandi- 
navia.^ In  the  German  poems  of  the  twelfth  century  it  belongs 
to  the  description  of  the  heathen  kings  that  they  are  fierce  and 
suspicious  towards  all  who  woo  their  daughters,  and  that  they 
sometimes  intend  to  marry  their  own  daughters  after  the  death  of 
their  queens.^ 

525.  Those  Arabs  of  Arabia  Felix  who  practiced  fraternal 
polyandry  also  formed  unions  with  their  mothers.'^  Robertson 
Smith  thinks  that  this  means  their  fathers'  wives.^  The  Arabs 
were  convinced  of  the  evil  of  marriage  between  cousins.^ 

526.  A  mediaeval  traveler  reports  of  the  Mongols  that  they 
paid  no  heed  to  affinity  in  marriage.  They  took  two  sisters  at 
once  or  in  succession.  The  only  limitation  was  that  they  must 
not  marry  mothers,  daughters,  or  sisters  by  the  same  mother.^^ 
In  Burma  and  Siam,  at  least  until  very  recent  times,  in  the 
royal  families  of  the  different  subdivisions  brothers  and  sisters 
married. ^^ 

527.  In  Russia,  in  the  seventeenth  century,  men  in  the  govern- 
ment service  who  were  often  sent  out  on  duty  and  had  no  homes, 

1  Becker-Hermann,  Charikles,  III,  288.  ^  Lichtenberger,  A^ibehinge7i,  334. 

2  Rossbach,  Rom.  Ehe,  266.  '^  Strabo,  XVI,  4,  25,  or  7S3. 

3  Iftstit.,  I,  62.  8>-  PhJloL,  IX,  86. 

*  Ij^Lmg,  Sagas  of  the  Ahorse  Ji'i7igs,l,2']2.  ^  V^&WhdiViSexi,  ILkebei  den  Araberft,^i\i. 

6  Weinhold,  D.  F.,  I,  235.  10  Rubruck,  Eastern  Parts,  77. 

11  Yule,  Court  of  Ava,  86. 


INCEST  489 

and  whose  incomes  were  small,  were  reproached  by  an  ecclesi- 
astic with  the  fact  that  they  lived  in  vice  with  their  mothers, 
sisters,  and  daughters  .^  Marriages  between  persons  related  by 
blood  are  frequent  in  Corsica  and  are  considered  the  most  auspi- 
cious marriages. 2 

528.  The  Kabyles  stone  to  death  those  who  voluntarily  com- 
mit incest  and  the  children  born  of  incestuous  unions.  The 
taboo,  in  their  usage,  includes  parents  and  children-in-law, 
brothers  and  sisters-in-law,  and  foster  brothers  and  sisters.^ 

529.  In  1459  there  died  at  Arras  a  canon,  eighty  years  old, 
who  had  committed  incest  with  his  daughters  and  with  a  grand- 
daughter whom  he  had  had  by  one  of  them.* 

530.  Where  the  line  is  drawn,  and  why.  The  instances  show 
that  the  notion  of  incest  is  by  no  means  universal  or  uniform, 
or  attended  by  the  same  intensity  of  repugnance.  It  is  not 
by  any  means  traceable  to  a  constant  cause.  Plutarch^  dis- 
cussed the  question  why  marriages  between  relatives  were  for- 
bidden by  the  traditional  mores  of  his  time.  He  conjectured 
various  explanations.  Fear  of  physical  degeneration  is  not  one 
of  them.  We  must  infer  that  such  consequences  had  not  then 
been  noticed  or  affirmed.  We  have  found  cases  in  which  no 
taboo  existed  and  cases  in  which  close  intermarriages  are 
especially  approved.  An  operation  of  syncretism,  when  differ- 
ent usages  and  ideas  have  been  brought  together  by  conquest 
and  state  combinations,  must  be  allowed  for.  In  some  cases 
a  great  interest  was  thought  to  be  at  stake  ;  in  other  cases  no 
importance  was  attached  to  the  matter.  The  mores  developed 
under  the  notions  which  got  control  by  accident  or  superstition. 
There  was  no  rational  ground  for  the  taboo,  and  none  even 
blindly  connected  with  truth  of  fact,  until  the  opinion  gained  a 
footing  that  close  intermarriage  was  unfavorable  to  the  number 
or  vigor  of  the  offspring.  Unless  that  opinion  is  accepted  as 
correct  there  is  no  reason  for  the  taboo  now.^    Incest  is,  for  us, 

1  Kostomarow,  Dom.  Life  and  Customs  of  Great  Russia  (russ.),  154. 

2  Gubernatis,  Usi  Niiziali,  273.  *  Lea,  Inqnis.,  Ill,  639. 

3  Hanoteau  et  Letoumeux,  Les  Kabyles,  III,  206.      ^  Quaest.  Ro7n.,  loS. 

^  Starcke,  Prim.  Fain.,  211. 


490  FOLKWAYS 

a  thing  so  repugnant  that  we  consider  the  feeling  "natural." 
We  may  test  the  feeling  by  our  feeling  as  to  the  marriage  of 
first  cousins.  First  cousins  are  very  commonly  married  in  Eng- 
land. Such  marriages  are  under  no  civil  or  ecclesiastical  prohi- 
bition, and  although  many  persons  disapprove  of  them  on  grounds 
of  expediency,  and  parents  might  refuse  to  consent  to  them,  they 
do  not  come  under  the  abomination  of  incest.  In  many  states  of 
the  United  States  marriages  of  first  cousins  are  illegal.  In 
Kansas  they  are  put  under  heavy  penalties.  We  hear  no  preach- 
ing against  close  in-marriage.  The  matter  is  not  discussed.  The 
limitations  are  set  in  the  current  mores  and  are  accepted  without 
dispute.  Evidently  the  only  question  is  where  the  line  should  be 
drawn.  If  it  was  proposed  to  forbid  the  marriage  of  first  cousins 
some  discussion  might  be  aroused.  If  it  was  decided  wise  to 
forbid  such  marriages,  it  would  take  long  for  such  a  sentiment  of 
repugnance  to  be  developed  in  regard  to  them  as  we  now  feel 
in  regard  to  the  marriage  of  sisters,  or  even  of  aunts  and  nieces. 
In  history  the  movement  must  have  been  in  the  other  direction. 
The  repugnance  arose  first  and  then  became  a  ground  for  the 
rules. 

531.  Human  self-selection  by  taboo  and  other-worldliness. 
Laws  against  incest  and  all  caste  rules  which  arbitrarily  limit  the 
number  of  persons  whom  a  given  individual  may  marry  may  be 
regarded  as  blind  attempts  of  mankind  to  practice  some  kind  of  self- 
selection.  Sex  selection  inside  the  human  race  is  the  highest  re- 
quirement which  life  now  addresses  to  man  as  an  intelligent  being, 
and  the  very  highest  result  which  our  sciences  could  produce  would 
be  to  give  us  trustworthy  guidance  in  a  policy  of  sex  selection.  It 
is  not  possible  for  some  persons  to  dispose  of  the  life  determination 
of  others,  as  breeders  control  the  union  of  beasts.  What  is 
needed  is  that  individuals,  in  making  their  own  decisions  for 
their  own  self-realization,  shall  understand  the  whole  range  of 
interests  which  are  involved,  and  shall  do  what  it  is  expedient  or 
necessary  to  do  to  satisfy  them  all.  In  times  past  men  and 
women  have  thus  limited  themselves  by  rules  about  incest,  group 
and  class  marriage,  rank  or  caste,  religion,  wealth,  and  other  con- 
siderations.    In  every  society  there  are  traits  which  are  approved 


INCEST  491 

and  others  which  are  disapproved  in  each  sex.  In  marrying, 
people  are  influenced  by  these  appreciations  and  they  select  for 
or  against  them.  Thus  marriage  is  controlled  by  a  complicated 
selection  according  to  a  number  of  standards  which  prevail  at 
the  time  and  place.  At  present  the  popular  view  seems  to  be 
that  all  standards  are  false,  and  that  the  limitations  ought  to  be 
trampled  on  as  representing  abandoned  ideals.  It  is  thought  that 
the  whole  matter  ought  to  be  left  to  the  control  of  an  unintelligent 
impulse,  which  is  capable  of  any  caprice,  but  whose  authority  is 
imperative.  Perverse  as  the  old  restrictions  often  were,  they  had 
in  them  a  notion  of  self-selection  such  as  is  needed  now,  if  only 
the  criteria  and  standards  which  are  correct  can  be  ascertained. 
The  old  restrictions  contained  a  notion  of  breeding  up,  a  notion 
which  is  by  no  means  false,  if  we  can  get  a  rational  idea  of  what 
is  "up."  No  marriage  ought  now  to  be  contracted  without  full 
application  of  all  we  know  about  heredity  and  selection.  If,  in  any 
society,  marriages  were  thus  contracted,  the  effect  would  be 
most  favorable  on  posterity,  and  on  the  power  in  action  and  the 
perpetuity  of  the  group,  for  the  net  result  would  be  that  those 
who  are  least  fit  to  propagate  the  race  would  be  the  ones  who 
would  be  left  unmarried  or  would  marry  each  other.  In  the 
latter  case  their  posterity  would  soon  disappear,  and  the  evil 
factors  would  be  eliminated.  A  father  now  refuses  his  daughter 
to  a  drunkard,  a  criminal,  a  pauper,  a  bankrupt,  an  inefficient 
man,  one  who  has  no  income,  etc.  Some  men  refuse  their 
daughters  to  irreligious  men,  or  to  men  who  are  not  of  their  own 
sect  or  subsect.  Some  allow  inherited  wealth,  or  talent,  or 
high  character,  etc.,  to  outweigh  disadvantages.  In  short,  we 
already  have  selection.  It  always  has  existed.  The  law  of  incest 
was  an  instinctive  effort  in  the  same  direction.  The  problem  is 
the  same  now  as  it  always  has  been,  —  to  refine  and  correct  the 
standards  and  to  determine  their  relative  importance. 

532.  Restrictions  by  biological  facts  as  yet  too  uncertain.  As 
yet,  undoubtedly,  the  great  reason  why  people  are  reluctant  to 
construct  a  policy  of  marriage  and  population  on  biological  doc- 
trines is  that  those  doctrines  are  too  uncertain.  The  reluctance 
is  well  justified.    Hasty  action,  based  on  shifting  views  of  fact 


492 


FOLKWAYS 


and  law,  would  simply  add  new  confusion  and  trouble  to  that  pro- 
duced by  the  customs  and  legislative  enactments  which  we  have 
inherited  from  the  past  and  which  were  based  on  transcendental 
doctrines.  So  long  as  we  do  not  know  whether  acquired  modifi- 
cations are  inheritable  or  not,  we  are  not  prepared  to  elaborate  a 
policy  of  marriage  which  can  be  dogmatically  taught  or  civilly 
enforced.  This  much,  however,  is  certain,  —  the  interests  of 
society  are  more  at  stake  in  these  things  than  in  anything  else. 
All  other  projects  of  reform  and  amelioration  are  trivial  compared 
with  the  interests  which  lie  in  the  propagation  of  the  species,  if 
those  can  be  so  treated  as  to  breed  out  predispositions  to  evils  of 
body  and  mind,  and  to  breed  in  vigor  of  mind  and  body.  It  even 
seems  sometimes  as  if  the  primitive  people  were  working  along 
better  lines  of  effort  in  this  matter  than  we  are,  when  we  allow- 
marriage  to  be  controlled  by  "love"  or  property ;  when  our  organs 
of  public  instruction  taboo  all  which  pertains  to  reproduction  as 
improper  ;  and  when  public  authority,  ready  enough  to  interfere 
with  personal  liberty  everywhere  else,  feels  bound  to  act  as  if 
there  was  no  societal  interest  at  stake  in  the  begetting  of  the 
next  generation. 

533.  It  is  self-evident  that  there  ought  to  be  no  restriction 
on  marriage  except  such  as  is  necessary  to  protect  some  interest 
of  the  parties,  their  children,  or  the  society.  The  necessity  must 
also  be  real  and  not  traditional  or  superstitious.  The  evils  of 
inbreeding  are  so  probable  as  to  justify  strong  prejudice  against 
consanguine  marriages.  If  primitive  men  set  up  the  taboo  on 
incest  without  knowing  this,  they  acted  more  wisely  than  they 
knew.  We  who  have  inherited  the  taboo  now  have  knowledge 
which  gives  a  rational  and  expedient  reason  for  it.  The  mores, 
therefore,  still  have  a  field  of  useful  action  to  strengthen  and 
reaffirm  the  taboo.  There  is  also  a  practical  question  still 
unsettled,  —  whether  the  marriage  of  first  cousins  should  be 
included  in  the  taboo. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

KINSHIP,  BLOOD   REVENGE,  PRIMITIVE   JUSTICE,   PEACE 

UNIONS 

Kinship.  —  Forms  of  kinship.  —  Family  education.  —  Kinds  of  kinship. 

—  How  family  mores  are  formed.  —  Family  and  marriage.  —  Goblinism 
and  kinship  ;  blood  revenge.  —  Procreation  ;  forms  of  the  family.  —  No- 
tions about  procreation  and  share  in  it.  —  Blood  revenge  and  the  in-group 

—  Institutional  ties  replace  the  blood  tie.  —  Peace  in  the  in-group.  —  Parties 
to  blood  revenge.  —  Blood  revenge  in  ethnography.  —  Blood  revenge  in 
Israel.  —  Peace  units  and  peace  pacts.  —  The  instability  of  great  peace 
unions.  —  The  Arabs.  —  The  development  of  the  philosophy  of  blood  re- 
venge.—  Alleviations  of  blood  revenge.  —  The  king's  peace.  —  The  origin 
of  criminal  law. 

534.  Kinship.  Kinship  is  a  fact  which,  in  the  forms  of  hered- 
ity and  race,  is  second  to  none  in  importance  to  the  interests  of 
men.  It  is  a  fact  which  was  concealed  by  ignorance  from  primitive 
men.  It  is  yet  veiled  in  much  mystery  from  us.  Nevertheless 
the  notion  of  kinship  was  one  of  the  very  first  notions  formed 
by  primitive  men  as  a  bond  of  association,  and  they  based  folk- 
ways upon  their  ideas  about  it.  They  deduced  the  chief  infer- 
ences and  handed  the  whole  down  to  succeeding  generations. 
Therefore  the  assumed  knowledge  of  the  facts  of  kinship  was 
used  as  the  basis  of  a  whole  series  of  societal  conventions.  The 
first  construction  was  the  family,  which  was  a  complete  institu- 
tion. Of  course  marriage  was  a  relationship  which  was  controlled 
and' adjusted  by  the  family  ideas.  From  the  folkways  as  to  kin- 
ship all  the  simplest  conceptions  of  societal  rights  and  duties 
were  derived,  societal  institutions  were  constructed,  and  societal 
organization  has  grown  up. 

535.  Forms  of  kinship.  That  a  certain  child  was  born  of  a 
certain  woman,  after  having  been  for  some  time  in  physical  con- 
nection with  her  body,  is  an  historical  and  physical  fact.    That 

493 


494  FOLKWAYS 

another  child  was  born  of  the  same  mother  is  another  fact,  of 
the  same  order.  It  may  be  beheved  that  these  facts  produce 
permanent  hfe  relations  between  the  mother  and  children,  and 
between  the  children,  or  it  may  be  believed  that  the  facts  have 
no  importance  for  duties,  interests,  or  sympathies.  The  relations, 
if  recognized,  may  be  defined  and  construed  in  many  different 
ways  and  degrees.  They  could  also  be  carried  further  by  includ- 
ing more  generations,  or  wider  collateral  branches,  until  kinship 
would  include  a  sib,  or  family  in  the  widest  sense,  —  those  related 
within  some  limit  of  descent  and  cousinship  on  a  system  decided 
on  (mother  family,  father  family,  etc.)  and  traditional.  Kinship  is 
purely  matter  of  fact  and  history,  and  therefore  rational.  There 
is  no  "natural  affection."  There  is  habit  and  familiarity,  and  the 
example  and  exhortations  of  parents  may  inculcate  notions  of  duty. 
Sentiments  and  sympathies  will  then  be  produced  out  of  famil- 
iarity in  life,  or  out  of  use  and  wont.  The  construction  and  limits 
of  kinship  in  any  society  are  products  of  the  folkways,  or  —  inas- 
much as  the  system  is  built  up  with  notions  of  welfare  and  rights 
and  duties  —  of  the  mores.  In  fact,  since  the  folkways  in  regard 
to  this  matter  begin  at  a  very  primitive  stage  of  human  life,  run 
up  to  the  highest  civilization,  and  are  interwoven  with  the  most 
tender  sympathies  and  ethical  convictions  at  all  stages,  kinship 
is  one  of  the  most  important  products  of  the  folkways  and  mores. 
It  is,  in  fact,  the  most  important  societal  concept  which  the 
primitive  man  thought  out,  and  it  would  be  such  even  if  we  were 
now  compelled  to  reject  it  as  erroneous. 

536.  Family  education.  No  doubt  the  folkways  about  kinship 
are  produced  in  connection  with  views  about  interests,  and  in  con- 
nection with  faiths  about  procreation,  and  impressions  produced 
by  experience.  The  mother  and  children  live  in  constant  contact 
and  intimacy.  The  family  grows  into  an  institution  which  takes 
its  nature  from  the  traditional  and  habitual  behavior  of  its  mem- 
bers to  each  other  in  daily  life.  Use  and  wont  have  here  a  great 
field  for  their  constructive  operation.  Each  family  (mother  and 
children)  is  independent  and  makes  its  own  world,  in  which 
nearly  all  its  interests  are  enfolded.  There  are  constantly  recur- 
ring occasions  for  acts  of  a  reciprocal  character,  and  such  acts 


KINSHIP,  BLOOD   REVENGE,  ETC.  495 

especially  build  up  institutions.  The  family  is  also  an  arena  in 
which  sympathies  are  cultivated,  which  does  not  mean  that  they 
are  always  nourished  and  developed.  Habits  are  formed  and  disci- 
pline is  enforced.  Rules  are  accepted  from  custom  and  enforced 
by  authority  and  force.  Rights  and  duties  are  enforced  as  facts 
long  before  they  are  apprehended  as  concepts. 

537.  Kinds  of  kinship.  The  sib,  or  large  family,  including  all 
those  who  are  known  to  be  related  at  all,  is  a  group  of  very  vary- 
ing importance  in  different  societies.  In  some  societies  the  com- 
mon bond  is  strong  and  produces  important  social  consequences. 
In  other  cases  no  heed  is  paid  to  relationship  beyond  first  and 
second  cousins.  Although  the  Yakuts  keep  up  the  rod,  or  great 
family,  for  some  purposes,  we  are  told  that  often  "  nothing  unites 
the  members  of  the  rod  but  a  vague  tradition  of  common 
descent."  ^  Whether  individuals  can  break  the  ties  of  kin,  by 
voluntary  act,  is  answered  differently  in  different  societies.  The 
Salic  Franks  allowed  a  man  to  do  it  by  breaking  his  staff  (which 
was  his  personal  symbol)  in  a  ceremonial  act.^  If  kinship  depends 
on  connection  of  the  body  of  the  child  with  that  of  the  mother, 
his  nourishment  by  her  milk  is  another  ground  of  kinship.  The 
Arabs  recognize  this  tie  of  a  child  to  its  foster  mother.  Later 
the  child  is  nourished  by  food  shared  with  commensals.  Hence 
the  tie  of  commensality  forms  a  basis  of  social  union  like 
kinship.^ 

538.  How  mores  are  formed.  The  family  groups  which  are  in 
local  neighborhood  have,  in  general,  the  same  folkways  as  an 
inheritance,  but  variations  occur  from  varieties  of  character  and 
circumstances.  The  variations  are  life  experiments,  in  fact,  and 
they  lead  to  selection.  In  the  community  as  a  whole  the  mores 
of  family  life  are  selected,  approved,  and  established,  and  then 
handed  down  by  tradition.  It  may  be  believed  that  there  is  a 
common  interest  of  the  entire  larger  group  in  the  education  and 
treatment  of  children,  and  that  all  the  adults  recognize  that  inter- 
est more  or  less  completely.    The  big  group,  therefore,  molds 

1  Sieroshevski,   Yaktdy  {^Polish  versioti),  248. 

2  Clement,  Das  Recht  der  Salischen  Fi-anken,  243. 

3  W.  R.  Smith,  Relig.  of  the  Semites,  274. 


496  FOLKWAYS 

notions  of  consanguinity,  and  the  sanctions  of  tribal  authority 
and  pubhc  opinion  coerce  all  to  observe  the  modes  of  family  life 
which  the  ruling  authority  thinks  most  expedient  for  the  group 
interests. 

539.  Family  and  marriage.  The  family  institution  must  have 
preceded  marriage.  In  fact,  marriage  appears,  in  ethnography 
and  history,  as  the  way  of  founding  a  family  and  as  molded  by 
the  family  mores  existing  in  the  society. 

540.  Goblinism  and  kinship.  Blood  revenge.  Integration  of 
kin  relations  was  produced  by  goblinism.  This  furnished  an 
interest  which  impelled  to  development  of  the  kin  idea.  If  a  man 
was  murdered,  his  ghost  would  seek  revenge,  just  as  a  man  while 
alive  would  have  sought  revenge  for  a  smaller  injury.  The  ghost 
was  dangerous  to  two  persons  or  classes  of  persons,  the  murderer 
and  those  near  the  corpse.  The  latter  would  be,  almost  always, 
his  kinsmen.  It  behooved  the  latter,  therefore,  if  they  wanted  to 
appease  the  ghost  and  save  themselves,  to  find  the  murderer  and 
to  punish  him.  Hence  the  custom  of  blood  revenge.  It  was  not 
due  to  kin  notions,  but  to  goblinistic  notions.  Kin  only  defined 
those  who  came  under  the  obligation.  In  this  way  kin  became  a 
tie  of  mutual  offense,  defense,  and  assistance,  and  kin  groups  were 
formed  into  societies,  —  we-groups  or  in-groups,  — -  inside  of  which 
there  was  comradeship,  peace,  law,  and  order,  while  the  relation 
to  all  out-groups  was  one  of  suspicion,  hostility,  plunder,  and  sub- 
jugation if  possible.  The  primary  notion  of  kin  was  embodied  in 
formulae  about  blood,  —  which  were  only  figures  of  speech,  — 
which  have  come  down  to  us,  so  that  propositions  about  blood 
are  used  now  to  express  our  notions  of  kinship,  heredity,  etc.  In 
fact,  according  to  modern  embryology,  not  a  drop  of  blood  passes 
from  either  parent  to  the  offspring.  Superstitions  about  blood 
{seat  of  the  soul  or  life,  etc.)  helped  to  develop  the  notion  of  kin. 
The  primitive  idea  is  that  the  ghost  of  a  murdered  man  can  be 
appeased  only  by  blood.  The  blood  of  Abel  cried  unto  God  from 
the  ground.  Some  peoples  go  out  to  kill  anything,  in  order  that 
blood  may  be  shed  and  so  the  ghost  may  be  satisfied. 

541.  Procreation.  Forms  of  the  family.  The  notion  of  kin 
was  so  elastic  that  various  conceptions  of  procreation  have  been 


KINSHIP,  BLOOD   REVENGE,  ETC.  497 

grafted  upon,  it,  and  various  ways  of  organizing  the  family,  or 
of  reckoning  kinsliip,  have  been  connected  with  it.  Mores  grow 
upon  the  notions  of  kinship.  They  dictate  modes  of  behavior 
and  ideas  of  right  and  duty,  and  train  all  members  of  the  society 
in  the  same.  The  relation  of  father  and  child  is  known  to  few 
persons,  perhaps  only  to  two.  Kinship  through  the  father,  there- 
fore, seems  to  uncivilized  people  far  less  important  than  kinship 
through  the  mother.  When  the  father  relationship  is  regarded 
as  the  real  tie  and  is  made  the  norm  of  kin  groups,  great  changes 
are  produced  in  the  mores  of  the  mother  family. 

542.  Notions  about  procreation  and  share  in  it.  It  is  difficult  to  see  how 
savage  men  could  have  got  any  idea  of  procreation.  The  ethnographical 
evidence  is  that  they  have  no  idea,  or  only  a  most  vague  and  incorrect  idea, 
of  the  functions  of  the  parents.  The  Australians  think  that  an  ancient  spirit 
enters  into  a  baby  at  birth,  enlivens  it,  and  is  its  fate.  This  notion  interferes 
with  ideas  of  sexual  conception.  So  we  are  told  that  the  Dieyerie  women  do 
not  admit  that  a  child  has  only  one  father,  and  say  that  they  do  not  know 
whether  the  husband  or  the  piraiirn  is  the  father.^  The  highest  tribes  in 
Australia  say  that  "  the  daughter  emanates  from  her  father  solely,  being  only 
nurtured  by  her  mother."  ^  The  father,  however,  is  always  known  or 
assumed.  How  else  could  the  father  move  up  one  grade  in  tribal  position 
when  the  boy  is  initiated  ?  ^  Amongst  several  tribes  of  central  Australia  it  is 
believed  that  "  the  child  is  not  the  direct  result  of  intercourse,  that  it  may 
come  without  this,  which  merely,  as  it  were,  prepares  the  mother  for  the 
reception  and  birth  of  an  already  formed  spirit  child  who  inhabits  one  of 
the  local  totem  centers."  ■*  Melanesian  women  feel  severely  the  strain  of 
child  rearing.  They  seem  to  have  less  love  for  the  children  than  the  fathers 
have.  They  often  kill  the  babes.  If  an  unmarried  girl  becomes  pregnant, 
she  says  that  some  man  who  hates  her  got  the  help  of  spirits,  who  caused 
her  situation.^  The  Indians  in  British  Columbia  think  that  a  woman  con- 
ceives by  eating,  and  this  belief  is  introduced  into  their  folk  tales.^  The  rules 
about  the  food  of  women  are  often  connected  with  notions  about  sex  relations 
and  procreation.  The  Seri  of  California  thought  that  fire  is  bestial,  not  physi- 
cal, and  is  produced  similarly  to  sexual  reproduction.'  In  ancient  Greece  "  the 
inferiority  of  women  to  men  was  strongly  asserted,  and  it  was  illustrated  and 
defended  by  a  very  curious  physiological  notion  that  the  generative  power 
belonged  exclusively  to  men,  women  having  only  a  very  subordinate  part  in 

1  lAI,  XX,  53.  4  Spencer  and  Gillen,  Cent.  A-istraL,  265. 

2  Ibid.,  XIV,  352.  5  Pfeil,  Aus  der  Sildsee,  18,  143. 

3  Cunow,   Verwandtschafts-organization     ^  U.  S.  Nat.  A/us.,  18S8,  379. 

der  Austral.,  126.  '  Btir.  Eth.,  XVII,  Part  I,  199.* 


498  FOLKWAYS 

the  production  of  their  children."  ^  This  notion  is  expressed  in  the  Emnen- 
ides,  where  it  is  said  to  lessen  the  crime  of  Orestes.  His  mother  did  not 
generate  him.  She  received  and  nursed  the  germ.  In  Islam  this  same  opin- 
ion prevails.  It  is  a  father  family  doctrine,  exactly  opposite  to  that  of  the 
mother  family,  where  the  function  of  the  mother  was  thought  far  more 
important.^  It  is  a  good  example  of  the  way  in  which  the  philosophy  follows 
the  view  taken  in  the  mores  of  the  leading  interest. 

543.  Blood  revenge  and  the  in-group.  Blood  revenge  is  out  of 
place  in  the  in-group.  It  would  mean  self-extermination  of  the 
group.  It  would  serve  the  interests  of  the  enemies  in  the  out- 
groups.  Hence  the  double  interest  of  harmony  and  cooperation 
in  the  in-group  and  war  strength  against  the  out-groups  forces 
the  invention  of  devices  by  which  to  supersede  blood  revenge  in 
the  in-group.  Chiefs  and  priests  administered  group  interests, 
especially  war  and  other  collisions  with  neighbors,  and  they 
imposed  restraints,  arbitration,  or  compensation  in  internal 
quarrels.  Cities  of  refuge  and  sanctuaries  secured  investigation 
and  deliberation  to  prove  guilt  and  determine  compensations. 
The  chiefs  and  priests  thus  modified  or  set  aside  kin  law  by 
inchoate  civil  forms.  Then  criminal  law  and  penalty  took  the 
place  of  retaliation.  Between  groups  blood  revenge  was  only  a 
detail  of  the  normal  relations  of  hostility  and  violence.  Out- 
groups,  however,  sometimes  made  agreements  with  each  other  to 
limit  blood  revenge  and  vendetta.  White  men  have  had  trouble 
with  red  men  and  black  men  because  their  customs  as  to  rela- 
tionship were  not  on  the  same  level.  The  whites  in  New  York 
and  Pennsylvania  colonies  could  not  understand  why  the  Indians 
were  indifferent  to  their  demands  for  the  surrender  of  an  Indian 
who,  in  time  of  peace,  had  killed  a  white  man.  According  to 
Indian  ideas  the  bloodshedding  did  not  concern  the  civil  body 
(tribe),  but  the  kin  group  (clan).'^  A  wife  was  not  included  in 
blood  revenge.  Her  relation  to  her  husband  was  not  one  of 
"blood."  It  was  institutional.  Therefore  it  was  not  so  strong 
as  the  tie  of  sister  to  brother  by  the  same  mother. 

544.  Institutional  ties  replace  the  blood  tie.  In  the  history  of 
civilization  several  institutional  ties  have  become  stronger  than 

1  Lecky,  Eiir.  Morals,  II,  280.  2  Wilutzky,  Mamt  iind  Weib,  121. 

3  Smithsoii.  Rep.,  1893,  595- 


KINSHIP,  BLOOD  REVENGE,  ETC.  499 

the  blood  tie,  but  the  primitive  man,  who  has  not  yet  accepted 
any  tie  as  equal  to  the  blood  tie,  always  resists  this  change.  Kin- 
ship was  lost  by  separation,  and  fire  superseded  it  as  a  bond  of 
association.  Fire  being  kept  and  lent  became  a  unifying  force, 
because,  in  effect,  all  united  in  a  common  effort  to  get  and  keep 
it.^  Common  religion  (sacrifices)  also  became  a  bond  of  union. 
The  common  sacrifices  at  Upsala  held  the  scattered  Swedes  in 
unity,  and  served  also  as  a  peace  bond,  although  not  a  sufficient 
one.^  It  is  said  also  of  the  Brahuis,  in  Baluchistan,  that  the  two 
bonds  which  unite  the  confederacy  are  common  land  and  common 
good  and  ill,  "which  is  another  name  for  common  blood  feud."^ 
Changes  in  the  numbers  in  the  group,  or  in  life  conditions,  make 
some  other  element  more  important  than  kin.  Then  that  element 
becomes  the  societal  bond.  Then  the  folkways,  ideas,  and  senti- 
ments change  to  adapt  themselves  to  the  new  center  of  interest. 
Throughout  the  Occident  the  institutional  tie  of  man  and  wife  is 
rated  higher  than  any  tie  of  kinship. 

545.  Peace  in  the  in-group.  Government,  law,  order,  peace, 
and  institutions  were  developed  in  the  in-group.  So  far  as  sym- 
pathy was  developed  at  all,  it  was  in  the  in-group,  between  com- 
rades. The  custom  of  blood  revenge  was  a  protection  to  all  who 
were  in  a  group  of  kinsmen.  It  knit  them  all  together  and  served 
their  common  interest  against  all  outsiders.  Therefore  it  was  a 
societalizing  custom  and  institution.  Inside  the  kin-group  adjudi- 
cation, administration  of  justice  by  precedents  and  customs,  com- 
position for  wrongs  by  payments  or  penalties,  amercements  by 
authority  for  breach  of  orders  or  violations  of  petty  taboo,  and 
exile  took  the  place  of  retaliation.  In  the  in-group  it  was  the 
murderer  who  had  to  fear  the  ghost  of  the  murdered.  Religious 
rites  absolved  the  murderer  from  the  ghosts  or  gods  and  delivered 
him  from  the  furies,  who  demanded  revenge.  The  Hebrew  law 
provided  cities  of  refuge  for  those  who  were  guilty  of  accidental 
homicide.*  The  manslayer  could  go  home  at  the  death  of  the 
high  priest.^    In  2  Sam.  iii  and  iv  are  cases  of  blood  revenge 

1  Lippert,  Kulturgesch.,  I,  265.  3  Risley,  Ethnog.  of  India,  I,  67. 

*  Geijer,  Svenska  Folkets  Hist.,  I,  112.  *  Deut.  xix  ;   Josh.  xx. 

^  Num.  XXXV. 


500  FOLKWAYS 

and  of  efforts  to  suppress  it.    The  homicide  in  chapter  iv  is  not  a 
case  of  blood  revenge  but  of  partisan  murder. 

546.  Parties  to  blood  revenge.  It  was  a  very  serious  modifi- 
cation of  blood  revenge  when  it  was  extended  so  that  any  kins- 
man of  the  murdered  man  was  bound  to  kill  any  kinsman  of  the 
murderer.  Hagen  ^  says  :  "  No  regulated  societal  common  life  is 
possible  where  blood  revenge  is  in  full  operation ;  not  even  on 
the  primitive  stage  of  the  Bogjadim  state,"  a  village  in  German 
New  Guinea.  This  is  true  if  blood  revenge  is  allowed  in  the 
in-group,  or  if  the  in-group  has  very  low  integration,  for  blood 
revenge  sets  every  man  against  his  neighbor  and  makes  society 
impossible.  Krieger^says  of  the  same  people:  "The  comrade- 
ship of  clansmen  with  each  other  in  respect  to  their  attitude 
towards  out-groups  is  most  definite  in  blood  revenge  during  the 
stage  between  the  kin-group  organization  and  the  lowest  state 
organization."  If  a  nation  stops  in  that  stage,  or  even  degener- 
ates a  little,  blood  revenge  becomes  a  symptom  of  a  state  of 
societal  disease.  It  becomes  firmly  fixed,  is  elaborated,  continues 
beyond  the  stage  of  other  things  at  which  it  can  be  useful,  and, 
as  an  institution,  becomes  a  caricature.  What  is  lacking  is  an 
authority  which  can  impose  commands  on  the  in-group  and 
extrude  blood  revenge  from  it.  The  Naga,  in  northeastern  India, 
fifty  years  ago  lived  in  villages  in  which,  if  two  men  quarreled, 
all  the  others  took  sides  with  one  or  the  other  and  civil  war 
ensued.  The  experience  of  these  quarrels  and  of  blood  revenge 
produced  "a  reluctance  to  enter  into  quarrels  which  entailed 
consequences  so  disastrous,  and  hence  a  society  living  in  general 
peace  and  honesty."  The  situation,  however,  was  unstable,  and 
once  or  twice  a  year  they  had  grand  fights  in  which  the  entire 
village  participated  by  way  of  clearing  off  all  old  scores.  Evi- 
dently they  had  no  adequate  government  or  administration  of 
justice.  Revenge  is  still,  in  case  of  a  murder,  "a  sacred  duty, 
never  to  be  neglected  or  forgotten,"  although  English  rule  has 
modified  the  old  usages  and  may  bring  those  people  into  a  bet- 
ter political  organization.  Revenge  is  still  a  kin  affair,  not  a 
civil  affair.     It  is  handed  down  from  generation  to  generation, 

1  U liter  den  Papuas,  256.  ^  Nen  Guinea,  199. 


KINSHIP,  BLOOD   REVENGE,  ETC.  501 

including'  innocent  victims,  women  and  children,  and  devastating 
whole  villages.  It  becomes  fanatical  and  men  will  sacrifice  their 
most  serious  interests  to  it.  If  the  male  kinsmen  die  out  or 
are  unable  to  keep  up  the  feud,  others  may  be  hired  to  fulfill 
the  duty.i 

547.  Blood  revenge  in  ethnography.  The  Eskimo  have  no  civil  organi- 
zation outside  of  the  family.  All  justice  depends  on  the  immediate  coercion 
of  wrongdoers  by  force.  Hence  death  often  results.  Retaliation  is  the 
sacred  duty  of  every  kinsman. '^  That  the  deceased  was  in  the  wTong  is 
quite  immaterial.  Blood  revenge  was  almost  universal  amongst  the 
American  aborigines.  In  some  tribes  the  stage  had  been  reached  where  it 
was  set  aside  by  compensation.^  Amongst  the  Brazilian  tribes  it  was  a 
question  to  be  decided  in  each  case  whether  retaliation  .should  be  executed 
against  the  wrongdoer  only  or  against  all  his  kin.*  The  Arawaks  practiced 
blood  revenge,  like  nature  peoples,  as  late  as  1830.  Generally  the  cases  were 
those  of  jealousy  and  adultery.^  The  Australians  of  Victoria  kill  the  elder 
brother  of  a  murderer  or  his  father.  If  these  are  not  living  they  kill  him. 
He  is  not  allowed  to  defend  himself.  In  some  tribes  the  nearest  relative 
of  the  murdered  must  take  the  life  of  a  tribesman  of  the  murderer.  All 
deaths  are  attributed  to  human  agency,  and  it  is  ascertained  by  divination 
to  what  tribe  the  murderer  belonged.  Public  opinion  enforces  the  duty  of 
blood  revenge.  Any  one  who  should  neglect  it  would  be  despised.^  The 
Dyaks  keep  an  account  current  of  the  number  of  lives  which  one  tribe 
"  owes  "  to  another.  The  hill  Dyaks,  whose  wars  are  constant  and  bloody, 
are  very  scrupulous  about  this  account  of  heads  due.  They  are  more  so  than 
the  sea  Dyaks,  who  have  perhaps  been  influenced  by  contact  with  outside 
peoples.''  Amongst  the  Ewe-speaking  peoples  of  West  Africa  ^  a  family  is  col- 
lectively responsible  for  crimes  and  wrongs  of  which  any  one  of  its  mem- 
bers is  guilty,  and  each  one  is  assessed  for  his  share  of  the  composition 
to  be  paid.  Each  member  of  a  family  also  gets  his  share  of  any  payment 
paid  to  it  for  wrongs  to  its  members.  Ellis  says  that  formerly  the  village 
was  the  collective  unit  for  paying  or  receiving  compensation.  This  is  note- 
worthy because,  in  general,  composition  by  payment  is  later  than  the  custom 
of  equal  retaliation,  while  civil  units  come  later  than  kin  units  as  the  collec- 
tive units  which  are  responsible.    The  Somali  attribute  the  duty  of  blood 

1  JAI,  XI,  67  ;   XXVI,  174  ;  XXVII,  25,  36. 

2  Bur.  Eth.,  VI,  582  ;  XI,  186  ;  XVIII,  Part  I,  292. 

3  Powers,  Calif.  Indians,  21. 

*  Martius,  Ethnog.  Brasil.,  127. 

^  Ibid.,  693  ;   Schomburgk,  Brit.  Giciana,  II,  460. 

^  Smyth,  Aborig.  of  Vict.,  I,  129;  II,  229. 

7  Veth,  Borneo's  Wester  Afdeeling,  II,  283. 

^  Ellis,  Ewe-speaking  Peoples,  20S. 


502 


FOLKWAYS 


revenge  to  the  kin,  not  to  the  tribe.  They  have  a  tariff  for  bodily  injuries 
less  than  murder,  and  for  age  and  sex.  The  blood  money  goes  to  the  kin. 
Blood  revenge  is  executed  against  any  kinsman  of  the  murderer.  The 
Galla  do  not  accept  compensation  for  blood  guilt,  "  no  doubt  on  account 
of  the  density  of  population."  ^  In  the  Eumenides  of  .^schylus  it  is  said 
(line  520),  "  Not  all  the  wealth  of  the  great  earth  can  do  away  with  blood 
guilt."  In  Japan  blood  revenge  continued  until  very  recently.  The  person 
who  meant  to  seek  it  had  to  give  notice  in  writing  to  the  criminal  court. 
He  was  then  free  to  execute  his  purpose,  but  he  must  not  make  a  riot.  The 
Japanese  father  family  is  a  religious  corporation,  and  the  family  bond  is 
that  of  a  cult.^  The  Japanese  view  is  the  half-civilized  view,  where  the  kin 
sentiment  is  highly  developed  and  the  civil  interest  is  only  imperfectly  appre- 
hended. In  Scandinavia  the  feeling  that  it  is  base  to  take  compensation  for 
blood  continued  until  a  late  time.  We  find  in  the  saga  of  Grettir  the  Strong  ^ 
that  banishment  is  used  instead  of  blood  revenge.  This  was  thought  to  be  a 
letting  down  of  honor.  Life  and  honor  as  well  as  property  were  under  the 
protection  of  kin.  Blood  revenge  was  a  holy  duty.  The  son  could  not  take 
his  inheritance  until  he  had  avenged  his  father.  Attempts  were  made  to  intro- 
duce the  weregild.  The  fine  for  killing  an  old  man  or  a  woman  was  twice  as 
much  as  for  an  able-bodied  man.  The  slayer  with  twelve  of  his  kin  must 
swear  that  he  would  be  content  with  the  payment  if  the  case  were  his,  and  the 
friends  of  the  deceased  must  swear  to  let  the  matter  drop.*  Amongst  the 
tribes  of  the  Caucasus,  who  live  by  custom,  blood  revenge  is  now  a  living 
institution.  The  Ossetes  have  the  father  family  in  its  extremest  develop- 
ment. The  surname  is  the  mark  of  kinship,  and  the  duty  of  blood  revenge 
falls  on  those  with  the  same  surname  to  the  hundredth  cousin.  One's 
mother's  brother  is  not  in  one's  kin,  and  there  is  no  duty  of  blood  revenge 
for  him.  Sometimes  blood  revenge  is  superseded  by  the  arbitration  of  a 
tribunal  which  is  voluntarily  accepted.^ 

548.  Blood  revenge  in  Israel.  The  law  of  Israel  was,  "  Ye  shall  take 
no  ransom  for  the  life  of  a  manslayer,  which  is  guilty  of  death  ;  but  he 
shall  surely  be  put  to  death."  ®  This  law  upheld  blood  revenge  by  forbid- 
ding the  first  and  most  obvious  alleviation  of  it,  but  verses  22  and  23  distin- 
guished accidental  from  intentional  homicide  and  verse  27  provided  that  the 
avenger  of  blood  should  not  be  guilty  of  blood.  This  arrested  any  feud. 
The  institution  of  cities  of  refuge  was  derived  from  the  Canaanites  and 
developed  in  Israel."  Blood  revenge  was  a  duty  of  the  whole  family  and 
was  originally  directed  against  the  entire  family  of  the  slayer.®  This  the 
later  law  forbade.^   At  first  also  every  beast  or  inanimate  object  which  caused 

1  Paulitschke,  Ethnog.  A^.O.  Afrikas,     ^  von  Haxthausen,  Transkaukasia,  26,  29,  50. 

I,  262;   II,  151,  156.  s  Num.  XXXV.  31. 

2  Hearn,  ya/a«,  321.  '' Maurer,  Volkerktmde,  Bibel,  and  Chris- 
^  P.  250.  tenthiun,  I,  164. 

*  (j€\]&x,  Svenska  Folkets  Hist.,  \,T^oo.      ^  2  Sam.  xiv.  7. 


KINSHIP,  BLOOD   REVENGE,  ETC.  503 

death  was  guilty.  In  Deut.  xxi  provision  is  made  for  the  case  of  a  murdered 
man  whose  corpse  is  found,  with  customs  of  wide  range  for  performing  rites 
of  purification,  and  washing  hands  to  put  away  guilt  or  suspicion. 

549.  Peace  units  and  peace  pacts.  The  in-group  when  it  is 
merged  in  a  state  by  conquest  and  compounding  becomes  a  peace 
unit.  All  in  the  same  civil  body  are  united  by  a  peace  pact. 
If  the  central  authority  cannot  suppress  local  war  and  private 
war,  it  is  inadequate,  and  the  state  is  liable  to  disruption.  The 
Roman  empire  was  a  peace  unit  of  high  integration  and  complete 
efficiency.  It  could  not,  however,  maintain  itself,  and  broke  up 
by  internal  strife  which  the  central  authority  could  not  suppress. 
The  Roman  law  was  the  peace  pact  of  that  peace  unit.  It  was 
so  good  a  solution  of  the  collisions  of  human  interests  that  it 
has  been  borrowed,  or  used  by  modern  states  as  a  model.  The 
Romish  church  in  the  Middle  Ages  tried  to  rule  the  world,  not 
by  force  but  by  dogmas  like  catholicity.  Catholicity  was  an 
attempt  to  build  a  peace  pact  on  ideals,  and  big  ideas,  and  sym- 
pathies. Islam  also  tries  to  serve  as  a  peace  pact,  but  Moslem 
states  have  freely  fought  with  each  other.  Islam  does  not  con- 
tain an  adequate  philosophy.  Its  theories  of  society  are  theocratic 
and  do  not  meet  the  actual  facts  and  problems.  If  a  union  of  two 
or  more  states  is  made,  even  for  the  purpose  of  aggregating  more 
force  for  war,  it  will  necessarily  be  a  peace  union  when  regarded 
from  within.  A  confederation  is  the  highest  organization  yet 
invented  for  the  purpose  of  making  a  great  peace  union  without 
interfering  with  domestic  autonomy.  Norway  and  Sweden, 
Austria  and  Hungary,  are  states  united  in  couples  under  a 
rational  peace  pact.  The  former  couple  has  been  disrupted  ;  the 
latter  is  convulsed  by  quarrels  between  its  members.  The 
United  States  is  a  great  peace  unit,  with  a  rational  peace  pact  as 
a  bond  of  union.  It  has  gone  through  one  great  convulsion,  from 
which  it  issued  with  the  peace  pact  greatly  strengthened.  It 
tends  to  become  a  consolidated  empire.  This  can  be  seen  in  the 
propositions  to  turn  over  various  subjects  of  domestic  importance 
to  the  federal  authority.    Happiness  and  prosperity  have  been 

1  Deut.  xxiv.  16;  2  Kings  xiv.  6;  Ezek.  xviii.  19. 


504 


FOLKWAYS 


due  to  the  peace  pact,  valid  over  a  continent,  with  immunity  from 
powerful  neighbors.  We  now  think  that  we  will  renounce  all 
this  and  go  out  after  world  power  and  glory  so  as  to  be  like  the 
other  nations. 

550.  The  instability  of  great  peace  unions.  Now  that  we  have 
the  laws  of  Hammurabi  we  can  see  that  the  Euphrates  valley 
was  organized  into  a  peace  unit  with  a  very  complete  and 
highly  finished  peace  pact  twenty-five  hundred  years  before 
Christ.  All  the  ordinary  cases  of  discord  and  diverse  interest 
were  provided  for  under  an  elaborate  system  of  laws  as  good  as 
that  of  a  modern  European  state.  The  later  states  of  western 
Asia  were  involved  in  war  by  conflicting  interests,  ambition,  and 
jealousy  until  the  time  of  Alexander  the  Great.  The  smaller 
states  were  at  last  all  submerged  in  the  Roman  empire.  All  the 
constructive  work  has  been  overthrown  again  and  again.  Only 
within  a  century  or  two  has  a  structure  been  set  up  which  has 
more  stability,  but  it  is  all  in  jeopardy  now.  A  union  of  the 
existing  groups  could  not  be  brought  about  but  by  conquest,  and 
that  would  mean  very  great  wars,  yet  all  are  ready,  by  virtue  of 
their  institutions  and  ideas,  to  merge  in  a  confederation  in  which 
peace  would  reign  and  incalculable  blessings  would  result. 

551.  The  Arabs.  The  Arabs  in  the  time  of  Mohammed  were 
a  nation  inhabiting  a  territory  which  kept  them  from  feeling  any 
national  sentiment  of  unity. ^  The  tribe  and  kin  group  were  their 
strongest  societal  units.  At  the  time  of  Mohammed's  birth  blood 
revenge  between  the  kin  groups  was  so  destructive  that  all  were 
instinctively  struggling  towards  devices  which  might  supersede 
it.  In  the  century  preceding  Mohammed's  birth  the  nation  had 
been  agitated  by  social  movements  in  which  the  old  was  falling 
and  the  new  was  pushing  out  to  acceptance  and  establishment. 
"  It  seemed  as  if  the  persons  were  too  big  for  the  circumstances."  ^ 
If  a  tribe  ever  was  a  peace  group  amongst  the  Arabs,  we  have  no 
proof  of  it.  Islam  was  an  attempt  to  unite  the  whole  nation  into 
a  peace  group  by  religion.  The  attempt  succeeded,  and  the 
nation,  in  the  elan  of  its  new  unity  and  energy,  set  out  to  conquer 
its   neighbors.    It   had   no  state   organization.    The   caliph   was 

^  Wellhausen,  Skizze^i  und  Vo7-arbeiten,  III,  182.  ^  Jbid.,  196. 


KINSHIP,  BLOOD   REVENCxE,  ETC.  505 

theological  as  well  as  civil  head.  The  Arabs  had  no  political 
experience.  The  leaders  in  the  kin  groups  were  the  only  chiefs 
they  had,  and  they  established  a  kind  of  aristocracy  in  Persia, 
but  the  first  caliphs  were  pure  despots,  like  negro  heads  of  states. 
The  Arabs  plundered  the  conquered  states.  The  greatest  duty 
known  to  the  Arabs  was  blood  revenge.  It  was  their  only  social 
engine  by  which  to  restrain  crime  and  secure  some  measure  of 
order.  Blood  was,  in  their  view,  more  holy  than  anything  else. 
Jt  put  religion  in  the  background.  The  kin  group  was  the 
realized  ideal.  The  gods  were  comparatively  insignificant.^  In 
old  Arabia  a  man  engaged  in  a  blood  feud  must  abstain  from 
women,  wine,  and  unguents. ^  Within  the  kin  group  there  was 
no  blood  revenge,  but  a  guilty  person  was  held  personally  respon- 
sible. A  guest  friend  ("  stranger  within  thy  gates  ")  was  not 
liable  to  blood  revenge  with  his  own  kin.  His  status  was  in 
the  tribe  in  which  he  was  a  guest,  by  which  he  must  be  defended 
against  his  tribe  of  origin,  if  the  case  arose. ^  The  Arabs  thought 
it  dishonorable  to  take  money  for  blood  guilt.  It  was,  they  thought, 
like  selling  the  blood  of  one's  kin.  Bedouin  tribes  in  the  nineteenth 
century  refused  to  settle  blood  feuds  by  payments.  Arbitration 
was  admitted  in  the  time  of  Mohammed,  at  Medina,  where  old 
blood  feuds  had  become  intolerable  by  their  consequences.^  In 
Egypt,  in  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century,  blood  revenge 
was  still  observed.  Third  cousins  of  the  murderer  and  his  victim 
were  the  limits  of  responsibility  on  either  side.^ 

552.  Development  of  the  philosophy  of  blood  revenge.  Blood 
revenge  was  nothing  but  an  exercise  of  revenge  and  it  had  all 
the  limitations  of  revenge.  It  produced  a  rude  fear  of  conse- 
quences and  had  some  of  the  effects  of  the  administration  of 
justice.  However,  it  had  no  process  of  proof,  no  due  notion  of 
guilt,  no  means  of  following  up  responsibility.  Therefore  it 
could    not    infuse  fear  into  the  hearts  of  the  guilty.    It    was 

1  Wellhausen,  Skizzen  und  Vorarbeiteti,  III,  194. 

2  W.  R.  Smith,  Relig.  of  the  Semites,  482. 

^  The  Hebrew  law  was,  "  The  stranger  that  sojoumeth  with  you  shall  be  unto 
you  as  the  home-bom  among  you  "  (Levit.  xix.  34). 

*  Proksch,  Blutrache  bet  den  Araberii,  18,  30,  33,  36,  51,  54. 
^  Lane,  Mod.  Egypt.,  I,  295. 


5o6  FOLKWAYS 

entirely  irrational.  Therefore  it  ran  into  extravagance  without 
due  connection  of  guilt  and  punishment,  and  it  cost  very  many 
lives  of  the  innocent.  In  primitive  society  injuries  consist  in  the 
invasion  of  a  man's  interests  through  his  property,  his  wife,  and 
his  children,  or  by  maiming  or  killing  himself.  Each  one,  when 
he  considers  himself  injured,  tries  to  redress  himself.  If  he  is 
not  able  to  do  it  he  falls  back  on  others  for  aid.  The  kin  group 
is  the  only  body  which  has  ties  of  sympathy  and  obligation  to 
him.  The  kin  group  may  be  bound  to  give  help  without  any 
regard  to  the  justness  of  the  quarrel,  or  it  gets  the  function  of 
a  jury.  Evidently  the  latter  case  is  more  reasonable  and  civilized 
than  the  former.  In  the  original  institution  of  blood  revenge  the 
individual  was  called  on  to  sacrifice  himself  for  others.  He  was 
a  bad  man  if  he  began  an  inquiry  into  the  conduct  of  the  man 
who  called  for  the  sacrifice.  He  ought  to  obey  the  call  whether 
it  came  from  one  who  had  done  right  or  wrong. ^  Evidently,  in 
this  view,  the  institution  was  a  case  of  social  duty,  not  of  goblin- 
istic  service  to  the  dead.  It  was  a  further  application  of  rational- 
ism and  justice  when  the  behavior  of  the  deceased  was  weighed 
before  decreeing  blood  revenge.  If  the  kin  group  decides  that 
the  injury  is  real  and  that  it  is  properly  called  on  to  interfere, 
routine  of  method  of  investigation  will  be  developed,  rights  will  be 
defined,  the  duty  of  blood  revenge  will  be  defined  and  limited,  and 
proceedings  of  redress  will  be  invented.  All  this  work  is  done  in 
the  folkways  and  by  the  methods  of  folkways.  The  steps  lie 
along  the  line  of  advancing  civilization.  The  notion  that  a  man 
who  had  committed  a  murder  and  had  been  killed  for  it  had  got 
what  he  deserved  is  a  very  recent  and  civilized  notion.  That 
would  not  keep  his  ghost  from  demanding  to  be  laid  by  blood 
atonement.  This  was  the  root  idea  out  of  which  the  custom  of 
blood  revenge  arose.  Blood  atonement  was  a  notion  in  goblinism. 
It  was  one  of  the  very  earliest  cases  we  can  find  in  which  there 
was  a  notion  of  duty  and  social  obligation.  The  kin  were  those 
on  whom  the  duty  fell.  The  strong  sympathy  of  men  of  the 
same  kin  was  a  consequence,  not  a  cause,  but  it  superseded,  later, 
the  original  cause.    At  first,  the  play  of  revenge  gave  satisfaction 

^  Wellhausen,  Skizzen  tend  Vorarbeiten,  III,  194. 


KINSHIP,  BLOOD   REVENGE,  ETC.  507 

to  wounded  vanity,  but  that  could  only  last  while  the  case  was 
personal  and  close,  not  when  the  cases  and  the  obligations  were 
remote  and  institutional.  Another  remoter,  and  perhaps  unfore- 
seen, consequence  was  the  deterrent  effect  on  crime.  The  law  of 
retaliation  also,  "an  eye  for  an  eye,"  was  a  law.  It  had  a  primi- 
tive and  crude  justice  in  it.  It  has  come  down  to  our  own  time 
in  "  reprisals "  as  practiced  in  international  quarrels,  which 
include  also  the  solidarity  of  responsibility  of  all  in  a  group  for 
the  torts  of  each  member  of  it.  By  producing  a  solidarity  of 
interest  on  both  sides  blood  revenge  helped  to  produce  a  social 
philosophy.  It  also  made  each  interest  group  a  peace  group 
inside,  because  only  by  being  a  peace  group  could  it  conserve  all 
its  force.  Thus  the  war  interest  against  outsiders  and  the  interest 
of  concord  inside  worked  together  to  produce  order,  government, 
law,  and  rights. 

553.  Alleviations  of  blood  revenge.  The  Arabs,  in  their  efforts 
to  supersede  blood  revenge,  tried  compurgation,  tribunals, 
payments  in  composition,  banishment,  and  arbitration.  Many 
tribes  which  have  adopted  Mohammedanism  still  practice  blood 
revenge.^  Amongst  the  Kabyles  a  man  falls  under  it  if  he  kills 
another  by  accident,  or  by  the  fault  of  the  victim,  or  in  prevent- 
ing a  crime. ^ 

554.  The  king's  peace.  In  the  history  of  civilization  the 
devices  to  do  away  with  blood  revenge  are  those  which  have 
been  incidentally  mentioned.  The  last  means  of  suppressing  all 
forms  of  private  war  was  the  king's  peace.  In  modern  states  due 
respect  to  the  king  required  that  there  should  be  no  quarreling 
or  fighting  in  his  presence.  His  presence  was  interpreted  to 
mean  in  or  near  his  residence,  his  court,  and  his  environs.  Then 
his  peace  was  interpreted  to  cover  his  highroads,  and  his  juris- 
diction was  presently  held  to  go  as  far  as  his  peace,  because  he 
must  have  authority  to  enforce  his  peace.  When  small  states 
were  united  into  big  ones  the  peace  bond  had  to  be  extended  over 
the  larger  unit.  Gradually  all  petty  jurisdictions  were  absorbed, 
all  justice  and  redress  came  from  the  king  or  in  his  name,  and 

1  Proksch,  Bhitrache  bei  deti  Arabe7-ii. 

2  Hanoteau  et  Letourneux,  La  Kabylie. 


5o8  FOLKWAYS 

private  redress  was  forbidden.  For  a  long  time  it  seemed  that 
the  freeman's  prerogative  was  being  taken  from  him.  As  long 
as  the  duel  survives  the  movement  is  incomplete. 

555.  Origin  of  criminal  law.  When  the  state  took  control  of 
injuries  and  acts  of  violence  and  undertook  to  revenge  them  on 
behalf  of  the  victims,  as  well  as  in  vindication  of  pubhc  authority 
and  order,  injuries  became  crimes  and  revenge  became  punish- 
ment. Crimes  were  injuries  which  could  be  compensated  for, 
and  also  violations  of  the  king's  peace,  that  is,  of  public  welfare. 
In  the  latter  point  of  view  they  brought  the  king's  vanity  into 
play.  The  German  emperor  Frederick  II,  by  his  ferocity 
against  rebels,  showed  how  potent  wounded  vanity  is,  as  a 
motive,  even  in  an  able  man.  The  crime  of  treason  or  rebellion 
always  excites  the  vanity  and  fierce  revenge  of  civil  authority. 
It  is  beyond  question  that  the  state  in  its  penalties  simply  took 
over  the  usages  of  kin  groups  in  inflicting  retaliation  or  gratify- 
ing revenge.  It  did  not  philosophize.  It  assumed  functions, 
and  with  them  it  took  the  methods  of  procedure  and  the  instru- 
mentalities which  it  found  in  use  for  those  functions.  Criminal 
law,  therefore,  and  criminal  administration  were  developed  out 
of  blood  revenge  when  it  was  rendered  rational  and  its  traditional 
processes  were  subjected  to  criticism. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

UNCLEANNESS  AND  THE  EVIL  EYE 

Demonism  and  the  aleatory  interest.  —  Universality  of  primitive  demon- 
ism. —  Uncleanness. —  Female  uncleanness.  —  Uncleanness  in  ethnog- 
raphy. —  Uncleanness  in  higher  religions. —  Uncleanness  amongst  Jews.  — 
Uncleanness  amongst  Greeks.  —  These  customs  produced  modesty  and  the 
subordination  of  women.  —  Uncleanness,  holiness,  devotedness.  —  The  evil 
eye  ;  jettatura.  —  The  evil  eye  in  ethnography.  —  Amulets  against  the  evil 
eye.  —  Devices  against  the  evil  eye.  —  Insult  and  vituperation  against  the 
evil  eye. —  Interaction  of  the  mores  and  the  evil  eye. 

556.  Demonism  and  the  aleatory  interest.  Uncleanness  and 
the  evil  eye  are  dogmatic  notions,  products  of  demonism.  The 
dogmas  are  arbitrary.  A  corpse  is  unclean  and  makes  any  one 
unclean  who  touches  it.  A  baby  is  not  unclean.  The  evil  eye 
brings  bad  luck,  not  pain  or  disease.  Uncleanness  and  the  evil  eye 
have  each  a  field.  Neither  is  of  universal  application.  The  mores, 
starting  out  from  primitive  demonism,  produced  these  two  dogmas 
as  an  adjustment  of  experience  and  observation  to  demonism. 
Uncleanness  is  a  very  rude  and  primary  expression  of  the  unsan- 
itary and  contagious.  It  undoubtedly  often  happens  that  calamity 
befalls  in  the  hour  of  success  and  rejoicing.  A  number  of  people 
were  trodden  to  death  on  the  Brooklyn  bridge  when  it  was  opened. 
A  few  centuries  ago,  and  in  all  ancient  times,  such  an  incident 
would  have  been  accepted  as  the  obvious  chastisement  of  the 
superior  powers  on  the  overweening  pride  of  men.  The  same 
might  be  said  of  the  death  of  Mr.  Huskisson  at  the  opening  of  the 
first  railroad.  The  sum  of  such  incidents  stands  in  some  relation 
to  fundamental  superstitions  about  demons,  if  such  are  believed. 
The  incidents  can  be  fitted  into  the  doctrines  very  easily.  The 
whole  aleatory  interest  is  a  field  for  this  kind  of  general  dogmas 
of  the  application  of  fundamental  principles  to  classes  of  cases. 
The  folkways,  deeply  concerned  in  the  aleatory  interest,  work  out 
the  applications. 

509 


5IO  FOLKWAYS 

557.  Universality  of  primitive  demonism.  Demonism  is  the 
broadest  and  most  primitive  form  of  religion.  All  the  higher 
religions  show  a  tendency  to  degenerate  back  to  it.  Brahmin- 
ism,  Buddhism,  Zoroastrianism,  Mohammedanism,  and  mediaeval 
Christianity  show  this  tendency.  Greek  religion  is  most  remark- 
able because  we  find  in  Homer  very  little  demonism.  It  appears, 
therefore,  that  in  his  time  primitive  demonism  had  been  overcome. 
In  the  fifth  century  b.c.  we  find  it  coming  in  again,  and  in  the 
fourth  century  it  became  the  ruling  form  of  popular  religion.  It 
predominated  in  late  Greek  religion,  mixed  with  demonism  from 
western  Asia  and  Egypt,  and  passed  to  Rome,  where  it  entered 
into  primitive  Christianity,  combining  with  highly  developed 
demonism  from  rabbinical  Judaism.  Religion  always  arises  out 
of  the  mores.  Changes  in  religion  are  produced  by  changes  in 
the  mores.  Religious  ideas,  however,  in  the  next  stage,  are 
brought  back  to  the  mores  as  controlling  dogmas.  The  product 
of  the  first  stage  becomes  the  seed  in  the  second.  Goblinism  and 
demonism  have  great  effect  on  the  mores,  probably  because 
demonism  is  so  original  and  universal  in  all  religions,  and  so 
popular  in  its  hold  on  the  minds  of  all.  Demonism  furnishes 
devices  of  magic,  sorcery,  sortilege,  divination,  augury,  oracles, 
etc.,  by  which  it  is  believed  that  men  can  get  from  the  superior 
powers  (spirits,  demons,  etc.)  what  they  want,  and  can  learn  what 
is  to  be  in  the  future.  It  therefore  has  the  greatest  apparatus  by 
which  to  satisfy  human  needs,  as  they  appear  under  the  demon- 
istic  interpretation  of  the  world  and  human  life. 

The  most  important  immediate  and  direct  consequences  of 
demonism  in  the  second  stage,  when  it  is  brought  back  to  the 
work  of  life  as  a  normative  system,  are  the  notions  of  uncleanness 
and  of  the  evil  eye. 

558.  Uncleanness.  The  notion  of  uncleanness  is  ritual.  It  is 
not  entirely  irrational.  Contagious  diseases  and  diseases  which 
are  the  result  of  ignorance  and  neglect  of  sanitation  give  sense 
to  the  notion.  The  interpretation  of  those  phenomena  as  due  to 
the  intervention  of  superior  powers  is  like  the  interpretation  of 
other  diseases  as  due  to  demons.  In  fact,  uncleanness  is  a  step 
towards  a  rational  view  of  disease,  because  it  brings  in  secondary 


UNCLEANNESS  AND  THE   EVIL  EYE  5  1 1 

causes,  and  puts  the  action  of  demons  one  step  further  off.  The 
effect  of  uncleanness  was  that  it  made  the  affected  person  unfit 
and  unable  to  perform  ritual  acts  on  which  human  welfare  was 
supposed  to  depend.  The  affected  person  became  dangerous  to 
others,  and  was  forced  to  banish  himself  from  societal  contact 
with  them.  He  was  also  cut  off  from  access  to  the  superior 
powers.  It  was  therefore  indispensable  that  he  should  recover 
cleanness  in  order  to  carry  on  his  life.  The  recovery  was  accom- 
plished through  ritual  acts  and  devices,  and  chiefly  through  the 
intervention  of  shamans,  who  were  experts  in  the  rites  and  devices 
required. 

559.  Female  uncleanness.  The  ritual  notion  of  uncleanness, 
being  a  product  of  deduction  from  demonistic  world  philosophy, 
was  arbitrary,  and  was  capable  of  indefinite  extension.  It  was 
not  a  disease,  was  not  held  to  facts  by  symptoms  of  pain, 
etc.  Women  were  held  to  be  vmclean,  and  causes  of  uncleanness 
by  contact,  at  marriage,  menstruation,  and  childbirth.  They 
were  always  possessed  by  demons,  which  accounted  for  their 
special  functions  as  mothers.  The  periods  mentioned  were  periods 
of  special  activity  of  the  demonistic  function.  The  belief  was 
common  in  the  Orient  that  a  woman  was  dangerous  to  her  husband 
at  marriage.  A  demon  left  her  at  that  time  in  the  nuptial  blood- 
shed. At  menstruation  women  were  dangerous  to  men.  The 
ritual  idea  of  uncleanness  was  so  extended  that  women  were  put 
under  a  kind  of  imprisonment  for  a  time,  especially  in  the  Zoro- 
astrian  system  (sec.  561),  in  order  to  remove  them  from  social 
contact.  At  child  bearing  also  they  were  forced  into  retirement 
for  a  specified  period. ^  Corpses  also  were  unclean  and  made  all 
those  unclean  who  came  into  contact  with  them.  There  are 
numerous  other  and  comparatively  trifling  causes  of  ritual 
uncleanness.^ 

560.  Uncleanness  in  ethnography.  The  Macusi  of  British  Guiana  forbid 
women  to  bathe  during  the  period,  and  also  forbid  them  to  go  into  the 
forest,  for  they  would  risk  bites  from  enamored  snakes.^  If  a  woman  of  the 
Ngumba,  in  Kamerun,  bears  a  dead  child,  the  uncleanness  is  double.    She 

1  Levit.  xii.  "  Ibid.,  xiii,  xiv,  xv. 

^  Schomburgk,  Brit.  Guiana.,  II,  316. 


512 


FOLKWAYS 


may  not  touch  the  hand  of  a  man  until  she  is  unwell  again.^  In  Madagas- 
car no  one  who  had  been  at  a  funeral  might  enter  the  palace,  or  approach 
the  sovereign,  for  a  month,  and  no  corpse  might  be  buried  in  the  capital 
city.  The  mourners  washed  their  dresses,  or  dipped  a  portion  of  them  in 
running  water,  as  a  ritual  purification.^  The  Tshi  peoples  of  West  Africa 
cause  women  to  retire,  at  the  period,  to  huts  prepared  for  the  purpose  in 
the  bush,  because  they  are  at  that  time  offensive  to  the  deities.^  The  Ewe- 
speaking  peoples  think  a  mother  and  baby  unclean  for  forty  days  after 
childbirth.^  The  Bechuanas,  when  they  have  touched  a  corpse,  dug  a  grave, 
or  are  near  relatives  of  a  deceased  person,  —  the  ritual  uncleanness  being  thus 
extended  to  a  wider  circle  of  those  in  any  way  concerned  in  a  burial,  — -  purify 
themselves  by  prescribed  ritualistic  washings,  put  on  new  garments  and 
cut  their  hair,  or  purify  themselves  with  the  smoke  of  a  fire  into  which 
magic-working  materials  have  been  cast.  On  returning  from  battle  they 
ceremonially  wash  themselves  and  their  weapons.^  The  Karoks  of  Cali- 
fornia think  that  if  a  menstruating  woman  approaches  any  medicine  which 
is  about  to  be  given  to  a  sick  man  she  will  cause  his  death.®  The  Tamils 
think  that  saliva  renders  ritually  unclean  whatever  it  touches.  Therefore, 
in  drinking,  they  pour  the  liquid  down  the  throat  without  touching  the  cup 
to  the  lips.''  The  Romans  held  that  nothing  else  had  such  marvelous  efficacy 
as,  or  more  deadly  qualities  than,  the  menstrual  fiow.^  Here  we  find  that 
which  is,  in  one  view,  evil  and  contemptible,  regarded,  in  another  view,  as 
powerful  and  worthy  of  respect.  The  Arabs  thought  that  "  a  great  variety 
of  natural  powers  "  attached  themselves  to  a  woman  during  the  period.^ 
The  gum  of  the  acacia  was  thought  to  be  a  clot  of  menstrual  blood.  There- 
fore it  was  an  amulet.  The  tree  is  a  woman. ^°  At  the  great  feast  of  the 
dead  amongst  the  Eskimo  on  Bering  Straits  the  feast  makers  make  wip- 
ing motions,  stamp,  and  slap  the  thighs,  in  order  to  "  cast  off  all  unclean- 
ness that  might  be  offensive  to  the  shades,"  and  thus  to  render  their  sacrifices 
acceptable. ^^  The  spirits  amongst  the  Kwakiutl,  Chinooks,  and  their  neigh- 
bors kill  an  unclean  man.  These  people  have  fastings  and  washings  for 
purification.^^ 

561.  Uncleanness  in  higher  religions.  In  the  higher  religions  the  same 
notions  of  ritual  cleanness  were  retained  and  developed.  Pious  Zoroas- 
trians  could  not  travel  by  sea  without  great  inconvenience,  because  they 
could  not  help  defiling  the  natural  element  water,  which  they  were  forbidden 
to  do.^^    They  were  forbidden  to  blow  a  fire  with  the  breath,  lest  they  should 

1  Globus,  LXXXI,  337.  ^  Gehring,  Sild-Indien,  96. 

2  Sibree,  Great  Afr.  Islattd,  290.  8  pUny,  Hist.  Nat.,  VII,  64. 

8  Ellis,  Tski-speaking  Peoples,  94.  9  W.  R.  Smith,  Relig.  of  the  Semites,  448. 

*  Ellis,  Ewe-speaking  Peoples,  153.  1°  Ibid.,  133. 

5  Fritsch,  Eingeb.  Sild-Afr.,  201.  "  Bur.  Eth.,  XVIII,  Part  I,  371. 

6  Powers,  Calif.  Indians,  31.  '^'^  U.  S.  Nat.  Mus.,  1895,  393. 

13  Darmsteter,  Zeftd-Avesta,  I,  xxxiv. 


UNCLEANNESS  AND  THE   EVIL  EYE  513 

defile  the  element  fire,  and  they  wore  a  covering  over  the  mouth  when  they 
approached  the  fire  for  any  purpose.  Parings  of  the  nails  and  cuttings  of 
the  hair  were  unclean.  They  would  be  weapons  for  demons  if  they  were 
not  covered  by  rites  and  spells.  The  menses  of  women  were  caused  by  the 
evil  god  Ahriman.  A  woman,  during  the  period,  was  "  unclean  and  pos- 
sessed by  the  demon.  She  must  be  kept  confined  and  apart  from  the  faithful, 
whom  her  touch  would  defile,  and  from  the  fire,  which  her  very  look  would 
injure.  She  was  not  allowed  to  eat  as  much  as  she  wanted,  as  the  strength 
which  she  might  acquire  would  accrue  to  the  fiends.  Her  food  was  not 
given  to  her  from  hand  to  hand,  but  passed  to  her  from  a  distance  in  a  long 
leaden  spoon."  At  childbirth,  the  mother  was  unclean,  in  spite  of  the  logic 
of  the  religion,  according  to  which  she  should  be  pure  because  she  has 
increased  life.  "  The  strength  of  old  instincts  overcame  the  drift  of  new 
principles."  [The  old  mores  were  too  strong  for  the  new  religion.]  A 
woman  who  bears  a  dead  child  is  a  grave,  and  must  be  ritually  purified  as 
such.  Only  to  save  her  from  death  can  she  drink  water,  which  she  would 
defile,  and  if  it  is  given  to  her  she  must  undergo  a  penalty.  These  views  go 
back  to  the  notion  that  she  has  been  near  death  and  has  had  the  death  fiend 
in  her.  A  great  fire  is  lighted  to  drive  off  the  demons.^  At  this  day  there 
is  in  the  house  of  a  Parsee  a  room  for  the  monthly  seclusion  of  women.  It 
is  bare  of  all  comforts  and  from  it  neither  sun,  moon,  stars,  fire,  water,  or 
sacred  implements,  nor  any  human  being,  can  be  seen.  The  first  ceremony 
performed  on  a  newborn  child  is  washing  its  hands,  to  purify  it,  since  it 
also  is  unclean." 

562.  Uncleanness  amongst  the  Jews.  Ritual  uncleanness  is  represented 
in  the  Old  Testament  as  due  to  contact  with  carcasses  of  unclean  cattle 
and  other  unclean  things  ;  ^  to  contact  with  a  woman  in  childbirth,  with  a 
longer  period  if  the  infant  is  a  girl  than  a  boy.'*  Care  about  clean  and 
unclean  things  was  praised  as  a  high  religious  virtue,^  and  the  prophets 
used  the  distinction  for  the  difference  between  virtue  and  vice.*^  The  food 
taboo  is  expressed  by  declaring  forbidden  animals  unclean.''  Plague  and 
leprosy  are  cases  of  ritual  uncleanness,  also  issues.^  Distinctions  of  this 
kind  (cleanness  and  uncleanness),  enforced  by  ritual,  depend  on  clear  facts 
of  observation  and  prescribe  simple  acts.  They  include  no  dogmas.  They 
prescribe  things  to  be  done.  They  produce  notions  and  habits.  They  enter 
so  deeply  into  ways  of  living  that  it  takes  long  counter-education  to  eradi- 
cate them.  The  strength  of  the  adherence  to  this  distinction,  in  the  rab- 
binical period,  is  well  shown  in  the  New  Testament. 

563.  Uncleanness  amongst  Greeks.  The  Greeks  had  similar  conceptions 
of   uncleanness.     Marriage   was   surrounded   by   rites   of   purification   and 

1  Darmsteter,  Zend-Avesta^  xcii.  ^  Ibid.  x.  10;  xi.  47. 

2  Geiger,  Ostiran.  Kidtur,  236,  259.  ^  Isaiah  vi.  5;  Ezek.  xxxiii.  17. 
<*  Levit.  V.  2  ;  xi.  26.  ^  Levit.  xi. 

*  Ibid.  xii.  8  Ibid,  xiv,  xv. 


514  FOLKWAYS 

precaution,  the  marriage  bath  being  one  of  the  most  essential  acts  in  the 
wedding  rites. ^  Death  and  the  dead  produced  uncleanness,  and  purification 
by  water,  fire,  or  smoke  was  required. ^ 

564.  These  mores  produced  modesty  and  subordination  of 
women.  Two  things  of  great  social  importance  in  respect  to 
women  are  traceable  to  these  mores :  («)The  sex  miodestyof  women. 
The  usages  of  Zoroastrianism  are  cruel.  They  treat  women  as 
base,  not  on  the  same  plane  with  men,  affected  by  a  natural 
inferiority,  and  therefore  as  having  something  to  be  ashamed  of. 
Inasmuch  as  these  usages  were  all  in  the  mores,  the  women 
accepted  them  as  true  and  right,  and  probably  never  rebelled 
against  them  even  in  thought.  The  mores  therefore  taught  them 
sex  modesty,  and  especial  shame  of  the  sex  function,  [b)  The 
subordination  of  women.  They  never  were  subordinated  because 
they  are  weaker,  because  in  savagery  and  barbarism  they  often 
are  not  so,  but  because  of  their  feminine  disabilities  and  the  cor- 
relative inferiorities.  They  accepted  the  facts  and  the  interpreta- 
tion which  the  mores  put  on  them.  Then  they  acquiesced  in  the 
treatment  they  received  which  was  reasonable  upon  that  state  of 
facts. 

565.  Uncleanness,  holiness,  devotedness.  Uncleanness  was  an 
application  of  taboo.  It  had  a  double  aspect.  It  was  at  once 
repelling  and  protective.  If  corpses  were  unclean  they  were  put 
out  of  contact  with  the  living  as  far  as  possible,  and  this  was 
done  to  protect  the  living.  The  things  which  were  excluded  by 
taboo  because  they  were  bad  came  into  parallelism  with  the 
things  which  were  tabooed  because  they  were  holy  and  were 
not  to  be  treated  carelessly  as  common  and  insignificant.  The 
holy  things  were  in  contrast  with  the  profane  things  ;  unclean 
things  were  in  contrast  with  all  which  concerned  the  cult.'^ 
Nelson  says  of  the  Eskimo  that  at  a  feast  the  "wiping  motion 
followed  by  the  stamping  and  the  slapping  on  the  thighs  indi- 
cated that  the  feast-makers  thus  cast  off  all  uncleanness  that 
might  be  offensive  to  the  shades,  and  thus  render  their  offerings 

1  Rohde,  Psyche,  II,  72. 

^  Guhl  und  Koner,  Leben  der  Griechen  und  Pomer,  367. 

3  Maurer,   Vdlkerkunde,  Bibel,  und  Christe7ithum,  I,  105. 


UNCLEANNESS  AND  THE   EVIL  EYE  515 

acceptable."  ^  This  purification  was  ritual  and  produced  ritual 
or  cult  cleanness.  Any  one  who  touched  a  holy  thing  was  raised 
to  a  disagreeable  amount  of  holiness,  which  he  must  maintain  or 
undergo  the  ritual  uncleanness  of  a  profaned  holy  thing.  Special 
offerings  and  atonements  were  necessary  to  remove  the  danger 
from  being  holy,  which  might  prove  fatal. ^  The  Jewish  Scrip- 
tures which  were  canonical  were  distinguished  as  "  those  which 
defile  the  hands."  This  shows  the  original  identity  of  "  unclean" 
and  "holy."  Both  are  under  taboo,  devoted  to  higher  powers. 
Whatever  touches  the  devoted  thing  becomes  likewise  devoted. 
The  high  priest  has  to  wash,  on  the  day  of  atonement,  after  he 
has  worn  the  holy  vestment.^  The  Sadducees  scoffed  at  the 
saying  of  the  Pharisees  that  the  Holy  Scriptures  defile  the  hands.* 
566.  The  evil  eye.  Jettatura.  Another  direct  and  immediate 
product  of  primitive  demonism  is  the  notion  of  ^  the  evil  eye. 
This  is  a  concrete  dogma  and  a  primary  inference  from  demon- 
ism. It  is  often  confounded  with  the  jettatura  of  the  Italians. 
The  evil  eye  is  an  affliction  which  befalls  the  fortunate  and 
prosperous  in  their  prosperity.  It  is  the  demons  who  are  irri- 
tated by  human  luck  and  prosperity  who  inflict  calamity,  pain, 
and  loss,  at  the  height  of  good  luck.  T\\Qjettatu7-a  is  a  spell  of 
evil  cast  either  voluntarily  or  involuntarily  by  persons  who  have 
the  gift  of  the  evil  eye  and  can  cast  evil  spells,  perhaps  uncon- 
sciously and  involuntarily.  It  follows  from  the  notion  of  the 
evil  eye  that  men  should  never  admire,  praise,  congratulate,  or 
encourage  those  who  are  rich,  successful,  prosperous,  and  lucky. 
The  right  thing  to  do  is  to  vituperate  and  scoff  at  them  in  their 
prosperity.  That  may  offset  their  good  luck,  check  their  pride, 
and  humble  them  a  little.  Then  the  envy  of  the  superior  powers 
may  not  be  excited  against  them  to  the  point  of  harming  them. 
It  is  the  most  probable  explanation  of  the  cloistering  and  veil- 
ing of  women  that  it  was  intended  to  protect  them,  especially 
if  they  were  beautiful,  from  the  evil  eye.  The  admiration  which 
they  would  attract  would  be  fatal  to  them.  The  notion  of  the 
evil  eye  led  to  covering  some  parts  of  the  body  and  so  led  to 

1  Bur.  Ethnol.,  XVIII,  Part  I,  371.  ^  Levit.  xvi.  4,  24. 

2  Hastings,  ZJzV-/.  .5 /(J/^,  "Relig.  of  Israel."  *  'BoMSSQt,  Helig.  des  Judenthums,  124. 


5i6  FOLKWAYS 

notions  of  decency  (sec.  459).  It  is  assumed  that  demons  envy 
human  success  and  prosperity  and  so  inflict  loss  and  harm  on 
the  successful.  Hence  admiration  and  applause  excite  their 
malignity. 

567.  Ethnographical  illustrations.  Of  the  following  cases  many  are 
cases  of  jettatura.  In  the  Malagasy  language  many  proper  names  of 
persons  are  coarse  and  insulting  because  a  pleasant-sounding  name  might 
cause  envy.^  In  Bornu  when  a  horse  is  sold,  if  it  is  a  fine  one,  it  is  delivered 
by  night,  for  fear  of  the  evil  eye  (covetous  and  envious  eyes)  of  bystanders.^ 
Schweinfurth'''  tells  an  incident  of  a  man  who,  going  through  a  Nubian 
village,  noticed  that  the  limb  of  a  tree  was  rotten  and  ready  to  fall.  He 
warned  some  people  who  were  standing  under  it.  Immediately  afterwards 
it  did  fall,  but  the  fall  was  attributed  to  the  evil  eye  of  the  person  who  first 
noticed  the  danger.  The  Dinka  are  mentioned  as  free  from  this  superstition.'* 
In  the  Sudan  food  is  usually  covered  by  a  conical  straw  cover  to  prevent 
the  evil  eye  [viz.  of  the  hungry  people  who  might  admire  and  long  for  it].^ 
Customs  of  eating  and  drinking  in  private,  and  of  covering  the  mouth  when 
eating  or  drinking,  belong  here.  All  along  the  north  coast  of  Africa  the  belief 
in  the  evil  eye  prevails.  A  hen's-egg  shell  upon  which  three  small  leaden 
horseshoes  have  been  riveted  is  an  amulet  against  it.'^  At  Katanga,  Central 
Africa,  only  the  initiated  may  watch  the  smelting  of  copper,  for  fear  of  the 
evil  eye,  which  would  spoil  the  process. '^  In  the  Caroline  Islands  a  canoe, 
while  being  built,  is  enclosed  in  a  building  for  fear  of  the  evil  e3'e.^  This 
represents  a  class  of  cases  in  which  a  high  and  refined  art  is  being  practiced. 
In  parts  of  Melanesia,  and  often  elsewhere,  a  shell  or  leaf  is  fastened  on  the 
end  of  the  masculine  organ  to  ward  off  the  evil  eye.  The  same  is  the  pur- 
pose of  hanging  strips  of  leather,  etc.,  which  catch  attention,  to  divert  it 
from  the  organ  which  is  sensitive  to  the  evil  eye.  Hence  arose  the  taboo 
on  parts  of  the  body.  In  some  groups  in  India,  at  weddings,  women  of  the 
bride's  and  bridegroom's  parties  sing  songs,  each  deriding  and  decrying 
the  other.  This  is  for  luck.  "  Praise  is  risky  ;  abuse  and  blame  are  safe."  ^ 
In  Behar,  on  a  certain  day,  sisters  abuse  brothers,  in  the  belief  that  this 
will  cause  them  long  life  and  good  luck.^"  In  the  Horn  of  Africa  magicians 
who  want  to  get  rid  of  a  man  stupefy  him  with  drugs  and  sell  him  into 
slavery  as  having  the  evil  eye  (jettatura). ^^  Amongst  the  Kabyles  a  husband 
left  alone  with  his  bride  first  strikes  her  three  light  blows  on  the  shoulder 

1  Sibree,  Great  Afr.  Island,  167.  ^  Globus,  LXXV,  19. 

2  Nachtigall,  Sahara  imd  Sudan,  I,  607.  "^  Ibid.,  LXXII,  164. 

^  Heart  of  Africa,  II,  406.  ^  Kubary,  Karolinenarchipel.,  292. 

*  Ibid.,  I,  157.  9  JASB,  IV,  63. 

6  Junker,  Afrika,  I,  69.  w  ind,^  II,  598. 

"  Paulitschke,  Etkfiog.  N.O.  Afr.,  II,  140. 


UNCLEANNESS  AND  THE   EVIL   EYE  517 

with  the  back  of  his  knife  to  ward  off  from  her  the  evil  eye.^  In  India  a 
small  object  of  iron  is  hung  on  a  cradle  because  iron  wards  off  the  evil  eye." 
The  jettatura  belongs  to  persons  born  at  certain  periods  in  the  year,  or  a 
woman's  behavior  during  pregnancy  may  cause  her  child  to  have  it.^  People 
are  held  to  be  in  danger  of  the  evil  eye  in  prosperity  and  on  festive  occasions 
when  they  put  on  fine  dress  and  ornaments.  Witches,  beggars,  and  people 
of  the  lowest  class  have  the  evil  eye.  Diseases  of  decline  are  attributed  to 
the  jettatura.  Cattle  cease  to  give  milk  and  trees  lose  leaves  on  account  of 
it.    Flowers  and  fruit  wither  untimely.    Gems  break  or  lose  brilliancy.* 

568.  Amulets  against  the  evil  eye.  In  the  Dutch  East  Indies  the 
phallus,  or  the  symbol  of  it,  is  a  charm  against  the  evil  eye  which  is  cast 
in  quarrels.^  Roman  boys  wore  a  symbol  of  this  kind.  Obscene  gestures 
were  supposed  to  ward  off  the  evil  eye.*^  In  some  parts  of  India  a  tiger's 
tooth  or  claw  is  an  amulet  for  the  same  purpose,  also  obscene  symbols  or 
strings  of  cowries.  Whatever  dangles  and  flutters  attracts  attention  to 
itself  and  away  from  the  thing  to  be  protected.''  Hindoo  parents  give  their 
children  ugly  and  inauspicious  names,  especially  if  they  have  lost  some 
children. s  The  notion  of  the  evil  eye  was  very  strong  amongst  the  Arabs, 
with  the  notion  that  beauty  attracted  it.^  Mohammed  himself  believed 
in  the  evil  eye.  The  superstition  came  down  from  the  heathen  period 
when  rags  and  dirty  things  were  hung  on  children  to  protect  them  from 
the  evil  eye.^*^  The  veiling  of  women  amongst  the  Arabs  was  probably  due 
to  it.  Beautiful  women  also  painted  black  spots  on  their  cheeks. ^^  Children, 
horses,  and  asses  are  now  disfigured  amongst  Moslems  to  protect  them 
from  the  risk  they  would  run  if  beautiful.  To  save  a  child  from  the  evil 
eye  they  say  "  God  be  good  to  thee  "  and  spit  in  its  face.^-  Amongst  the 
Bedouins,  whenever  one  utters  praises  he  must  add :  "  Mashallah,"  that  is, 
God  avert  ill !  The  only  other  way  to  avert  ill  is  to  give  the  praised  object 
to  him  who  praised  it.^^  Glittering  and  waving  objects  are  much  used  by 
Moslems  on  dress  and  horse  caparisons  to  distract  attention.  They  put 
texts  of  the  Koran  on  streamers  on  their  houses  for  the  same  purpose. 

569.  Devices  against  the  evil  eye.  Homer  has  the  idea  that  the  gods  curb 
the  pride  of  prosperity  and  are  jealous  of  it.  His  heroes  are  taught  as  a  life 
policy  to  avert  envy.    Self-disparagement  is  an  approved  pose.^*    Plutarch  ^^ 

1  Hanoteau  et  Letourneux,  La  Kabylie^  II,  219.  ^  Ibid.,  I,  120. 

2  JASB,  II,  170.  4  Ibid. 
6  Wilken  in  Bijdragen  tot  T.  L.  en  V.-kiinde,  XXXV,  399. 
^Jewish  Encyc,  s.v.  "Evil  Eye." 

'^  Monier-Williams,  Brakma7tistn  and  Hinduism,  254.    ^  Ibid.,  371. 

3  Lane,  Arabian  Nights,  I,  67. 

10  W.  R.  Smith,  Relig.  of  the  Semites,  448. 

11  Von  Kremer,  Kttlturgesch.  des  Orients,  II,  212,  253. 

12  Pischon,  Einfluss  des  Islatn,  no.  1*  Keller,  Horn.  Soc,  114. 

13  Globus,  LXXV,  193.  16  Symposium,  V,  9. 


5i8  FOLKWAYS 

explains  the  efficiency  of  objects  set  up  to  avert  witchcraft  on  the  theory 
that  by  their  oddity  they  draw  the  evil  eye  from  persons  and  objects.  Fescen- 
nine  verses  of  the  Romans,  which  were  used  at  weddings  and  triumphs, 
were  intended  to  ward  off  ill  luck.  Soldiers  followed  the  chariot  of  the 
triumphing  general  and  shouted  to  him  derisive  and  sarcastic  verses  to 
avert  the  ill  to  which  he  was  then  most  liable.  The  Greeks  used  coarse 
jests  at  festivals  for  the  same  purpose.^  Modern  Egyptians  have  inherited 
this  superstition.  Mothers  leave  their  children  ragged  and  dirty,  especially 
when  they  take  them  out  of  doors,  for  fear  of  admiration  and  envy.  Boys 
are  greatly  envied.  They  are  kept  long  in  the  harem  and  dressed  in  girl's 
clothes  for  the  same  protection.-  Amongst  the  richer  classes  at  Cairo 
chandeliers  are  hung  before  a  bridegroom's  house.  If  a  crowd  collects  to 
look  at  a  fine  chandelier,  a  jar  is  purposely  broken  to  distract  attention  from 
it,  lest  an  envious  eye  should  cause  it  to  fall.'^  When  the  Pasha  gave  up 
his  monopoly  of  meat,  butchers  hung  up  carcasses  in  full  view  on  the  street. 
This  was  complained  of,  since  every  beggar  could  see  the  meat  and  envy  it, 
"and  one  might,  therefore,  as  well  eat  poison  as  such  meat."  *  An  antidote  is 
to  burn  a  bit  of  alum,  with  the  recital  of  the  first  and  the  last  three  chapters 
of  the  Koran. ^  The  Jews  of  Southern  Russia  do  not  allow  their  children 
to  be  admired  or  caressed.  If  it  is  done,  the  mother  will  order  the  child  to 
"make  a  fig  gesture  "  behind  the  back  of  the  one  who  did  it.*"' 

The  evil  eye  is  mentioned  in  Proverbs  xxiii.  6  and  xxviii.  22,  and  perhaps 
in  Matt.  xx.  1 5 .  The  emphasis  in  Proverbs  seems  to  be  on  envy  and  covetous- 
ness,  not  on  magical  evil. 

In  China  children  are  often  named  "dog,"  "hog,"  "flea,"  etc.,  to  ward 
off  the  evil  eye.'' 

570.  Insult  and  vituperation  for  luck  and  against  evil  eye.  Amongst 
the  southern  Slavs  the  evil  eye  acts  by  bringing  evil  spirits  into  action  as 
the  agents,  and  they  "decry'*  the  person  or  thing.  No  doubt  this  mode  of 
operation  is  to  be  generally  understood  when  not  mentioned.  The  beautiful 
suffer  most.  One  may  unwittingly  do  the  harm  by  admiration.  One  should 
never  say,  "  What  a  beautiful  child  !  "  but  "  What  an  ugly  child  !  "  if  one 
admires  it.  The  language  has  become  inverted  by  this  usage.**  The  super- 
stition is  popular  in  Hungary.  A  child  is  never  to  be  praised  or  admired. 
If  one  looks  at  a  child  for  a  while  in  admiration,  he  should  then  spit  on  it 
three  times. ^  Possibly  the  custom  of  throwing  an  old  shoe  after  a  bride  is 
to  be  traced  to  the  same  superstition.  It  is  a  contemptible  and  derisory 
gift  for  luck,  like  vituperative  outcries.  The  fear  of  the  evil  eye  and  the 
jettatiD'a  is  now  very  strong  in  southern  Italy. ^"^ 

1  Smith,  Autiq.,  I,  839;  II,  S31.  3  j^id.,  3S4.  ^  /fo,/.^  ^Si. 

2  Lane,  Mod.  Egypt.,  I,  77.  *  Ibid.,  3S5.  ^  Globus,  LXXXIII,  316. 
■^  Williams,  Middle  Kingdom,  I,  797. 

8  Krauss,  Volksglaube  der  Siidslaveu,  41-43. 

^  Temesvary,  Aberglaiibe  in  der  Geburtshilfe,  75.  ^"^  Bur.  Ethnol.,  IIIj  297. 


UNCLEANNESS  AND  THE   EVIL  EYE  519 

571.  Interaction  of  the  mores  and  the  evil  eye.  The  doctrine 
of  the  evil  eye  is  plainly  an  immediate  deduction  from  demonism. 
If  the  atmosphere  is  full  of  demons,  surrounding  us  all,  agents 
of  all  things  which  happen  and  affect  our  interests,  human  wel- 
fare depends  either  on  their  uncontrollable  caprice,  or  on  devices 
by  which  they  can  be  controlled.  In  the  former  case  human 
beings  need  to  have  omens,  oracles,  rites  of  divination,  etc.,  to 
find  out  what  is  to  be.  In  the  latter  case  all  devices  of  magic 
and  sorcery  are  of  the  highest  value  to  men.  This  is  why  magic 
is  so  ultimate  and  original  in  the  history  of  civilization.  It  teaches 
men  not  to  look  for  any  rational  causation  in  the  order  of  things, 
and  to  believe  in  the  efficacy  of  ritual  proceedings  which  contain 
no  rational  relation  of  means  to  ends.  Then  it  costs  no  effort 
to  believe  that  one  person  can  bewitch  another,  and  do  it 
unconsciously.  Any  relation  of  responsibility  can  be  invented 
and  believed,  since  there  are  no  tests  of  agency.  It  follows 
that  a  new  function  is  opened  for  the  mores.  They  have  to 
select  and  establish  those  relations  of  agency  and  responsibility 
which  are  to  be  believed  in ;  that  is,  they  define  crimes  and 
criminal  responsibility.  Ordeals  as  tests  fall  in  with  the  same 
system.  They  touch  no  actual  relations  and  therefore  prove 
nothing.  It  is  the  mores  which  establish  faith  in  them  and  give 
them  the  sanction  of  the  society.  As  to  the  evil  eye,  as  the 
evil  result  of  envy  and  of  prosperity,  it  is  an  a  posteriori  inference 
from  observed  facts,  exaggerated  into  a  dogma.  Cases  of 
disaster  in  the  hour  of  triumph  occur,  both  as  consequences  of 
overweening  self-confidence  and  by  pure  chance  (Caesar,  Caesar 
Borgia,  Napoleon).  The  aleatory  interest  always  averages  up, 
but  the  successful,  who  have  enjoyed  good  fortune  for  a  time, 
believe  that  it  must  last  for  them,  and  forget  that  the  balance 
requires  bad  luck.  The  lookers-on,  however,  form  their  philos- 
ophy from  what  they  see.  They  believe  in  Nemesis,  or  other 
doctrine  of  offsets,  and  try  by  vituperation  to  make  artificial 
offsets  which  will  avert  greater  and  more  real  calamities.  In  all 
steps  of  these  doctrines  and  acts  the  mores  are  called  into  play. 
They  are  the  only  limits  to  the  applications  of  the  doctrines. 
They  are  of  little  use.    They  are  afloat  in  and  with  the  faiths 


520  FOLKWAYS 

and  doctrines.  They  never  can  make  definitions  or  set  limits. 
They  only  enthuse  customs,  which  may  change  from  day  to  day 
in  their  definitions  and  limits  and  carry  the  mores  with  them. 
No  doubt  primitive  religion  here  had  excellent  effect,  for  as  it 
arose  out  of  demonism  it  brought  in  authority  and  fixed  dogma, 
which,  although  erroneous  and  in  itself  bad,  was  a  great  deal 
better  than  the  floating  superstitions  of  demonism. 


CHAPTER   XV 

THE  MORES  CAN  MAKE  ANYTHING  RIGHT  AND  PREVENT 
CONDEMNATION  OF  ANYTHING 

The  mores  define  the  limits  which  make  right  and  wrong. —  Public 
punishments.  —  Prisons  in  England  in  the  eighteenth  century.  —  Wars  of 
factions  ;  penalties  of  defeat.  —  Bundling.  —  Two  forms  of  bundling.  — 
Mediaeval  bundling.  —  Poverty  and  wooing.  —  Night  wooing  in  the  North 
American  colonies.  —  Reasons  for  it.  • —  Public  lupanars.  —  The  end  of  the 
lupanars.  —  Education  needed  to  clarify  the  judgment. 

572.  Mores  define  the  limits  which  make  anything  right.    At 

every  turn  we  find  new  evidence  that  the  mores  can  make  any- 
thing right.  What  they  do  is  that  they  cover  a  usage  in  dress, 
language,  behavior,  manners,  etc.,  with  the  mantle  of  current 
custom,  and  give  it  regulation  and  limits  within  which  it  becomes 
unquestionable.  The  limit  is  generally  a  limit  of  toleration. 
Literature,  pictures,  exhibitions,  celebrations,  and  festivals  are 
controlled  by  some  undefined,  and  probably  undefinable,  standard 
of  decency  and  propriety,  which  sets  a  limit  of  toleration  on  the 
appeals  to  fun,  sensuality,  and  various  prejudices.  In  regard  to 
all  social  customs,  the  mores  sanction  them  by  defining  them 
and  giving  them  form.  Such  regulated  customs  are  etiquette. 
The  regulation  by  the  mores  always  gives  order  and  form,  and 
thus  surrounds  life  with  limits  within  which  we  may  and  beyond 
which  we  may  not  pursue  our  interests  (e.g.  property  and 
marriage).  Horseplay  and  practical  jokes  have  been  tolerated, 
at  various  times  and  places,  at  weddings.  They  require  good- 
natured  toleration,  but  soon  run  to  excess  and  may  become 
unendurable.  The  mores  set  the  limits  or  define  the  disapproval. 
The  wedding  journey  was  invented  to  escape  the  "jokes."  The 
rice  and  old  shoes  will  soon  be  tabooed.  The  mores  fluctuate  in 
their  prescriptions.  If  the  limits  are  too  narrow,  there  is  an  over- 
flow into  vice  and  abuse,  as  was  proved  by  seventeenth-century 

521 


522  FOLKWAYS 

Puritanism  in  England.  If  the  limit  is  too  remote,  there  is  no 
discipline,  and  the  regulation  fails  of  its  purpose.  Then  a  cor- 
ruption of  manners  ensues.  In  the  cases  now  to  be  given  we 
shall  see  the  power  of  the  mores  to  give  validity  to  various 
customs.  The  cases  are  all  such  that  we  may  see  in  them  sanc- 
tion and  currency  given  to  things  which  seem  to  us  contrary 
to  simple  and  self-evident  rules  of  right ;  that  is,  they  are  con- 
trary to  the  views  now  inculcated  in  us  by  our  own  mores  as 
axiomatic  and  beyond  the  need  of  proof. ^ 

573.  Punishments  for  crime.  Mediaeval  punishments  for  crimi- 
nals, leaving  out  of  account  heretics  and  witches,  bore  witness 
to  the  grossness,  obscenity,  inhumanity,  and  ferocity  of  the 
mores  of  that  age.  The  punishments  were  not  thought  wrong 
or  questionable.  There  was  no  revolt  against  them  in  any  one's 
mind.  They  were  judged  right,  wise,  and  necessary,  by  full 
public  opinion.  They  were  not  on  the  outer  boundary  of  the 
mores,  but  in  the  core  of  them.  Schultz  ^  says  that  the  romancers 
have  not  exaggerated  the  horrors  of  mediaeval  dungeons.  Many 
of  them  still  remain  and  are  shown  to  horrified  tourists.  There 
was  no  arrangement  for  having  them  cleaned  by  anybody,  so 
that  in  time  they  were  sure  to  become  horribly  dangerous  to 
health.  They  were  small,  dark,  damp,  cold,  and  infested  by 
vermin,  rats,  snakes,  etc.^  Several  dungeons  in  the  Bastille  were 
so  constructed  that  the  prisoners  could  neither  sit,  stand,  nor 
lie,  in  comfort.''^  Fiendish  ingenuity  was  expended  on  the  inven- 
tion of  refinements  of  suffering,  and  executions  offered  public 
exhibitions  in  which  the  worst  vices  in  the  mores  of  the  time 
were  fed  and  strengthened.  Many  punishments  were  not  only 
cruel,  but  obscene,  the  cruelty  and  obscenity  being  destitute  of 
moral  or  civil  motive  and  only  serving  to  gratify  malignant 
passion.  A  case  is  mentioned  of  a  law  in  which  it  was  provided 
that  if  a  criminal  had  no  property,  his  wife  should  be  violated 
by  a  public  official  as  a  penalty.^  In  the  later  Middle  Ages, 
after  torture  was  introduced  into  civil  proceedings,  ingenuity 

1  See  sees.  184-188,  on  Fashion.  '  Scherr,  Kultm-gesch.,  377. 

2  Hof.  Leben,  I,  37.  *  Lacroix,  Moyen  Age,  I,  430. 

5  Schultz,  V.  L.,  160. 


THE   MORES   CAN   MAKE  ANYTHING  RIGHT       523 

and  "artistic  skill"  were  manifested  in  inventing  instruments 
of  torture.^  A  case  is  given  of  extravagant  cruelty  and  tyranny 
on  the  part  of  a  man  of  rank  towards  a  cook  who  had  displeased 
him.  It  was  impossible  to  obtain  protection  or  redress.  The 
standpoint  of  the  age  was  that  a  man  of  rank  must  be  allowed 
full  discretion  in  dealing  with  a  cook.^  In  many  cases  details 
were  added  to  punishments,  which  were  intended  to  reach  the 
affections,  mental  states,  faiths,  etc.,  of  the  accused,  and  add 
mental  agony  to  physical  pain.  "  Use  and  wont "  exercised 
their  influence  on  people  who  saw  or  heard  of  these  acts  of  the 
authorities  until  cruelties  and  horrors  became  commonplace  and 
familiar,  and  the  lust  of  cruelty  was  a  characteristic  of  the  age. 
574.  Prisons  in  England  in  the  time  of  Queen  Anne.  The 
prisons  of  England,  in  Queen  Anne's  time,  were  sinks  of  misery, 
disease,  cruelty,  and  extortion,  from  which  debtors  suffered  most, 
on  account  of  their  poverty.  Women  contributed  to  the  total 
loathsomeness  and  suffered  from  it.  The  M5.rshalsea  prison  was 
"  an  infected  pest  house  all  the  year  long."  There  were  customs 
by  which  jailers  and  chaplains  extorted  fees  from  the  miserable 
prisoners.  In  the  country  the  prisons  were  worse  than  in  London. 
Pictures  are  said  to  exist  in  which  debtor  prisoners  are  shown 
catching  mice  for  food,  dying  of  starvation  and  malaria,  covered 
with  boils  and  blains,  assaulted  by  jailers,  imprisoned  in  under- 
ground dungeons,  living  with  hogs,  with  clogs  on  their  legs, 
tortured  with  thumbscrews,  etc.  "  Nobody  ever  seems  to  have 
bothered  their  heads  about  it.  It  was  not  their  business."  In 
1702  the  House  of  Commons  ordered  a  bill  to  be  brought  in 
for  regulating  the  king's  bench  and  fleet  prisons,  "but  nobody 
took  sufficient  interest  in  it,  and  it  never  became  an  act."  ^  If 
the  grade  and  kind  of  humanity  which  the  case  required  did  not 
exist  in  the  mores  of  the  time,  there  would  be  no  response.  It 
was  on  the  humanitarian  wave  of  the  latter  half  of  the  century 
that  Howard  succeeded  in  bringing  about  a  reform.  The  prisons 
in  the  American  colonies  were  of  the  same  kind  as  those  in  the 
old  country.    The  Tories,  in  the  revolution,  suffered  most  from 

^  Lecky,  Rationalism,  I,  332.  •  ^  Schultz,  Hof.  Leben,  II,  448. 

2  Ashton,  Social  Life  in  the  Reign  of  Queen  Anne. 


524  FOLKWAYS 

their  badness.    It  is  not  known  that  personal  abuse  was  per- 
petrated in  them. 

575.  Wars  of  factions.  Penalties  of  defeat.  Political  factions 
and  religious  sects  have  always  far  surpassed  the  criminal  law 
in  the  ferocity  of  their  penalties  against  each  other.  Neither  the 
offenses  nor  the  penalties  are  defined  in  advance.  As  Lea  says,^ 
the  treatment  of  Alberico,  brother  of  Ezzelino  da  Romano,  and 
his  family  (1259)  shows  the  ferocity  of  the  age.  Ezzelino 
showed  the  same  in  many  cases,  and  the  hatred  heaped  up 
against  him  is  easily  understood,  but  the  gratification  of  it  was 
beastly  and  demonic.^  Great  persons,  after  winning  positions 
of  power,  used  all  their  resources  to  crush  old  rivals  or  oppo- 
nents (Clement  V,  John  XXII)  and  to  exult  over  the  suffering 
they  could  inflict.^  In  the  case  of  Wullenweber,  at  Lubeck,^ 
burgesses  of  cities  manifested  the  same  ferocity  in  faction  fights. 
The  history  of  city  after  city  contains  similar  episodes.  At 
Ghent,  in  1530,  the  handicraftsmen  got  the  upper  hand  for  a 
time  and  used  it  like  savages.^  All  parties  fought  out  social 
antagonisms  without  reserve  on  the  doctrine  :  To  the  victors 
the  spoils  ;  to  the  vanquished  the  woe  !  If  two  parties  got  into 
a  controversy  about  such  a  question  as  whether  Christ  and  his 
apostles  lived  by  beggary,  they  understood  that  the  victorious 
party  in  the  controversy  would  burn  the  defeated  party.  That 
was  the  rule  of  the  game  and  they  went  into  it  on  that 
understanding. 

In  all  these  matters  the  mores  of  the  time  set  the  notions  of 
what  was  right,  or  those  limits  within  which  conduct  must  always 
be  kept.  No  one  blamed  the  conduct  on  general  grounds  of 
wrong  and  excess,  or  of  broad  social  inexpediency.  The  mores 
of  the  time  were  absolutely  imperative  as  to  some  matters 
(e.g.  duties  of  church  ritual),  but  did  not  give  any  guidance 
as  to  the  matters  here  mentioned.  In  fact,  the  mores  prevented 
any  unfavorable  criticism  of  those  matters  or  any  independent 
judgment  about  them. 

1  Inqtiis.,  II,  228.  ^  Lea,  Inqnis.,  II,  452. 

2  Reriun  Ital.  Script.,  IX,  134.  *  Barthold,  Hansa,  III,  291. 

^  Raumer,  Hist.  Taschenbuch,  2  ser.,  Ill,  413. 


THE  MORES  CAN   MAKE  ANYTHING  RIGHT       525 

576.  Bundling.  One  of  the  most  extraordinary  instances  of 
what  the  mores  can  do  to  legitimize  a  custom  which,  when  ration- 
ally judged,  seems  inconsistent  with  the  most  elementary  require- 
ments of  the  sex  taboo,  is  bundling.  In  Latin  Europe  generally, 
especially  amongst  the  upper  classes,  it  is  not  allowed  that  a 
young  man  and  a  young  woman  shall  be  alone  together  even  by 
day,  and  the  freer  usage  in  England,  and  still  more  in  the  United 
States,  is  regarded  as  improper  and  contrary  to  good  manners. 
In  the  latter  countries  two  young  people,  if  alone  together,  do 
not  think  of  transgressing  the  rules  of  propriety  as  set  by  custom 
in  the  society.  Such  was  the  case  also  with  night  visits. 
Although  the  custom  was  free,  and  although  better  taste  and 
judgment  have  abolished  it,  yet  it  was  defined  and  regulated, 
and  was  never  a  proof  of  licentious  manners.  It  is  found  amongst 
uncivilized  people,  but  is  hardly  to  be  regarded  as  a  survival  in 
higher  civilization.  Christians,  in  the  third  and  fourth  centuries,^ 
practiced  it,  even  without  the  limiting  conditions  which  were  set 
in  the  Middle  Ages.  Having  determined  to  renounce  sex,  as  an 
evil,  they  sought  to  test  themselves  by  extreme  temptation.  It 
was  a  test  or  proof  of  the  power  of  moral  rule  over  natural 
impulse.^  "  It  was  a  widely  spread  custom  in  both  the  east  and 
the  west  of  the  Roman  empire  to  live  with  virgins.  Distinguished 
persons,  including  one  of  the  greatest  bishops  of  the  empire, 
who  was  also  one  of  the  greatest  theologians,  joined  in  the 
custom.  Public  opinion  in  the  church  judged  them  lightly, 
although  unfavorably."  ^  "  After  the  church  took  on  the  episco- 
pal constitution,  it  persecuted  and  drove  out  the  siibintrodiictae. 
They  were  regarded  as  a  survival  from  the  old  church  which 
was  disapproved.  The  custom  that  virgins  dwelt  in  the  house 
with  men  arose  in  the  oldest  period  of  the  Christian  church."^ 
"  They  did  not  think  of  any  evil  as  to  be  apprehended."  "In  fact, 
we  have  only  a  little  clear  evidence  that  the  living  together  did 
not  correspond  in  the  long  run  to  the  assumptions  on  which 

1  Achelis,  Virgines  Subintroditciae,  4. 

2  Harnack,  Pseudo-Clement.  B)-iefe  de  Virginitate  :  Cyprian,  Epist.  I ]' ad  Pom- 
pon (c.  250  A.D.) ;  Achelis,  Virghies  Siibintrodiictae ;  Julicher  in  Archiv  filr 
Religionswssnsft.,  VII,  372.  2  Achelis,  12.  **  Ibid.,  ^4. 


526  FOLKWAYS 

it  was  based."  ^  The  custom  was  abolished  in  the  sixth 
century.^  "  Spiritual  marriage  "  was  connected  with  the  monas- 
tic profession  and  both  were  due  to  the  ascetic  tendency  of  the 
time.  "  From  the  time  when  we  can  clearly  find  monastic 
associations  in  existence,  we  find  hermits  living  in  comradeship 
with  nuns."  ^  We  are  led  back  to  Jewish  associations.  The 
custom  is  older  than  Christianity.  The  custom  at  Corinth  ^  was 
but  imitation  of  Jewish  "  God  worshipers "  or  "  Praying 
women."  ^  The  Therapeuts  had  such  companions.  Their  houses 
of  worship  were  arranged  to  separate  the  sexes.  Their  dances 
sometimes  lasted  all  night. ^  In  the  Middle  Ages  several  sects 
who  renounced  marriage  introduced  tests  of  great  temptation.' 
Individuals  also,  believing  that  they  were  carrying  on  the  war 
between  "the  flesh"  and  "the  spirit"  subjected  themselves  to 
similar  tests. ^  These  are  not  properly  cases  in  the  mores,  but 
they  illustrate  the  intervention  of  sectarian  doctrines  or  views 
to  traverse  the  efforts  to  satisfy  interests,  and  so  to  disturb  the 
mores. 

577.  Two  forms  of  bundling.  Two  cases  are  to  be  distin- 
guished :  (i)  night  visits  as  a  mode  of  wooing;^  (2)  extreme 
intimacy  between  two  persons  who  are  under  the  sex  taboo  (one 
or  both  being  married,  or  one  or  both  vowed  to  celibacy),  and 
who  nevertheless  observe  the  taboo. 

578.  Mediaeval  bundling.  The  custom  in  the  second  form 
became  common  in  the  woman  cult  of  the  twelfth  century  and  it 
spread  all  over  Europe. ^"^  As  the  vassal  attended  his  lord  to  his 
bedchamber,  so  the  knight  his  lady.  The  woman  cult  was  an 
aggregation  of  poses  and  pretenses  to  enact  a  comedy  of  love,  but 
not  to  satisfy  erotic  passion.  The  custom  spread  to  the  peasant 
classes  in  later  centuries,  and  it  extended  to  the  Netherlands, 

1  Achelis,  67.  3  /(^/^.^  47.  5  Achelis,  32. 

2  Ibid.,  58.  *  I  Cor.  vii.  36-40.  ^  Ibid.,  31. 
^  Lea,  Inquis.,  II,  357;   III,  109;   Sacerd.  Celibacy,  167. 

8  Todd,  Life  of  St.  Patrick,  91. 

^  This  custom  existed  amongst  uncivilized  people.  Fritsch,  Eingeb.  Sicd.-Afr., 
140;  Gommt,  Folklore,  220;  Ling  ^oih.,  Sarawak,  I,  109;  JAI,  XXI,  120;  Globus, 
LXXVIII,  22S  ;  La  Hontan,  J-'oyages  dans  rA??ier., 11,  it^t^;  Ma.sson,  Baloc/iistan, 
III,  287.  10  Weinhold,  £>.  F.,  I,  260,  ff. 


THE   MORES  CAN   MAKE  ANYTHING  RIGHT       527 

Scandinavia,  Switzerland,  England,  Scotland,  and  Wales,  but  it 
took  rather  the  first  form  in  the  lower  classes  and  in  the  process 
of  time.  In  building  houses  in  Holland  the  windows  were  built 
conveniently  for  this  custom.  "  In  1666- 1667  every  house  on 
the  island  of  Texel  had  an  opening  under  the  window  where  the 
lover  could  enter  so  as  to  sit  on  the  bed  and  spend  the  night 
making  love  to  the  daughter  of  the  house."  The  custom  was 
called  qiiecsteti.  Parents  encouraged  it.  A  girl  who  had  no 
qiieester  was  not  esteemed.  Rarely  did  any  harm  occur.  If  so, 
the  man  was  mobbed  and  wounded  or  killed.  The  custom  can 
be  traced  in  North  Holland  down  to  the  eighteenth  century.^ 
This  was  the  customary  mode  of  wooing  in  the  low  countries 
and  Scandinavia.  In  spite  of  the  disapproval  of  both  civil  and 
ecclesiastical  authorities,  the  custom  continued  just  as  round 
dances  continue  now,  in  spite  of  the  disapproval  of  many  parents, 
because  a  girl  who  should  refuse  to  conform  to  current  usage 
would  be  left  out  of  the  social  movement.  The  lover  was  always 
one  who  would  be  accepted  as  a  husband.  If  he  exceeded  the 
limits  set  by  custom  he  was  very  hardly  dealt  with  by  the  people 
of  the  village.^  The  custom  is  reported  from  the  Schwarzwald 
as  late  as  1780.  It  was  there  the  regular  method  of  wooing  for 
classes  who  had  to  v/ork  all  day.  The  lover  was  required  to 
enter  by  the  dormer  window.  Even  still  the  custom  is  said  to 
exist  amongst  the  peasants  of  Germany,  but  it  is  restricted 
to  one  night  in  the  month  or  in  the  year.^  Krasinski  *  describes 
kissing  games  customary  amongst  the  Unitarians  of  the  Ukrain. 
He  says  that  they  are  a  Greek  custom  and  he  connects  them 
with  bundling. 

579.  Poverty  and  wooing.  Amongst  peasants  there  was  little 
opportunity  for  the  young  people  to  become  acquainted.  When 
the  cold  season  came  they  could  not  woo  out  of  doors.  The 
young  women  could  not  be  protected  by  careful  rules  which 
would  prevent  wooing.    They  had  to  take  risks  and  to  take  care 

1  Wilken  in  Bijdragen  tot  T.  L.  en  l^.-Kunde,  XXXV,  205. 

2  Scheltema,  Frijen  en  Tromven,  59  ;  Schotel,  I/et  Oiid-Holland.  Huisgezin, 
228;   6^/(?^z/j-,  LXXXII,  324. 

^  Rudeck,  Gesch.  der  Sittlichkcit,  146,  404.        *  Cossacks  of  the  Ukrain,  2S1. 


528  FOLKWAYS 

of  themselves.  Poverty  was  the  explanation  of  this  custom  in  all 
civilized  countries,  although  there  was  always  in  it  an  element 
of  frolic  and  fun. 

580.  Night  wooing  in  North  American  colonies.  All  the  emi- 
grants to  North  America  were  familiar  with  the  custom.  In  the 
seventeenth  century,  in  the  colonies,  the  houses  were  small,  poorly 
warmed,  and  inconvenient,  allowing  little  privacy.  No  doubt  this 
is  the  reason  why  the  custom  took  new  life  in  the  colonies. 
Burnaby  ^  says  that  it  was  the  custom  amongst  the  lower  classes 
of  Massachusetts  that  a  pair  who  contemplated  marriage  spent 
the  night  together  in  bed  partly  dressed.  If  they  did  not  like  each 
other  they  might  not  marry,  unless  the  woman  became  pregnant. 
The  custom  was  called  "  tarrying."  It  was  due  to  poverty  again. 
Modern  inhabitants  of  tenement  houses  are  constrained  in  their 
customs  by  the  same  limitation,  and  the  effect  is  seen  in  their 
folkways.  The  custom  of  bundling  had  a  wide  range  of  variety. 
Two  people  sitting  side  by  side  might  cover  themselves  with 
the  same  robe,  or  lie  on  the  bed  together  for  warmth.  Peters  ^ 
defended  the  custom,  which,  he  said,  "prevails  amongst  all 
classes  to  the  great  honor  of  the  country,  its  religion,  and  ladies." 
The  older  women  resented  the  attempts  of  the  ministers  to 
preach  against  the  custom.  Sofas  were  introduced  as  an  alter- 
native. The  country  people  thought  the  sofa  less  proper.  In 
the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  decline  in  social  man- 
ners, which  was  attributed  to  the  wars,  caused  the  custom  to 
produce  more  evil  results.^  Also  the  greater  wealth,  larger 
houses,  and  better  social  arrangements  changed  the  conditions 
and  there  was  less  need  for  the  custom.  It  fell  under  social  dis- 
approval and  was  thrown  out  of  the  folkways.  Stiles  ^  says  that 
"it  died  hard"  after  the  revolution.  In  1788  a  ballad  in  an 
almanac  brought  the  custom  into  popular  ridicule.  Stiles  quotes 
the  case  of  Seger  vs.  Slingerland,  in  which  the  judge,  in  a  case 
of  seduction,  held  that  parents  who  allowed  bundling,  although 
it  was  the  custom,  could  not  recover.^ 

^  Travels  in  the  Middle  Settle7nents  of  N.  Amer.  (1759-1760),  144. 

2  Hist,  of  Coniiecticnt,  325.  *  Bundling,  75. 

3  Stiles,  Bundling,  80.  ^  Stiles,  Buf idling,  112. 


THE  MORES  CAN  MAKE  ANYTHING  RIGHT        529 

581.  Reasons  for  bundling.  A  witness  before  the  Royal  Com- 
mission on  the  Marriage  Laws,  1868,^  testified  that  night  visiting 
was  still  common  amongst  the  laboring  classes  in  some  parts  of 
Scotland.  "  They  have  no  other  means  of  intercourse."  It  was 
against  custom  for  a  lover  to  visit  his  sweetheart  by  day. 
As  to  the  parents,  "  Their  daughters  must  have  husbands  and 
there  is  no  other  way  of  courting."  This  statement  sums  up 
the  reasons  for  this  custom  which,  not  being  a  public  custom, 
must  have  varied  very  much  according  to  the  character  of  indi- 
viduals who  used  it.  Attempts  were  always  made  to  control  it 
by  sanctions  in  public  opinion. 

582.  Public  lupanars.  Perhaps  the  most  incredible  case  to 
illustrate  the  power  of  the  mores  to  extend  toleration  and  sanc- 
tion to  an  evil  thing  remains  to  be  mentioned, — the  lupanars 
which  were  supported  by  the  mediaeval  cities.  Athenaeus  ^  says 
that  Solon  caused  female  slaves  to  be  bought  by  the  city  and 
exposed  in  order  to  save  other  women  from  assaults  on  their 
virtue.  In  later  times  prostitution  was  accepted  as  inevitable, 
but  it  was  not  organized  by  the  city.  Salvianus  {fifth  century, 
A.D.)  represents  the  brothels  as  tolerated  by  the  Roman  law  in 
order  to  prevent  adultery.^  Lupanars  continued  to  exist  from 
Roman  times  until  the  Middle  Ages.  Those  in  southern  Europe 
were  recruited  from  the  female  pilgrims  from  the  north  who  set 
out  for  Rome  or  Palestine  and  whose  means  failed  them.*  It  is 
another  social  phenomenon  due  to  poverty  and  to  a  specious  argu- 
ment of  protection  to  w^omen  in  a  good  position.  This  argument 
came  down  by  tradition  with  the  institution.  The  city  council 
of  Nuremberg  stated,  as  a  reason  for  establishing  a  lupanar, 
that  the  church  allowed  harlots  in  order  to  prevent  greater  evils. ° 
This  statement,  no  doubt,  refers  to  a  passage  in  Augustine,  Dc 
Ordhie :^  "What  is  more  base,  empty  of  worth,  and  full  of  vile- 
ness  than  harlots  and  other  such  pests  }  Take  away  harlots 
from  human  society  and  you  will  have  tainted  everything  with 
lust.     Let   them   be   with  the   matrons    and   you  will  produce 

1  Page  172.  *  Weinhold,  D.  R.  II,  22. 

2  Deipnosophists,  XIII,  25.  5  Schultz,  D.  L.,  73. 

3  De  Gubernat.  Dei,  VII,  99.  ^  Migne,  Patrol.  Latiiia,  XXXII,  1000. 


530 


FOLKWAYS 


contamination  and  disgrace.  So  this  class  of  persons,  on  account 
of  their  morals,  of  a  most  shameless  life,  fills  a  most  vile  function 
under  the  laws  of  order."  The  bishop  had  laid  down  the  propo- 
sition that  evil  things  in  human  society,  under  the  great  orderly- 
scheme  of  things  which  he  was  trying  to  expound,  are  overruled 
to  produce  good.  He  then  sought  illustrations  to  prove  this. 
The  passage  quoted  is  one  of  his  illustrations.  Everywhere  else 
in  his  writings  where  he  mentions  harlots  he  expresses  the 
greatest  abomination  of  them.  His  general  proposition  is  falla- 
cious and  extravagant,  and  he  had  to  strain  the  cases  which  he 
alleged  as  illustrations,  but  he  was  a  church  father,  and  five  hun- 
dred years  later  no  one  dared  criticise  or  dissent  from  anything 
which  he  had  said.  It  went  far  beyond  the  incidental  use  of  an 
illustration  made  by  him,  to  cite  the  passage,  with  his  authority, 
for  a  doctrine  that  cities  might  wisely  establish  lupanars  in  order 
to  prevent  sex  vice,  especially  in  the  interest  of  virtuous  women.^ 
Such  houses  were  maintained  without  secrecy  or  shame.  Queen 
Joanna  of  Naples  made  ordinances  for  a  lupanar  at  Avignon,  in 
1 2)47 y  when  it  was  the  papal  residence.  Generally  the  house 
was  rented  to  a  "  host "  under  stipulations  as  to  the  food,  dress, 
and  treatment  of  the  inmates,  and  regulations  as  to  order,  gam- 
bling, etc.^  The  inmates,  like  the  public  executioners,  were 
required  to  wear  a  distinctive  dress.  Frequenters  did  not  need 
to  practice  secrecy.  The  houses  were  free  to  persons  of  rank, 
and  were  especially  prepared  by  the  city  when  it  had  to  enter- 
tain great  persons.  Women  who  were  natives  of  the  city  were 
not  admitted.  This  is  the  only  feature  which  is  not  entirely 
cynical  and  shameless.^  In  1501  a  rich  citizen  of  Frankfurt  am 
Main  bequeathed  to  the  city  a  sum  of  money  with  which  to  build 
a  large  house  into  which  all  the  great  number  of  harlots  could 
be  collected,^  for  the  number  increased  greatly.  They  appeared 
at  all  great  concourses  of  men,  and  were  sent  out  to  the  Hansa 
stations.^    In  fact,  the  people  of  the  time  accepted  certain  social 

1  Scherr,  Detdsches  Fraiieiileben,  I,  275. 

2  Jaeger,  Uhns  Leben  im  M.  A.,  544. 

3  Rudeck,  Oeffentl.  Sittlichkeit,  26-35. 

*  Westerhout,  Geslachtsleve7i  ojizer  Voorotiders,  198. 
^  Scherr,  Kulturgesch.,  223. 


THE   MORES  CAN   MAKE  ANYTHING  RIGHT        531 

phenomena  as  "  natural  "  and  inevitable,  and  they  made  their 
arrangements  accordingly,  uninterfered  with  by  "  moral  sense." 
In  Wickliffe's  time  the  bishop  of  Winchester  obtained  a  hand- 
some rent  from  the  stews  of  Southwark.^  Probably  he  and  his 
contemporaries  thought  no  harm.  Never  until  the  nineteenth 
century  was  it  in  the  mores  of  any  society  to  feel  that  the  sacri- 
fice of  the  mortal  welfare  of  one  human  being  to  the  happiness 
of  another  was  a  thing  which  civil  institutions  could  not  tolerate. 
It  could  not  enter  into  the  minds  of  men  of  the  fifteenth  century 
that  harlots,  serfs,  and  other  miserable  classes  had  personal 
rights  which  were  outraged  by  the  customs  and  institutions  of 
that  time. 

583.  The  end  of  the  lupanars.  All  the  authorities  agree  that 
the  thing  which  put  an  end  to  the  city  lupanars  was  syphilis.^' 
It  was  not  due  to  any  moral  or  religious  revolt,  although  there  had 
been  individuals  who  had  criticised  the  institution  of  harlots, 
and  some  pious  persons  had  founded  convents,  in  the  thirteenth 
and  fourteenth  centuries,  for  repentant  harlots.  Protestants  and 
Catholics  tried,  to  some  extent,  to  throw  the  blame  of  the 
lupanars  on  each  other.  Luther  urged  the  abolition  of  them  in 
1520.  They  reached  their  greatest  development  in  the  fifteenth 
century.^  The  mere  existence  of  an  article  so  degrading  to  both 
husband  and  wife  as  the  girdle  *  is  significant  of  the  mores  of 
the  period,  and  shows  how  far  the  mores  can  go  to  make  any- 
thing "  right,"  or  properly  customary. 

584.  Judgment  is  beclouded  by  the  atmosphere  formed  by  the 
mores.  Education.  Witch  persecutions  are  another  case  of  the 
extent  to  which  familiarity  with  the  customs  prevents  any  rational 
judgment  of  phenomena  of  experience  and  observation.  How 
was  it  possible  that  men  did  not  see  the  baseness  and  folly  of 
their  acts  }    The  answer  is  that  the  ideas  Of  demonism  were  a 

1  Trevelyan,  England  in  the  Age  of  IVickliffe,  2S0. 

-  The  origin  of  this  disease  being  unknown,  it  has  been  suggested  that  it  was 
due  to  vice  and  excess  in  the  Middle  Ages  {Umschaii,  VII,  71). 

3  See  Cambridge  Hist,  of  Mod.  Europe,  I,  especially  Lea's  chapter;  Janssen, 
Deidsches  Volk,  VIII ;  Schultz,  Hof.  Leben,  I,  452  ;  same  author,  Deutsch.  Leben, 
254,  257,  277,  283;  Du  Laure,  Paris,  268  ;  Scherr,  Ktdturgesch.,  222,  on  the  fifteenth 
century,  ■*  Schultz,  D.  L.,  283. 


/ 

/ 


/ 


532  FOLKWAYS 

part  of  the  mental  outfit  of  the  period.  The  laws  were  traditions 
from  generations  which  had  drawn  deductions  from  the  doctrines 
of  demonism  and  had  applied  them  in  criminal  practice.  The 
legal  procedure  was  familiar  and  corresponded  to  the  horror 
of  crimes  and  criminals,  of  which  witchcraft  and  witches  were 
the  worst.  The  mores  formed  a  moral  and  civil  atmosphere 
through  which  everything  was  seen,  and  rational  judgment  was 
made  impossible.  It  cannot  be  doubted  that,  at  any  time,  all 
ethical  judgments  are  made  through  the  atmosphere  of  the 
mores  of  the  time.  It  is  they  which  tell  us  what  is  right.  It  is 
only  by  high  mental  discipline  that  we  can  be  trained  to  rise 
above  that  atmosphere  and  form  rational  judgments  on  current 
cases.  This  mental  independence  and  ethical  power  are  the 
highest  products  of  education.  They  are  also  perilous.  Our 
worst  cranks  are  those  who  get  the  independence  and  power, 
but  cannot  stand  alone  and  form  correct  judgments  outside  of 
the  mores  of  the  time  and  place.  It  must  be  remembered  that 
the  mores  sometimes  becloud  the  judgment,  but  they  more  often 
guide  it. 


CHAPTER   XVI 

SACRAL  HARLOTRY.    CHILD  SACRIFICE 

Men's  clubhouses.  —  Consecrated  women.  —  Relation  of  sacral  harlotry 
and  child  sacrifice.  —  Reproduction  and  food  supply.  —  The  Gilgamesh  epic. 

—  The  Adonis  myth.  —  Religious  ritual,  religious  drama,  and  harlotry. — 
The  Babylonian  custom  ;  its  relation  to  religion.  —  Religion  and  the  mores. 

—  Cases  of  sacral  harlotry.  —  The  same  customs  in  the  Old  Testament. — 
The  antagonism  of  abundance  and  excess.  —  Survivals  of  sacral  harlotry; 
analogous  customs  in  Hindostan.  —  Lingam  and  yoni.  —  Conventionaliza- 
tion.—  Criticism  of  the  mores  of  Hindostan.  —  Mexican  mores  ;  drunken- 
ness.—  Japanese  mores. —  Chinese  religion  and  mores. —  Philosophy  of 
the  interest  in  reproduction  ;  incest.  —  The  archaic  is  sacred.  —  Child  sac- 
rifice.—  Beast  sacrifice  substituted  for  child  sacrifice.  —  Mexican  doctrine 
of  greater  power  through  death.  —  Motives  of  child  sacrifice.  —  Dedication 
by  vows.  —  Degeneration  of  the  custom  of  consecrating  women.  —  Our  tradi- 
tions come  from  Israel.  —  How  the  Jewish  view  of  sensuality  prevailed. 

The  topics  treated  in  this  chapter  are  further  illustrations  of 
the  power  of  the  mores  to  make  anything  right,  and  to  protect 
anything  from  condemnation.    See  also  Chapter  XVIL 

585.  Men's  clubhouses.  It  is  a  very  common  custom  in 
barbaric  society  that  the  men  have  a  clubhouse  in  which  they 
spend  much  of  their  time  together  and  in  which  the  unmarried 
men  sleep.  Such  houses  are  centers  of  intrigue,  enterprise, 
amusement,  and  vice.  The  men  work  there,  carry  on  shamanis- 
tic  rites,  hold  dances,  entertain  guests,  and  listen  to  narratives 
by  the  elders.  Women  are  excluded  altogether  or  at  times.  In 
the  Caroline  Islands  such  houses  are  institutions  of  social  and 
religious  importance.  While  the  women  of  the  place  may  not 
enter  them,  those  from  a  neighboring  place  live  in  them  for  a 
time  in  license,  but  return  home  with  payment  which  is  used 
partly  for  religious  purposes  and  partly  for  themselves.^ 

1  Snouck-Hurgronje,  De  Atje/ters,  I,  64-66;  Bur.  Eth.,  XVIII,  2S5  ;  At)ier. 
Anthrop.,  XI,  56;  Codrington,  Melanesians,  102,  299;  Serpa  Pinto,  Como  eu 
Atravassei  Africa,  I,  82 ;  Kubary,  Karolinenarchipel..,  47,  226,  244 ;  Powers, 
Calif.  Indians,  24. 

533 


534  FOLKWAYS 

586.  Consecrated  women.  It  may  even  be  said  to  be  the  cur- 
rent view  of  uncivilized  peoples,  up  to  the  full  development  of 
the  father  family,  that  women  have  free  control  of  their  own 
persons  until  they  are  married,  when  they  pass  under  a  taboo 
which  they  are  bound  to  observe.  Therefore  before  marriage 
they  may  accumulate  a  dowry.  Very  many  cases  also  occur  of 
men-women  and  women-men,  persons  of  either  sex  who  assume 
the  functions  and  mode  of  life  of  the  other.  Cases  also  occur 
in  barbarism  of  women  consecrated  to  the  gods.  Among  the 
Ewe-speaking  peoples  of  West  Africa  ^  girls  of  ten  or  twelve 
are  received  and  educated  for  three  years  in  the  chants  and 
dances  of  worship,  serving  the  priests.  At  the  end  of  the  time 
they  become  public  women,  but  are  under  no  reproach,  because 
they  are  regarded  as  married  to  the  god  and  acting  under  his 
direction.  Properly  they  should  be  restricted  to  the  worshipers 
at  the  temple,  but  they  are  not.  Probably  such  was  the  original 
taboo  which  is  now  relaxed  and  decayed.  Children  whom  such 
women  bear  belong  to  the  god.  The  institution  "  is  essentially 
religious  in  its  origin  and  is  intimately  connected  with  phallic 
worship." 

587.  Sacral  harlotry  and  child  sacrifice.  These  observations 
may  serve  to  introduce  a  study  of  the  phenomena,  so  incompre- 
hensible to  us,  of  sacral  prostitution  and  child  sacrifice.  That 
study  is  calculated  to  show  us  that  the  mores  define  right  and 
wrong.  It  would  be  a  great  mistake  to  regard  the  above  cases 
as  mere  aberrations  of  sex  appetite.  The  usages  had  their  origin 
in  interests.  Sacral  harlotry  was  a  substitute  for  the  child  sacri- 
fice of  females.  The  other  incidental  interests  found  advantage 
in  it.  It  was  an  attempt  to  solve  problems  of  life.  It  was  re- 
garded as  conducive  to  welfare,  and  was  connected  with  religion. 
It  was  kept  up  by  the  conservatism  and  pertinacity  of  religious 
usage  until  a  later  time  and  another  set  of  conditions,  when  it 
became  vicious. 

588.  Reproduction  and  food  supply.  The  operations  of  nature 
by  which  plants  and  animals  reproduce  are  of  great  interest  and 
importance  to  man,  because  on  them  depends  the  abundance  of 

1  Ellis,  Ewe-speakitig  Peoples,  141. 


SACRAL  HARLOTRY.     CHILD   SACRIFICE  535 

his  food  supply.  It  is  impossible  to  tell  when  this  interest  would 
"begin,"  but  it  would  become  intense  whenever  the  number  of 
men  was  great  in  proportion  to  the  food  supply.  Hence  the 
rainfall,  the  course  of  the  seasons,  the  prevalence  of  winds,  the 
conjunction  of  astronomical  phenomena  with  spawning  or  fruit 
seasons,  and  the  habits  of  plants  and  animals  caught  the  feeble 
attention  of  savage  man  and  taught  him  facts  of  nature,  through 
his  eagerness  to  get  signs  of  coming  plenty  or  suggestions  as  to 
his  own  plans  and  efforts.  Attention  has  been  called  to  a  very 
interesting  fact  about  the  fructification  of  the  domesticated  date 
palm  wherever  oasis  cultivation  prevailed  in  western  Asia.^  The 
fructification  must  be  artificial.  Men  carry  the  pollen  to  the 
female  plant  and  adopt  devices  to  distribute  it  on  the  wind  or 
by  artificial  contact.  At  the  present  time  this  is  done  by  attach- 
ing a  bunch  of  the  male  seed  on  a  branch  to  windward.^  Tylor 
first  suggested  that  certain  ancient  pictorial  representations  are 
meant  to  depict  the  work  of  artificial  fructification  as  carried  on 
by  mythological  persons,  —  cherubim,  who  represent  the  winds. ^ 
The  function  of  the  wind  distributing  the  seed  is  divine  work. 
The  tree  is  of  such  supreme  value  "^  that  the  well  living  of  men 
depends  on  this  operation.  The  sex  conjunction  therefore  was 
the  most  important  and  beneficent  operation  in  nature,  and  cor- 
rect knowledge  of  it  was  the  prime  condition  of  getting  an 
abundant  food  supply.  Man  followed  the  operation  with  all  the 
interest  of  the  food  supply  and  all  the  awe  of  religion.  It  is 
certain  that  his  interest  in  it  was  "innocent."  He  began  to 
mythologize  about  it  on  account  of  the  grand  elements  of  wel- 
fare, risk,  and  skill  which  were  in  it.  A  parallel  case  is  furnished 
by  the  treatment  accorded  to  rice  by  the  Javanese.  It  is  to 
them  the  great  article  of  food  supply.  They  endow  it  with  a 
soul  and  ascribe  to  it  sex  passion.  They  have  ceremonies  by 
which  to  awaken  this  passion  in  the  rice  as  a  means  of  increas- 
ing their  own  food  supply.  The  ceremonies  consist  in  sympa- 
thetic magic  by  men  and  women  at  night. ^ 

1  Barton,  Semitic  07-igins,  78.  3  Proc.  Soc.  Bibl.  ArcheoL,  1890,  XII,  383. 

2  Wellsted,  Arabia,  II,  12.  *  Herodotus,  I,  193. 

^  Wilken,  Volketikiiiide,  550. 


536  FOLKWAYS 

589.  The  Gilgamesh  epic.  The  Gilgamesh  epic  which  origi- 
nated in  the  Euphrates  valley  more  than  2000  years  b.c.^ 
consists  of  a  number  of  episodes  which  were  later  collected  and 
coordinated  into  a  single  work  like  other  great  epics.  Jastrow^ 
construes  it  as  a  variation  of  the  story  of  Adam  and  Eve. 
Gilgamesh  is  a  hero  admired  by  all  women.  The  elders  of 
Uruk  beg  his  mother,  the  mother-goddess  Aruru  (a  form  of 
Ishtar),  to  restrain  him.  In  order  to  comply  she  makes  of  clay 
Eabani,  a  satyr-like,  hairy  wild  man,  with  a  tail  and  horns,  who 
lives  with  the  beasts.  Jastrow  thinks  that  this  means  that  he 
consorted  with  female  beasts,  having  as  yet  no  female  of  his 
own  species.  No  one  could  capture  him,  so  the  god  Shamash 
assailed  him  by  lust,  sending  to  him  a  priestess  of  Ishtar  who 
won  him  to  herself  (woman)  away  from  beasts.  She  said  to  him  : 
"  Thou  shalt  be  like  a  god.  Why  dost  thou  lie  with  beasts  .? " 
"  She  revealed  his  soul  to  Eabani."  She  was,  therefore,  a  culture 
heroine,  and  the  myth  means  that,  with  the  knowledge  of  sex, 
awoke  consciousness,  intelligence,  and  civilization.  Eabani  fol- 
lowed the  priestess  to  Uruk,  where  he  and  Gilgamesh  became 
comrades,  —  heroes  of  war  and  slayers  of  monsters.  Ishtar  fell 
in  love  with  Gilgamesh,  but  he  refused  her  because  all  men  and 
beasts  whom  she  loved  she  reduced  to  misery.  Her  vengeance 
for  this  rejection  brings  woe  and  death  on  the  two  friends.  The 
Mexicans  had  a  similar  myth  that  the  sun  god  and  the  maize 
goddess  produced  life  in  vegetation  by  their  sex  activity.  The 
sun  god  contracted  venereal  disease  so  that  they  probably  con- 
nected syphilis  with  sexual  excess.^  In  the  worship  of  Ishtar  at 
Uruk  there  were  three  grades  of  harlot  priestesses,  and  there 
the  temple  consecration  of  women  was  practiced  in  recognition 
of  the  connection  between  the  service  of  Ishtar  and  civilization. 
At  first  the  goddesses  of  life  and  of  love  were  the  same.  The 
Venus  of  reproduction  and  the  Venus  of  carnal  lust  were  later 
distinguished.  At  some  periods  the  distinction  was  sharply 
maintained.    At   other  times   the   former  Venus   was   only  an 

^  Maspero,  Petiples  de  V Orient,  I,  576,  589. 
'^  Amer.  Jo.  Sefnit.  Lang:  a>id  Lit.,  XV,  201. 
3  Archivf.  Aiithrop.,  XXIX,  156. 


SACRAL  HARLOTRY.     CHILD   SACRIFICE  537 

intermediary  to  lead  to  the  latter.  The  Mexicans  had  two  god- 
desses, —  one  of  chaste,  the  other  of  impure,  love.  The  festivals 
of  the  former  were  celebrated  with  obscene  rites  ;  those  of  the 
latter  with  the  self-immolation  of  harlots,  with  excessive  language 
and  acts.  The  goddess  was  thought  to  be  rejuvenated  by  the  death 
of  the  harlots.  The  obscene  rites  were  at  war  with  the  current 
mores  of  the  people  at  the  time.  The  demons  of  license  became 
the  guardians  of  good  morals.  They  concealed  the  phallus. 
Sins  of  license  were  confessed  to  the  gods  of  license.^  Teteoin- 
nan,  the  maize-mother,  also  became  a  harlot  through  the  work 
of  furthering  growth,  but  in  the  service  of  the  state  she  pun- 
ished transgressions  of  the  sex  taboo. ^  This  is  as  if  the  need  of 
the  taboo  having  been  learned  by  the  consequences  of  license 
and  excess,  the  goddess  of  the  latter  became  the  guardian  of 
the  former.  In  the  Semitic  religions  the  beginning  and  end  of 
life  were  attributed  to  supernatural  agencies  dangerous  to  man.^ 
The  usages  to  be  mentioned  below  show  that  this  was  not  an 
abstract  dogma,  but  was  accepted  as  the  direct  teaching  of 
experience. 

590.  The  Adonis  myth.  There  was  in  the  worship  of  Ishtar 
wailing  for  Tammuz  (Adonis).  He  was  either  the  son  or  the 
husband  of  Ishtar.  She  went  to  Hades  to  rescue  him.  His 
death  was  a  myth  for  the  decay  of  vegetation,  and  his  resurrection 
was  a  myth  for  its  revival.  The  former  was  celebrated  with 
lamentations  ;  the  latter  with  extravagant  rejoicings  and  sex 
license.'^  This  legend,  which  under  local  modifications  and  much 
syncretism  existed  until  long  after  Christianity  was  introduced 
in  the  Greco-Roman  world,  coincides  with  the  laws  of  Hammu- 
rabi as  to  harlot  priestesses. 

591.  Sacral  harlotry.  Three  things  which  later  reached  strong 
independent  development  are  here  united,  —  religious  ritual,  reli- 
gious drama  (with  symbols,  pantomime,  and  mysteries  which 
later  came  to  be  considered  indecent),  and  harlotry.  Sacral 
harlotry  was  the  only  harlotiy.  It  was  normal  and  was  not  a 
subject  of  ethical  misgiving.    It  was  a  part  of  the  religious  and 

1  Archiv  f.  Anthrop.,  XXIX,  150.  2  /^/^.^  183. 

2  W.  R.  Smith,  Relig.  of  the  Semites,  447.  *  Lucian,  De  Syria  Dea,  6. 


538  FOLKWAYS 

social  system.  When,  later,  prostitution  became  an  independent 
social  fact  and  was  adjudged  bad,  sacral  harlotry  long  continued 
under  the  conventionalization  and  persistence  of  religious  usage 
(sec.  74),  but  then  the  disapproval  of  prostitution  in  the  mores 
produced  an  ethical  war  which  resulted  in  the  abolition  of  har- 
lotry. Sacral  harlotry,  while  it  lasted,  was  practiced  for  one  of 
two  purposes,  —  to  collect  a  dowry  for  the  women  or  to  collect 
money  for  the  temple. 

592.  The  Babylonian  custom  ;  its  relation  to  religion.  Herod- 
otus ^  states  that  the  women  of  the  Lydians  and  of  some 
peoples  on  the  island  of  Cyprus  collected  a  dowry  by  freedom 
before  marriage ;  that  a  woman  chosen  by  the  god  from  the 
whole  nation  remained  in  the  little  cell  on  top  of  the  eight-storied 
tower  at  Babylon,  and  was  said  by  the  priests  to  share  the  couch, 
of  the  god  ;  that  the  Thebans  in  Egypt  tell  a  similar  story  of 
their  god  ;  that  at  Patara,  in  Lycia,  the  priestess  who  gave  the 
oracle  consorted  with  the  god ;  and  that  at  Babylon  every 
woman  was  compelled  once  to  sacrifice  herself  to  the  first  comer 
in  the  temple  of  Mylitta.  The  last  statement  was  long  considered 
so  monstrous  that  it  was  not  believed.  That  incredulity  arose 
from  modern  mores,  in  which  religion  and  sex  license  are  so 
strongly  antagonized  that  religion  seems  to  us  an  independent 
force,  of  "divine  origin,"  which  is  sent  into  the  world  with  an 
inherent  character  of  antisensuality,  or  as  a  revelation  of  the  harm 
and  wickedness  of  certain  sex  acts.  That  notion,  however,  is  a 
part  of  our  Jewish  inheritance.  The  fact  stated  by  Herodotus 
is  no  longer  doubted.  It  is  only  one  in  a  series  of  parallel  cases, 
all  of  which  must  have  originated  in  similar  ideas  and  have  been 
regarded  as  contributing  in  the  same  way  to  human  welfare. 
Preuss  ^  attempts  to  explain  it.  "  It  is  only  to  be  understood  if 
men  earlier,  in  order  to  make  natural  objects  prosper,  had 
practiced  sex  usages  of  a  kind  which  later,  according  to  the 
mores  of  daily  life,  seemed  to  them  to  be  prostitution.  From 
this  development  came  the  fact  that  the  Germans  called  the 
Corn-mother  the  '  Great  Harlot.'  "  We  know  that  men  have 
sacrificed  their  children  and  other  human  beings,  the  selected 

1  Herodotus,  I,  93,  181,  199.  2  Globus,  LXXXVI,  360. 


SACRAL   HARLOTRY.     CHILD   SACRIFICE  539 

being  the  bravest  or  most  beautiful ;  that  they  have  mutilated 
themselves  in  all  ways  from  the  slightest  to  the  most  serious  ; 
that  they  have  celebrated  the  most  extravagant  orgies  ;  and  that 
they  have  acted  against  their  own  most  important  interests,  — 
all  in  the  name  of  religion.  There  is  nothing  in  religion  itself 
which  antagonizes  sensuality,  cruelty,  and  other  base  elements 
in  human  nature.  Religion  has  its  independent  origin  in  sup- 
posed interests,  and  makes  its  own  demands  on  men.  The  de- 
mands of  religion  are  sacrifices  and  ritual  observances.  The 
whole  religious  system  is  evolved  within  the  circle  of  inter- 
ests, ideas,  and  mores  which  the  society  possesses  at  the  time. 
Religion  also  finds  adjustment  and  consistency  with  all  other 
interests  and  tastes  of  the  group  at  the  time.  A  father  of 
many  daughters  would  use  the  temple  service  as  a  way  to 
provide  for  one  of  them.^  Religion  is  also  extremely  persist- 
ent. Therefore  it  holds  and  carries  over  to  later  ages  customs 
which  once  were  beneficial,  but  which  at  the  later  time  are 
authoritative  but  harmful.  If  parents  threw  their  children  into 
the  furnace  to  Molech,  why  should  they  not  devote  their 
daughters  to  Ishtar }  If  they  once  practiced  sympathetic  magic 
to  make  rice  grow,  religion  might  carry  the  customs  over  to  a 
time  when  they  would  be  shocking  and  abominable.  Although 
the  survival  of  these  customs  became  sensual  and  corrupting,  it 
is  certain  that  it  was  not  their  original  purpose  to  serve  sensu- 
ality. They  were  not  devices  to  cultivate  or  gratify  licentious- 
ness. We  know  of  no  case  of  a  primitive  custom  with  such  a 
purpose.  The  provisions  in  the  laws  of  Hammurabi  are  as 
simple  and  matter-of-fact  as  possible.  They  are  provisions  for 
actual  interests  which,  it  seemed,  ought  to  be  provided  for. 
Another  proof  of  the  innocence  of  the  customs  is  that  in  inde- 
pendent cases  the  same  customs  were  established.  The  customs 
were  responses  of  men  to  the  great  agents  who  (as  they  thought 
they  perceived)  wrought  things  in  nature.  The  methods  and 
means  used  by  the  agents  were  revered.  They  could  not  be 
despised  or  disapproved  by  men.  Therefore  reproduction  was 
religious  and  sex  was  consecrated.    The  whole  realm  was  one  of 

^  Maurer,  Volkerku7ide,  Bibel,  uttd  ChristentJnim.,  95. 


540 


FOLKWAYS 


mystery  and  wonder.  Men  became  as  gods  by  knowledge  of  it. 
From  that  knowledge  they  acquired  power  to  make  things  grow 
and  so  got  food  and  escaped  want.  The  interest  in  sex,  and  the 
customs  connected  with  it,  was  revivified  in  connection  with 
agriculture.  The  mode  of  fructifying  the  date  palm  was  a  very 
great  discovery  in  natural  science.  Primitive  men  would  turn  it 
into  a  religious  fact  and  rule.  The  inference  that  women  should 
be  consecrated  to  the  goddess  of  Hfe  and  that  in  her  service 
reproduction  should  be  their  sacred  duty  was  in  the  logic  of 
primitive  people.  Ishtar  was  polyandrous,  but  she  turned  into 
Astarte,  the  wife  of  the  chief  Baal,  or  else  she  became  androgyne 
and  then  masculine.  There  is  a  virgin  mother  and  a  mother  of 
the  gods.  The  idea  of  the  latter  continued  with  invincible  per- 
sistency. She  may  be  unmarried,  choosing  her  partners  at  will, 
or  "  queen,  head,  and  first  born  of  all  gods."  ^  In  these  changes 
we  see  the  religious  notions  and  the  mores  adjusting  themselves 
to  each  other.  As  long  as  the  underlying  notions  were  true  and 
sincere  and  the  logic  was  honest,  the  usages  were  harmless. 
When  the  original  notions  were  lost,  or  the  logic  became  an 
artificial  cover  for  a  real  ethical  inconsistency,  and  the  customs 
were  kept  up,  perhaps  to  give  gain  to  priests,  the  usages  served 
licentiousness. 

593.  Religion  and  the  mores.  Religion  never  has  been  an 
independent  force  acting  from  outside  creatively  to  mold  the 
mores  or  the  ideas  of  men.  Evidently  such  an  idea  is  the  extreme 
form  of  the  world  philosophy  in  which  another  (spiritual)  world 
is  conceived  of  as  impinging  upon  this  one  from  "above,"  to 
give  it  laws  and  guidance.  The  mores  grow  out  of  the  life  as  a 
whole.  They  change  with  the  life  conditions,  density  of  popu- 
lation, and  life  experience.  Then  they  become  strange  or  hostile 
to  traditional  religion.  In  our  own  experience  our  mores  have 
reached  views  about  ritual  practices,  polygamy,  slavery,  celibacy, 
etc.,  which  are  strange  or  hostile  to  those  in  the  Bible.  Since 
the  sixteenth  century  we  have  reconstructed  our  religion  to  fit 
our  modern  ideas  and  mores.  Every  religious  reform  in  history 
has  come  about  in  this  way.    All  religious  doctrines  and  ritual 

1  W.  R.  Smith,  Relig.  of  the  Semites,  56-59. 


SACRAL  HARLOTRY.     CHILD  SACRIFICE 


541 


acts  are  held  immutable  by  strong  interests  and  notions  of 
religious  duty.  Therefore  they  fall  out  of  consistency  with  the 
mores,  which  are  in  constant  change,  being  acted  on  by  all 
the  observation  or  experience  of  life.  Sacral  harlotry  is  a  case,  the 
ethical  horror  of  which  is  very  great  and  very  obvious  to  us,  of 
old  religious  ideas  and  customs  preserved  by  the  religion  into 
times  of  greatly  changed  moral  (i.e.  of  the  mores)  and  social 
codes. 

594.  Cases  of  sacral  harlotry.  Survivals  of  sacral  harlotry  are 
found  in  historic  Egypt.  Even  under  the  Caesars  the  most  beau- 
tiful girl  of  the  noble  families  of  Thebes  was  chosen  to  be  con- 
secrated in  the  temple  of  Ammon.  She  gained  honor  and  profit 
by  the  life  of  a  courtesan,  and  always  found  a  grand  marriage 
when  she  retired  on  account  of  age.  In  all  the  temples  there 
were  women  attached  to  the  service  of  the  gods.  They  were  of 
different  grades  and  ranks  and  were  supposed  to  entertain  the 
god  as  harem  women  entertained  princes.  In  the  temples  of  god- 
desses women  were  the  functionaries  and  obtained  great  honor 
and  power.^  Constantine  demolished  the  temples  of  impure  cult 
in  Phoenicia  and  Egypt  and  caused  the  priests  to  be  scattered  by 
soldiers.  FarnelP  thinks  that  the  Babylonian  custom  (especially 
because  it  was  required  that  the  man  should  be  a  stranger)  was 
due  to  fear  of  harm  from  the  nuptial  blood.  The  attendants  in 
the  temples  are  known  as  "  hierodules."  Otto  ^  says  that  the  hiero- 
dules  were  not  temple  slaves,  or  harlots,  but  he  finds  evidence 
that  the  temples  had  income  from  temple  harlots.  The  Phoeni- 
cians who  settled  Carthage  took  the  religion  of  western  Asia 
with  them.  Perhaps  there  was  an  element  of  sensuality  in  the 
antecedent  religion  of  north  Africa  which  united  with  that  of  the 
imported  religion.  This  would  account  for  the  cultus  at  Sicca, 
in  Numidia.  There  was  there  a  temple  of  Astarte  or  Tanith  in 
which  women  lived  who  never  went  forth  except  to  collect  a 
dowry  by  harlotry.^    At  By  bios  (Gebal),  in  Phoenicia,  there  was 

1  Maspero,  Penples  de  P  Orient,  I,  50,  126. 

2  Archiv  f.  Religionsgesch.,  VII,  88. 

8  Priester  unci  Tetnpei  im  Hellen.  Aeg.,  I,  316. 
*  Valer.  Max.,  II,  6,  15. 


542  FOLKWAYS 

a  great  temple  of  the  same  goddess  at  which  there  were  elaborate 
celebrations  of  the  Adonis  myth.  There  was  sacral  harlotry  for 
strangers  only,  the  money  going  as  a  sacrifice  to  the  goddess. 
Every  woman  must  have  her  head  shaved  in  mourning  for  Adonis, 
or  sacrifice  herself  under  this  custom. ^  Tanith  has  been  identi- 
fied with  Artemis,  and  the  later  cults  of  Punic  Africa  give  great 
prominence  to  the  "celestial  virgin,"  or  "virginal  nimieny 
"The  identification  of  the  mother-of-the-gods  with  the  heavenly 
virgin,  that  is,  the  unmarried  goddess,  is  confirmed,  if  not  abso- 
lutely demanded,  by  Augustine .^  At  Carthage  she  seems  also  to 
be  identical  with  Dido."  ^  "The  Arabian  Lat  was  worshiped  by 
the  Nabataeans  as  mother-of-the-gods  and  must  be  identified  with 
the  virgin-mother  whose  worship  at  Petra  is  described  by  Epi- 
phanius."  *  In  the  worship  of  Anaitis  in  Armenia  male  and  female 
slaves  were  dedicated  to  the  goddess,  but  men  of  rank  also  con- 
secrated their  daughters.  After  long  service  they  married,  no 
one  considering  them  degraded.  They  were  not  mercenary,  being 
well  provided  for  by  their  families.  Therefore  they  received  only 
their  social  equals.^  Baal  Peor  seems  also  to  have  been  a  case  of 
sacral  harlotry.^  The  strongest  reason  for  thinking  so  is  Hosea 
ix.  lo.  Rosenbaum "  interprets  the  pestilence  as  venereal.  The 
kedcshim  (male  prostitutes)  were  expelled  from  Judah  by  Asa.^ 
They  had  been  there  since  Rehoboam.^  They  are  heard  of  again. ^^ 
They  were  under  vows  and  brought  their  earnings  to  Jahveh.^^ 
Farnell^^  interprets  a  fragment  of  Pindar  as  proof  of  sacral 
harlotry  at  Corinth.  At  a  temple  of  the  Epizephyrian  Locri  it 
was  practiced  in  fulfillment  of  a  vow  made  by  the  people,  under 
some  ancient  insult,  to  consecrate  their  daughters  if  the  goddess 
would  help  them. 13  Farnell  also  ^'^  directs  attention  to  a  case  in 
Sicily  where  the  connection  is  with  the  Carthaginian  Eryx.    In 

1  Lucian,  De  Syria  Dea,  6 ;  Pietschmann,  Phoenizier,  229. 

2  De  Civit.  Dei,  II,  4.  ^  i  Kings  xv.  12. 
2  W.  R.  Smith,  Relig.  of  the  Semites,  56.       ^  i  Kings  xiv.  24. 

*  Ibid.  ^0  I  Kings  xxii.  46 ;  2  Kings  xxiii.  7. 

5  Strabo,  XI,  14,  16.  "  Deut.  xxiii.  18. 

8  Num.  xxiii.  28;  xxv.  i  ;   Josh.  xxii.  17.      12  Cidts  of  the  Greek  States,  635. 
''  Die  Lustseuche  im  Alterthiun,  77.  ^^  Athenaeus,  XII,  li. 

1*  Cults  of  the  Greek  States,  641. 


SACRAL  HARLOTRY.     CHILD  SACRIFICE  543 

the  Cistcllaria  of  Plautus  the  usage  is  referred  to  as  Tuscan.^ 
Augustus  rebuilt  Carthage  and  it  appears  that  the  old  usages  had 
survived  the  interval  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  years.  The  temple 
of  Tanith  was  rebuilt  and  called  that  of  the  celestial  virgin.  The 
Romans  forbade  sacral  harlotry,  which  was  in  strong  antagonism 
to  their  sex  mores.  Hahn  has  called  attention^  to  a  passage  which 
proves  the  existence  of  sacral  harlotry  in  Scandinavia  just  before 
the  introduction  of  Christianity  in  the  tenth  century.  The  hero 
remains  through  the  winter  with  the  woman  who  was  the  conse- 
crated attendant  of  the  god  Frey  and  who  traveled  about  with 
his  wooden  image.  The  people  take  the  hero  to  be  the  god,  and 
rejoice  when  the  priestess  becomes  a  mother  by  him. ^  The  Mexi- 
cans, with  the  same  interests,  under  like  conditions  evolved  the 
same  customs  and  similar  ideas.  Mayas  of  the  lowest  classes 
sent  out  their  daughters  to  earn  their  own  marriage  portions.* 

595.  The  same  customs  in  the  Old  Testament.  In  i  Sam.  i 
Hannah  vowed  that  if  God  would  give  her  a  son  she  would 
devote  him  to  the  Lord,  in  sign  of  which  no  razor  should  touch 
him.  She  gave  him  to  be  an  cedituns,  who  lived  in  the  temple 
awaiting  divine  instructions  and  commissions.  In  Josh.  ix.  23, 
27  we  have  a  case  of  war  captives  condemned  to  menial  service 
in  the  temple.  In  Ezck.  xliv.  8,  9,  the  people  are  blamed  for 
putting  heathen  in  the  temple  service  instead  of  doing  it  them- 
selves. The  kedcsJiim,  temple  prostitutes  of  both  sexes,  are 
frequently  mentioned  in  the  Old  Testament,  especially  at  every 
reformation  of  the  religion.  They  seem  to  become  objects  of 
condemnation  within  the  period  of  the  history. 

596.  Antagonism  of  abundance  and  excess.  The  Germans  had 
a  Corn-mother,  a  goddess  of  agricultural  growth  and  fertility. 
The  Mexicans  also  had  a  mother-of-the-gods,  Teteoinnan.  The 
former  became  a  harlot.  The  latter,  by  her  sex  activity,  brought 
about  growth  and  abundant  reproduction,  and  became  a  goddess 
of  lewdness.^    Thus  wherever  the  agricultural  interest  controls 

1  II,  3,  20.  2  Globus,  LXXV,  286. 

^  Script  a  Hist.  Islandoriim,  II,  67. 

*  Bancroft,  Xative  Races  of  the  Pacific  Coast,  I,  123;   II,  676. 
5  Archiv  f.  Anthrop.,  XXIX,  138,  150. 


544 


FOLKWAYS 


this  set  of  ideas  we  see  the  struggle  between  the  idea  that  unre- 
strained sex  indulgence  produces  abundance  and  the  idea  that 
it  produces  excess,  lewdness,  and  harm.  We  can  still  trace  to 
the  metaphorical  use  of  "mother,"  "father,"  and  "  son,"  and  also 
to  the  use  of  the  same  words  to  express  the  possession  of  a 
quality  in  a  high  degree,  or  a  tie  of  destiny,  some  of  the  most 
important  concepts  of  our  own  religion. 

597.  Survivals  of  sacral  harlotry.  Analogous  customs  in 
Hindostan.  The  early  Portuguese  travelers  to  the  East  found 
sacral  harlotry  in  Cochin  China.  All  virgins  of  noble  birth  were 
bound  by  vows  from  infancy.  Otherwise  no  honorable  man 
would  marry  them.^  Modern  Egyptian  dancing  girls,  Ghowazy 
or  Barmeky,  had  a  tradition  that  they  belonged  to  a  race  by 
themselves.  They  kept  up  isolation  and  peculiar  customs.  Each 
was  compelled  to  surrender  to  a  stranger  and  then  to  marry  a 
man  of  her  own  group. ^  "  Probably  Heaven  and  Earth  are  the 
most  ancient  of  all  Vedic  gods,  and  from  their  fancied  union,  as 
husband  and  wife,  the  other  deities  and  the  whole  universe  were 
at  first  supposed  to  spring."  "The  whole  world  is  embodied  in 
the  woman.  .  .  .  Women  are  gods.  Women  are  vitality,"  say  the 
Vedic  Scriptures.  In  Manu  ^  "the  self-existent  god  is  described 
as  dividing  his  own  substance  and  becoming  half  male  and  half 
female."  ^  A  competent  author,  who  wrote  at  the  beginning  of 
the  nineteenth  century,  says  that  the  women  attached  to  the 
temples  in  Hindostan  sang  and  danced  twice  a  day,  the  songs 
being  about  mythological  subjects  and  indecent  according  to  the 
current  mores  of  everyday  life.  Vows  play  a  very  important 
part  in  the  Hindoo  system  of  sacral  harlotry.  A  woman,  with 
the  consent  of  her  husband,  vowed  her  unborn  child,  if  a  girl,  to 
the  temple,  in  order  to  get  an  easy  confinement.  It  was  no  dis- 
grace to  a  family  to  have  a  daughter  living  this  life.  Barren 
women  visited  remote  temples,  under  a  vow  of  self-devotion,  in 
order  to  bear  children.  They  were  victimized  by  the  priests.  At 
festivals  of  Vishnu  priests  tried  to  enlist  girls  in  the  attendant 

1  Oliveira  Martins,  As  jRacas  Hiunanas,  II,  i8i. 

2  Burckhardt,  Arabic  P^-overbs,  145.  ^  Laws,  I,  5. 
*  Monier-Williams,  Brahmanisni  and  Hinduism,  181— 183. 


SACRAL  HARLOTRY.     CHILD  SACRIFICE 


545 


multitude.  The  line  between  the  sacral  usage  and  licentious- 
ness was  broken  down  at  some  remote  resorts,  but  in  the  great 
temples  the  conduct  of  the  women  was  not  at  all  shameless, 
although  they  were  trained  to  please.  They  observed  perfect 
decorum.  No  one  could  venture  on  any  impropriety  with  them. 
The  bystanders  would  not  allow  it,  and  the  proceedings  were  all 
controlled  by  strict  rules.  The  Brahmins  propounded  a  doctrine 
that  intercourse  with  the  consecrated  women  would  free  from 
sin.i  The  vows  show  us  the  motive  which  maintained  this  usage, 
and  these  statements  clearly  show  the  conventionalization  which 
enveloped  the  whole.  Although  the  practices  in  the  temples 
have  undergone  some  modification,  they  still  exist.  There  are 
secret  mysteries,  and  dramatic  representations  of  mythological 
incidents,  which  seem  like  survivals  of  the  ancient  usages  above 
mentioned. 2  There  are  courtesans  at  the  temples  near  which 
pilgrims  congregate,  and  they  pay  part  of  their  earnings  to  the 
temple.^  The  holy  festival  of  Jugganatha,  at  Puri,  which  is  a 
spring  festival  of  Vedic  origin,  is  a  kind  of  Saturnalia,  in  which 
the  bonds  of  social  order  are  loosened  and  the  standards  of 
decency  are  laid  aside.  There  are  rites  in  which  "  words  are 
uttered  by  persons  who,  on  other  occasions,  would  think  them- 
selves disgraced  by  the  use  of  them."  ^  The  Phalgun  festival  in 
northern  India  commemorates  Krishna's  voluptuous  amuse- 
ments. The  rites  are  indecent.^  The  mythological  stories  about 
the  gods  have  to  be  converted  by  interpretation  or  special  pleas 
into  something  which  modern  mores  can  tolerate.^  Songs,  dances, 
pantomimes,  and  mythological  dramas  are  represented  in  front 
of  the  image  of  a  deity  by  men,  but  in  the  presence  of  a  general 
company  of  men  and  women.''^  The  Sakta  worshipers  are  a  sect 
who  worship  Sakta,  the  mighty,  mysterious,  feminine  force 
recognized  in  nature,  and  which  they  personify  as  the  Mother  of 
the  Universe,  like  the  ancient  Mother-goddess.  This  goddess  is 
manifested,  for  Hindoos,  in  natural  appetites,  in  highly  developed 

1  Dubois,  Mwurs  de  Pltide,  I,  434-439;  478-480:   II,  353,  366,  370,  377. 

2  Wilkins,  Modern  Hinduism,  94,  216,  290  ;  Monier-Williams,  Brahmmiism  and 
Hindttisin,  451.  ^  Wilkins,  235. 

3  Wilkins,  242.  ^  Ibid.,  317. 
*>.  Roy.  As.  Soc,  1841,  239;   Wilkins,  286.  ^  Ibid.,  216.      . 


546 


FOLKWAYS 


faculties  by  which  one  exalts  one's  self  and  defeats  one's  enemies. 
The  rites  of  the  sect  are  horrible  and  obscene,  and  have  for  their 
purpose  to  violate  and  outrage  the  restrictions  in  the  mores. 
By  those  rites  men  and  women  obtain  union  with  the  Supreme 
Being.  The  members  of  the  sect  call  themselves  "perfect  ones" 
and  all  others  "beasts."  They  use  mystic  texts  and  secret  orgies, 
at  which  they  drink  strong  drinks,  eat  meat  and  fish,  and  practice 
sex  license.  They  recognize  no  caste. ^  There  are  also  other 
sects  which  have  inverted  all  conceptions  of  decency,  propriety, 
and  expediency.  They  practice  self-torture,  crime,  and  unclean- 
liness,  and  use  loathsome  food,  etc.  In  all  these  matters  they 
show  great  ingenuity  of  invention.  They  are  dying  out.^  There 
are  also  sects  which  are  cannibal,  incestuous,  and  practicers  of 
secret  license  and  obscenity.^  In  some  parts  of  the  Madras 
presidency,  girls  are  made  basivis  by  a  vow  of  the  parents, 
in  order  to  give  them  the  privileges  of  males.  This  custom  may 
be  derived  from  the  institution  of  the  "  appointed  daughter," 
that  is,  a  daughter  selected  in  order  that  her  son  may  perform 
the  rites  for  her  father  (who  had  no  son)  and  may  carry  on  the 
line.  Modern  basivis  "  live  in  their  father's  house.  They  do  not 
marry,  yet  they  bear  children,  the  father  of  whom  they  may 
choose  at  pleasure,  and  the  children  inherit  their  family  name." 
It  is  a  device  to  insure  male  descendants,  and  is  so  regulated 
by  religious  consecration  and  rules  that  it  is  recognized  in  the 
mores.  If  a  basivi  breaks  the  rules  she  falls  to  a  status  which 
is  very  different.  Men  are  also  dedicated  and  wear  female  dress, 
if  they  are  born  imperfect  or  malformed.* 

598.  Lingam  and  yoni.  The  lingam  symbol  is  to  be  seen  all 
over  India,  alone  or  with  the  yoni.  In  some  parts  of  India  the 
lingam  is  worn  as  an  amulet.'^  The  word  "  lingam  "  is  said  to  mean 
"symbol."^  To  Europeans  the  objectseems  indecentand  obscene. 

1  Monier-Williams,  1S5,  190. 

2  JASB,  I,  477;  III,  200;  TAI,  XXVI,  341;  Monier-Williams,  87  ;  Hopkins, 
Relig.  of  India,  491. 

3  Hopkins,  Relig.  of  India,  456  ;   JASB,  I,  477,  492  ;  III,  201. 
*  JASB,  II,  322,  349;  cf.  JASB,  I,  502. 

5  Monier-Williams,  254. 

6  Nivedita,   IVeb  of  Indian  Life,  212. 


SACRAL  HARLOTRY.     CHILD  SACRIFICE 


547 


If  it  is  of  phallic  origin,  "  the  Hindus  are  no  more  conscious  of 
the  fact  than  we  of  the  similar  origin  of  the  maypole."  ^  It  is 
no  more  erotic  than  an  egg  or  a  seed.  It  is  a  symbol  of  Siva, 
the  eternal  reproductive  power  of  nature,  reintegrating  after 
disintegration.  One  form  of  Siva  is  androgyne.  The  dualism 
of  the  male,  spirit,  and  the  female,  matter,  is  essential  to  all  crea- 
tion. "  To  one  imbued  with  these  dualistic  conceptions  the 
lingam  and  the  yoni  are  suggestive  of  no  improper  ideas."  ^ 

599.  Conventionalization.  In  all  these  cases  it  is  evident  that 
the  mores  extend  their  protection  over  archaic  and  sacred  things, 
and  preserve  them  instead  of  forbidding  them.  The  great  means 
of  preserving  them  is  by  conventionalization.  They  are  put 
under  a  conventional  understanding,  different  from  the  everyday 
usages  with  their  ethics,  and  are  judged  by  an  arbitrary  standard. 
In  the  English  translation  of  the  Bible  words  and  phrases  are 
used  which  are  archaic  and  now  under  taboo  in  everyday  life 
Our  children  have  to  be  taught  that  "  that  is  in  the  Bible,"  that 
is,  they  have  to  learn  the  conventionalization  by  which  the 
archaic  forms  are  covered.  The  words  in  the  Bible  are  not  sub- 
ject to  criticism,  and  they  cannot  be  cited  to  justify  similar  usage 
in  common  life. 

600.  Mores  of  Hindostan.  The  phenomena  which  are  pre- 
sented in  Hindostan,  when  studied  from  our  standpoint,  show 
how  completely  different  may  be  the  estimate  of  things  accord- 
ing to  use  and  wont.  The  phenomena  are  very  different  in 
character.  Some  of  them  are  cases  of  degeneracy  and  aberra- 
tion of  customs,  after  they  have  been  discarded  by  the  mores, 
have  become  vicious,  and  have  fallen  into  the  hands  of  aban- 
doned persons  who  have  given  up  all  position  inside  the  mores. 
Others  of  these  customs  show  how  old  usages,  when  brought  in 
question,  lose  innocence.  Consciousness  and  reflection  produce 
doubt  and  then  shame.  Sometimes  things  which  are  private  or 
secret  by  convention  come  in  contact  with  things  which  are 
secret  by  vice.  All  the  phenomena  in  Hindostan  show  how 
completely  the  moral  effect  depends  on  the  integrity  or  decay 
of  conventionalization.    The  conventionalization  is  still  so  strong 

^  Nivedita,  212.  2  Monier-Williams,  78,  1S3,  224. 


548  FOLKWAYS 

that  the  effects  on  public  morals  which  we  might  expect  are  not 
produced.  Public  manners  are  marked  by  decency  and  propriety 
and  the  society  is  not  vicious.^  Things  which  exist  under  con- 
ventionalization never  furnish  grounds  for  an  ethical  judgment 
on  the  group  which  practices  them. 

601.  Mexican  mores.  Drunkenness.  In  Mexico  also  there 
were  goddesses  of  erotic  passion  to  whom  men  and  women  were 
consecrated.  Courtesans  sometimes  immolated  themselves  in 
the  service  of  the  goddess.  The  notion  of  virtue  in  resistance 
to  passion  existed,  but  the  goddess,  like  the  Greek  Venus, 
resjnted  any  effort  to  escape  her  sway  and  exerted  herself  to 
defeat  it.^  The  Mayas  did  not  maintain  a  severe  form  of  sex 
taboo  and  they  had  festivals  at  which  that  taboo  was  entirely 
suspended.^  Pederasty  also  existed  under  the  sanction  of  reli- 
gion. Young  men  in  the  training  house,  which  was  a  house  of 
lamentation  and  penance,  were  allowed  license  which  was  con- 
trary to  the  current  mores  of  the  society,  but  was  an  old  priv- 
ilege of  soldiers.  The  dances  which  they  performed  daily  were 
obscene.  The  persons  in  the  dance  represented  vegetation 
demons,  and  the  dances  helped  to  get  good  crops.*  The  notion 
was  not  to  employ  sympathetic  magic,  but  the  men,  by  parallel 
operations,  were  supposed  to  help  in  the  work  of  fructification 
which  the  demons  were  accomplishing  in  the  plant.  Hence  a 
great  drama  of  human  cooperation  was  carried  on  in  the  dances. 
Snakes  and  frogs  were  eaten  because  they  were  demons  of  rain 
and  growth.  The  obscene  dances  were  "  not  consequences  of  sex 
desire,  but,  on  account  of  their  antiquity,  they  were  accepted 
as  a  matter  of  course."  ^  At  the  time  of  the  Spanish  conquest 
public  opinion  about  the  dances  was  not  fixed,  but  they  lasted 
on  through  the  force  of  ancient  religious  tradition.  We  may  be 
sure  that  the  case  of  Mexico  throws  light  on  the  ancient  usages 
of  sacral  harlotry.  In  comparatively  recent  times  there  were 
cases  in  Russia  of  sex  license  on  the  eve  of  great  Christian 
festivals.^    There  is  a  parallel  also,  amongst  the  Mexicans,  in 

1  Dubois,  I,  439.     2  Bancroft,  lYative  Races  of  the  Pacific  Coast,  II,  336 ;  III,  377. 
3  Ibid.,  II,  676.        4  Archivf.  Attt/irop.,  XXIX,  153,  15S,  164. 
s  Ibid.,  173.  6  Petri,  Anthropology  (russ.),  435. 


SACRAL  HARLOTRY.     CHILD   SACRIFICE  549 

the  case  of  drunkenness.  Religion  controlled  and  forbade  drunk- 
enness, but  then  again  allowed  it  on  specified  occasions.  To 
drink  pulque  was  forbidden,  under  penalty  of  death,  except  to 
prescribed  persons  at  certain  festivals,  but  on  the  festival  of  the 
fire  god  all  intoxicated  themselves  by  custom  and  tradition.^ 
Kings  in  Central  America  were  expressly  allowed  to  intoxicate 
themselves  at  festivals,  and  functionaries  were  appointed  to 
perform  their  duties  while  they  were  incapacitated.  It  is  now- 
adays considered  not  dishonorable  to  become  intoxicated  during 
festivals,  and  "  it  may  be  observed  that  Indians  now  thank  God 
for  the  gift  of  drunkenness."  ^  That  is  a  case  of  the  persistence 
of  ideas  born  of  old  mores  long  after  another  religion  and  social 
system  have  displaced  the  folkways  themselves. 

602.  Japanese  mores.  In  Japan  the  government  formerly 
bought  girls  of  fourteen  from  their  parents  and  caused  them  to  be 
educated  in  feminine  accomplishments.  For  ten  years  they  lived 
as  courtesans  to  the  profit  of  the  state.  They  were  then  dis- 
charged with  a  sum  of  money.  The  number  of  them  at  one  time 
was  twenty  thousand.  They  furnished  at  the  tea  houses  after- 
noon entertainments  at  which  families  were  present,  but  men 
alone  remained  later.^  When  a  people,  through  acquaintance 
with  mores  different  from  its  own,  is  led  to  philosophize  about 
the  latter,  or  is  made  conscious  of  them  and  uncertain  about 
them,  then  the  old  mores  of  that  people  lose  their  innocence. 
The  Japanese  have  had  much  experience  of  this  within  fifty 
years. 

603.  Chinese  religion  and  mores.  For  contrast  it  may  be  worth 
while  to  notice  the  evidence  collected  by  Schallmeyer^  that  the 
specifically  Chinese  religions  are  free  from  all  immoral  notions 
and  usages.  Indeed  the  Chinese  religions  are  said  to  be  hostile 
to  indecency.  Meadows  is  quoted  as  saying  that  any  sentence 
of  the  canonical  writings  of  China  could  be  read  in  any  English 
family  without  offense,  and  that  there  is  nothing  in  Chinese 
religious  rites  resembling  the  immoral  rites  which  are  met  with 
elsewhere.    Chinese  lyric  poetry  is  said  to  be  pure. 

1  Archh'  f.  Anthrop.,  XXIX,  169.  ^  Oliphant,  China  and /afaii,  II,  494. 

2  Globus,  LXXXVII,  130.  ■*  Vei-erbiing  mid  Aiish'se,  200. 


550 


FOLKWAYS 


604.  Philosophy  of  -interest  in  reproduction.  Incest.  Some 
reserve  in  regard  to  the  interpretation  of  myths  is  proper  and 
necessary,  but  the  absorbing  interest  of  sex  production  for  man, 
after  he  begins  to  depend  upon  it  and  cooperate  with  it  for  his 
food  supply,  is  a  product  of  the  study  of  myths  which  may  be 
accepted  with  confidence.  That  interest  was  no  more  sensual 
than  interest  in  the  rainfall,  and  the  mythologizing  about  it  was 
no  more  depraved  than  mythologizing  about  creation  or  language. 
Men  were  sure  to  apply  all  which  they  learned  about  reproduc- 
tion in  food  plants  and  animals  to  their  own  reproduction.  If 
Chaldean  civilization  goes  back  five  or  six  thousand  years  before 
Christ,  then  the  Chaldeans  had  had  ample  time,  even  before 
Hammurabi,  to  experience  the  evils  of  overpopulation  and  of 
sex  vice.  In  the  Chaldean  mythology  Ishtar,  goddess  of  all  sex 
attraction  and  repulsion,  destroyed  all  the  lovers  whom  she 
selected.  She  had  the  double  character,  which  appears  in  all 
myths  and  philosophy,  of  sex  license  and  sex  renunciation 
together.  She  was  a  goddess  of  the  mother  family  and  polyan- 
dries The  two  policies,  sex  license  and  sex  renunciation,  were 
both  advocated  at  the  same  time  in  the  early  centuries  of  the 
Christian  era  and  in  the  Middle  Ages.  Men  found  out  that  the 
problem  of  reproduction  for  them  was  far  more  complicated  than 
the  multiplication  of  dates  to  the  utmost  limit.  At  this  point  of 
knowledge  instinctive  or  intelligent  regulations  had  to  be  put 
on  physical  appetites.  For  primitive  men  the  reproductive 
function  is  as  simple  a  function  as  eating  or  sleeping.  It  is  not 
in  itself  wicked  or  base.  It  is  naiVe  until  knowledge  comes. 
Then  it  is  found  that  rules  must  be  made  to  regulate  the  interest. 
If  there  are  rules,  there  is  the  sense  of  wrongdoing  in  the 
breach  of  them.  A  thing  which  is  tabooed  becomes  interesting 
and  more  or  less  awful.  The  numbers  of  the  sexes  are  never 
exactly  equal,  and  the  proportion  is  further  disturbed  by  polyg- 
amy. Therefore  experience  of  evil  and  inconvenience  forced 
some  reflection  and  some  judgments  as  to  life  policy.  Regula- 
tions were  devised  behind  which  there  was  a  philosophy  of  the 
satisfaction  of  interests  ;  that  is  to  say,  mores  were  developed 

1  Tiele-Gehrich,  Relig.  in  Alterthutne,  I,  169. 


SACRAL   HARLOTRY.     CHILD  SACRIFICE  551 

to  cover  the  case.  There  seems  also  to  be  some  connection 
between  sacral  harlotry  and  the  prevention  of  incest.  The 
poorest  who  cannot  marry  or  buy  slaves  have  always  practiced 
incest  (sec.  5  16).  Sacral  harlotry  won  another  religious  sanction 
from  these  cases.  In  the  laws  of  Hammurabi  we  find  two  classes 
of  women  attached  to  the  temple.  If  the  interpretations  of  the 
specialists  may  be  trusted,  the  arrangement  was  in  one  class  of 
cases  in  the  nature  of  a  life  annuity,  and  those  who  had  no 
husband  had  the  god  for  a  husband,- — an  idea  which,  with  one 
or  another  new  coloring,  has  come  down  to  our  own  time.  That 
any  one  should  renounce  the  sex  function  was  not  within  the 
mental  horizon  of  early  times.  When  the  women  lived  in  the 
temple  that  fact  established  conventionalization  about  them  and 
gave  to  their  life  that  regulation  which  has  made  decency  and 
order  in  all  ages.  Their  case  was  defined  and  sanctioned  in  the 
mores.  The  couples  retired  outside  the  temple.^  When  marriage 
was  accompanied  by  very  easy  divorce  and  could  not  be  defined 
except  as  a  form  of  property  right  of  the  husband,  when  there 
were  concubines  who  were  not  wives  only  because  they  had  no 
property,  and  slaves  who  had  no  defined  relation  to  the  house- 
hold until  they  had  borne  children  to  the  head  of  it,  the  women 
in  the  temple  might  be  surrounded  by  other  special  forms  of 
taboo  which  would  give  them  a  status  within  the  mores.  They 
were  "holy"  by  virtue  of  their  consecration  to  the  goddess.^ 
So  far  as  we  know,  their  lives  were  not  spent  in  dissipation. 
The  accounts  in  Herodotus  and  Baruch  vi.  43,  of  the  later  usage 
at  Babylon  show  that  there  was  method  and  decorum  in  the 
institution,  and  that  it  was  carried  on  with  conventional  dignity. 
It  is  our  custom  to  think  out  the  consistency  of  all  our  doctrines 
and  usages.  It  is  certain  that  ancient  peoples  did  not  do  that, 
just  as  the  masses  now  do  not.  They  accepted  and  lived  in 
unquestioned  usage.  Therefore  we  know  of  cases  in  classic 
society  in  which  maidens  and  matrons  on  special  occasions 
shared  in  functions  which  seem  totally  repugnant  to  their 
character.    The   explanation  lies   in  conventionalization  within 

1  Herod.,  I,  199;   Hosea  iv.  14;   W.  R.  Smith,  7\elig.  of  the  Semites,  454. 

2  W.  R.  Smith,  Eehg:  of  the  Semites,  141. 


552  FOLKWAYS 

the  mores  for  an  occasion  or  under  a  conjuncture  of  circum- 
stances. It  is  unquestionably  possible  that  in  that  way  lewdness 
can  be  set  aside  and  thus  corrupting  effect  on  character  can  be 
prevented. 

605.  The  archaic  is  sacred.  In  the  minds  of  primitive  people 
all  which  is  archaic  is  sacred  and  all  which  is  novel  is  question- 
able. Therefore  religion  holds  and  consecrates  whatever  is 
archaic  and  traditional.  The  appetites  of  men  were  anterior  to 
any  mores  regulative  of  them,  and  the  goddess  Ishtar,  Astarte, 
Aphrodite,  or  Venus  is  a  goddess  of  erotic  passion  and  repro- 
duction. The  folkways  devised  to  prevent  experienced  ills  are 
an  invasion  of  her  domain  and  a  rebellion  against  her  sway.  The 
regulations  cannot  be  made  absolute  for  a  long  time.  There 
must  be  a  compromise.  Some  females  must  be  given  to  the 
goddess  as  devotees,  at  least  under  conditions,  or  there  must  be 
set  times  and  places  within  which  her  sway  shall  be  unhampered 
by  human  rules.  The  conditions  establish  conventionalization 
around  an  institution.  It  is  by  this  process  and  by  changing 
the  conditions  that  marriage  has  been  made  what  it  now  is. 
Concubinage,  slave  women,  harlotry,  and  all  other  forms  but  the 
prescribed  one  have  been  put  under  taboo.  It  is  very  possible 
that  some  future  generation  will  look  back  in  wonder  at  our 
self-complacency,  which  feels  no  care  or  responsibility  for  the 
women  who  are  forced,  in  our  system,  to  renounce  sex.  It  is 
safe  to  say  that  the  Chaldeans  of  2500  B.C.  would  have  been  as 
much  shocked  at  the  inhumanity  of  our  arrangement  as  we  can 
be  at  the  lewdness  of  theirs. 

606.  Child  sacrifice.  The  temple  consecration  of  women  must 
be  connected  with  child  sacrifice.  The  latter  is  logically  anterior. 
Their  historical  relation  we  do  not  know.  To  dedicate  a  girl  to 
the  goddess  would  be  an  alternative  to  the  sacrifice  of  her.  All 
forms  of  child  sacrifice  and  sacral  suicide  go  back  to  the  pangs 
and  terrors  of  men  under  loss  and  calamity.  Something  must  be 
found  which  would  wring  pity  and  concession  from  the  awful 
superior  powers  who  afflict  mankind.  Every  one  born  under  this 
human  lot  must  perish  if  he  is  not  redeemed.  His  first  vicarious 
sacrifice  is  his  firstborn,  but  if  he  can  get  a  war  captive  from  a 


SACRAL   HARLOTRY.     CHILD   SACRIFICE  553 

foreign  group  this  substitute  may  be  accepted.  The  Mexican 
human  sacrifices  were  of  this  kind.  The  people  stood  around 
assenting  and  rejoicing,  because  the  rite  meant  salvation  to  them- 
selves and  their  children.  A  man  who  took  a  captive  in  war 
gave  him  to  the  priest  to  be  sacrificed,  and  he  might  not  eat  of 
the  flesh,  "since  the  victim  was  in  a  sense  his  son,"  that  is,  took 
the  place  of  his  son  as  a  vicarious  sacrifice  for  himself.  They 
also  sacrificed  their  own  infants.^  Child  sacrifice  expresses  the 
deepest  horror  and  suffering  produced  by  experience  of  the  human 
lot.  Men  must  do  it.  Their  interests  demanded  it,  however 
much  it  might  pain  them.  Human  sacrifices  may  be  said  to  have 
been  universal.  They  lasted  down  to  the  half-civilized  stage  of 
all  nations  and  sporadically  even  later,^  and  they  have  barely 
ceased  amongst  the  present  half-civilized  peoples.^  They  are  not 
primarily  religious.  They  are  a  reaction  of  men  under  the 
experience  of  the  ills  of  life,  inventing  a  world  philosophy  and 
putting  agents  behind  it,  in  order  to  have  something,  if  it  be  only 
a  delusion,  to  which  hope  of  escape  can  attach.  Human  sacri- 
fices are  based  on  an  inference  or  deduction.  There  is  behind 
them  an  assumption  as  to  the  character  and  logic  of  the  superior 
powers  who  rule  the  aleatory  interest.  It  is  not  until  skepticism 
arises  as  to  this  assumption  that  the  usage  can  be  given  up. 

607.  Beast  sacrifice  substituted  for  human  sacrifice.  In  the 
case  of  Abraham  and  Isaac,  the  former  was  "tried"  by  God, 
apparently  meaning  that  he  underwent  some  doubt  whether  he 
ought  not  to  sacrifice  his  son  as  other  west  Semites  did  theirs, 
and  whether  a  beast  would  not  suffice  (Gen.  xxii.  7).  For  his 
descendants  the  legend  fixed  the  usage  and  doctrine  (verse  13), 
different  from  that  of  the  other  west  Semites,  that  a  beast  was  a 
due  substitute.  The  Chaldees  followed  the  same  reasoning.* 
According  to  the  mythology  of  the  Egyptians  there  was  a  great 
destruction  of  men  in  the  reign  of  the  god  Ra,  but  when  he 
mounted  to  the  sky  he  replaced  the  sacrifice  of  men  by  that  of 

1  Bancroft,  N'ative  Races  of  the  Pacific  Coast,  II,  305,  308-309. 

2  Schrader,  Prehist.  Antiq.  of  the  Aryans,  422. 

3  Hopkins,  Relig.  of  India,  363,  450. 

*  Maspero,  Peiiples  de  /'  Orient,  I,  680.  -     >.  •.    


554 


FOLKWAYS 


beasts.^  In  the  tragedy  of  IpJiigenia,  Iphigenia  is  not  slain. 
Artemis  snatches  her  away  and  puts  a  hind  in  her  place.  Robert- 
son Smith  2  thinks  that  the  notion  of  the  ancients  that  the  sacri- 
fice of  human  beings  was  anterior  to  that  of  beasts,  and  that  the 
latter  were  substitutes,  was  a  "  false  inference  from  traditional 
forms  of  ritual  that  had  ceased  to  be  understood."  At  Hierapolis 
sacrificed  children  were  called  oxen.^  All  the  Baals  demanded 
human  sacrifices.^  In  every  case  in  which  the  mores  had  over- 
come the  terror  which  made  human  sacrifices,  the  mythology 
invented  explanations.  It  was  forbidden  to  the  Jews  to  make 
their  children  ''pass  through  the  fire"  to  Molech.^  They  often 
did  it.  This  shows  that  their  mores  had  not  yet  outgrown  it,  but 
that  religious  teachers  were  trying  to  forbid  it.^  They  held  the 
same  doctrine  as  the  neighboring  nations,  that  the  firstborn 
belonged  to  God."  The  firstborn  must  be  sacrificed  or  redeemed.^ 
They  had  doctrines  of  ransom  by  beasts,  as  above,  or  by  money,^ 
or  by  circumcision,  if  the  incoherent  text  is  rightly  interpreted.^'^ 
Nevertheless,  they  never  were  sure  enough  of  their  position 
before  the  captivity  to  Jwld  to  it  against  the  faith  and  usage  of 
neighboring  nations.^^  The  doctrine  in  Micah  vi.  6-8,  as  early  as 
the  end  of  the  eighth  century  b.c,  raised  the  real  issue  about  the 
sense  and  utility  of  all  sacrifices  in  its  widest  form,  but  that 
doctrine  was  much  too  far  beyond  the  mores  of  the  time  to  have 
any  effect. 

608.  Mexican  doctrine  of  greater  power  through  death.  Preuss 
says  :  "  In  the  ancient  Mexican  cultus  I  recognized,  to  my  as- 
tonishment, that  really  spirits  were  killed  in  the  sacrificed  men, 
in  order  that  they  [the  spirits]  might  thus  be  rendered  capable 
of  being  born  again,  and  rendering  greater  services  to  men."  ^^ 

'^yi2iS'peio,Peitples  de  rOrient,l,i2T,.  ^  Ibid.,  366,  375. 

2  Relig.  of  the  Sefiiites,  365.  *  Cf.  Deut.  xviii.  10;  2  Kings  xvi.  3;  xxi.  6. 

5  Levit.  xviii.  21 ;  Deut.  xviii.  10.  Molech  is  afalse  word.  It  has  the  consonants 
of  the  word  for  "king"  and  the  vowels  of  the  word  for  "shameful  thing" 
(W.  R.  Smith,  Relig.  of  the  Semites,  67). 

8  2  Kings  xvi.  3  ;  xvii.  7  ;  xxi.  6  ;  xxiii.  10.  "^  Ex.  xxii.  29. 

8  Ex.  xxxiv.  20.  ^  Num.  xviii.  ^5.  i"  Ex.  iv.  24. 

11  Jer.  xxxii.  35;  Ezek.  xx.  26,  31.  According  to  2  Chron.  xxviii.  3,  Ahaz 
offered  his  son  in  the  stress  of  war  (Hastings,  Diet,  of  the  Bible,  Relig.  of  Israel). 

12  CMwj,  LXXXVI,  321. 


SACRAL   HARLOTRY.     CHILD   SACRIFICE  555 

Death  was  believed  to  enhance  the  power  of  the  spirits  who  ruled 
meteorological  phenomena.  The  notion  was  that  insects  caused 
meteorological  phenomena ;  then  they  were  gods  ;  the  insects 
and  beasts  gave  to  the  gods  the  magic  power  which  they  (insects 
and  beasts)  once  had  over  rainfall,  etc.  The  humming  bird  which 
hibernates  and  wakes  again  in  spring  was  thought  to  cause  the 
heat  of  summer.  Therefore  it  was  taken  to  be  an  envelope  of 
the  war  god.  Free  flow  of  blood  lets  loose  magic  power.  Hence 
the  great  bloodshedding  in  the  Mexican  cultus.  "  Human  sacri- 
fice is  in  Mexico  the  same  in  sense  as  beast  sacrifice.  In  both 
cases,  magic  powers,  magic  beasts  and  spirits,  are  killed."  By 
death  new  birth  with  greater  magic  power  becomes  possible .^ 

609.  Motives  of  child  sacrifice.  The  Semites  adopted  the  world 
philosophy  which  lies  back  of  human  sacrifice  and  incorporated 
it  with  their  religion,  which  thereby  became  gloomy  and  ferocious. 
What  a  man  must  sacrifice  was  what  he  loved  most,  and  that  was 
his  firstborn  child.  It  was  rationalizing  to  argue  that  a  beast 
could  be  substituted  with  equal  effect,  and  we  often  find  that, 
people  who  had  advanced  to  that  point  of  philosophy,  when  face 
to  face  with  a  great  calamity  showed  that  they  did  not  believe 
that  the  effect  was  equal.  They  went  back  to  child  sacrifice. ^  The 
Hebrews  in  the  seventh  century  thought  that  they  felt  the  wrath 
of  God  and  they  tried  to  avert  it  in  this  way.^  Tiele  thinks  that 
there  is  no  evidence  of  child  sacrifice  or  of  the  temple  consecration 
of  women  in  the  Euphrates  valley  in  historical  times,  but  in  Syria 
and  Arabia  child  sacrifice  lasted  on  in  spite  of  the  culture  of 
the  Aramaeans  and  Phoenicians.  In  old  Arabia  fathers  burned 
their  little  daughters  as  sacrifices  to  the  goddess.*  Human  sacri- 
fices were  used  for  auguries  before  any  important  enterprise,  and 
as  thank  offerings  for  victory  or  success.  Every  year  a  num- 
ber of  children  of  the  foremost  families  were  sacrificed  as  an 
expiation  for  the  sins  of  the  nation,  "while  fiendish  music 
drowned  their  cries  and  the  lamentations  of  their  mothers."^ 

1  Globus,  LXXXVI,ii7-ii9. 

2  Possibly  2  Kings  iii.  27;   2  Chron.  xxviii.  3;   Pietschmann,  Phoenizier,  167. 

3  W.  R.  Smith,  Relig.  of  the  Semites,  465.  *  Ibid.,  370. 

^  Tiele-Gehrich,  Relig.  im  Alterthinn,  I,  212,  240 ;   Maspero,  Peuples  de  P Orient, 
I,  680 ;  Sanchuniathon  apud  Euseb.,  Prep.  Evang.,  I,  10. 


556  FOLKWAYS 

The  Carthaginians  kept  up  the  custom.  The  leading  families  were 
bound  to  furnish  the  sacrifice  as  representatives  of  the  common- 
wealth. The  children  to  be  sacrificed  were  selected  by  lot  from 
those  who  were  liable.  Children  were  exchanged  in  order  to  be 
saved.  The  parents  might  not  lament,  for  to  do  so  would  deprive 
the  sacrifice  of  its  efficacy. ^  The  custom  was  an  abomination  to 
the  Romans,  but  it  was  so  firmly  fixed  in  the  mores  of  the  Cartha- 
ginians that  the  conquerors  could  not  stop  it.  The  proconsul 
Tiberius  put  an  end  to  it  by  hanging  the  priests  of  the  cult  to  the 
trees  of  their  own  temple  grove.^  As  Tertullian  says  that  soldiers 
who  executed  this  order  were  still  living  when  he  wrote,  the 
order  of  Tiberius  must  have  been  issued  about  the  middle  of  the 
second  century  a.d.  or  a  little  later. 

610.  Dedication  by  vows.  The  connection  between  child  sacri- 
fice and  the  temple  consecration  of  girls  is  in  the  substitution 
of  the  latter  for  the  former,  as  a  ransom.  The  girl  devoted  to 
death  belonged  to  the  goddess  in  one  way,  if  not  in  the  other. 

.Vows  made  in  illness  sometimes  included  such  substitution.  In 
the  historic  period,  after  child  sacrifice  had  ceased  in  the  Eu- 
phrates valley,  many  variations  occurred.  Barren  women  made 
vows.  Children  were  vowed  to  the  goddess  for  life  or  for  a  time. 
They  were  redeemed  by  money  which  they  earned  in  the.  temple 
life.  The  accumulation  of  a  dowry  was  only  a  variation.^  In 
later  times  (second  century  a.d.)  we  find  the  sacrifice  of  a 
woman's  hair  as  a  substitute  for  herself.*  Men  were  also  dedi- 
cated in  sex  perversion. 

611.  Degeneration  of  the  customs  of  consecrating  women. 
Evidently  vicarious  sacrifice  and  expiatory  sacrifice  are  very 
ancient  heathen  ideas.  They  contain  deductions  and  assump- 
tions about  the  nature  of  the  deity  which  are  of  the  first  theo- 
logical importance.  The  cases  of  custom  which  have  been 
described  also  show  the  power  and  persistency  of  theological 
dogma  to  override  for  centuries  the  strongest  interests  and  senti- 
ments. Evidently  the  variations  in  the  custom  marked  the  break- 
ing down  of  the  boundaries  which  held  it  firm  in  the  religious 

1  Pietschmann,  Phoenizier^  229.  ^  Pietschmann,  Phoenizier,  222. 

2  Tertullian,  ApoL,  9.  *  Lucian,  De  Syria  Dea,  6. 


SACRAL  HARLOTRY.     CHILD  SACRIFICE  557 

mores.  The  Babylonian  custom  described  by  Herodotus  seems 
to  be  a  variation  by  which  every  woman  was  held  bound  to 
the  goddess.  Then  sensuality,  priestcraft,  greed,  and  frivolity 
easily  used  such  a  custom  until  it  became  a  root  of  corruption. 
This  is  what  happened,  and  forms  of  the  custom  which  had  no 
sense  but  the  gratification  of  licentiousness  spread  around  the 
Mediterranean.  The  old  female  sex  mores  were  very  simple 
and  austere,  but  they  were  corrupted  after  the  middle  of  the 
second  century  B.C.  Those  of  Roman  Carthage,  if  we  can  trust 
Salvianus,  became  more  corrupt  than  those  of  Punic  Carthage 
ever  had  been.  They  were  less  ferocious  and  more  frankly 
voluptuous.  Salvianus's  description  of  southern  Gaul  makes  it 
as  bad  as  Africa.  According  to  him  the  Vandals  were  pure- 
minded,  and  their  mores  were  so  pure  and  firm  that  they  suc- 
cessfully resisted  the  Roman  corruption  and  put  the  sex  relation 
back  again  on  the  basis  of  the  "  law  of  God."  ^ 

612.  Our  traditions  from  Israel.  If  now  we  turn  back  to  the 
Israelites  we  can  see  the  stream  by  which  our  own  mores  have 
come  down  to  us.  There  arose  amongst  the  Israelites,  in  the 
tenth  century  B.C.,  an  opposition  to  the  religion  which  was 
common  to  the  west  Semites.  It  was  like  the  reform  of  the 
Iranian' religion  by  the  magi,  who  produced  a  religion  which  was 
too  severe  and  exacting  for  any  but  priests  to  live  by  it.  There 
have  also  been  many  attempts  to  reform  Islam  from  within. 
They  have  taken  the  form  of  throwing  off  later  additions  and 
returning  to  primitive  purity,  that  is,  to  the  mode  of  life  of 
Arabs  in  Mohammed's  time.  In  some  cases  (e.g.  the  Wahabees 
of  the  nineteenth  century)  the  reforms  have  originated  with 
people  who  were  on  a  lower  grade  of  life  than  the  mass  of 
Moslems.  Present-day  scholars  find  the  origin  of  the  resistance 
of  Israelitish  prophets  to  the  prevailing  religion  of  western  Asia 
in  the  hostility  of  a  rustic  population,  with  a  primitive  mode  of 
life  and  archaic  mores,  to  the  luxury  of  Tyre  and  Sidon,  wealthy 
cities  of  commerce  and  industry. ^  The  conflict  was  between  two 
sets  of  mores.    The  biblical  scholars  now  tell  us  that  Jahveh 

1  De  Gubernat.  Dei,  VII,  72-77;  cf.  VII,  15-16,   27,  86,  97-100. 

2  Barton,  Semitic  Origins^  300. 


558  FOLKWAYS 

was  a  Baal  amongst  other  Palestinian  Baals  until  this  antagonism 
arose.  Then  he  was  made  the  god  in  whose  name  the  ancient 
mores  of  Israel  were  defended  against  the  introduction  of  lux- 
ury and  licentiousness.  The  antagonism  was  between  simple, 
rustic,  largely  pastoral  modes  of  life  and  the  ways  of  cities  with 
wealth,  culture,  and  luxury.  This  is  a  permanent  social  antag- 
onism, but  it  carried  with  it  the  antagonism  of  simplicity  to  sen- 
suality, materialism,  formal  manners,  and  luxury.  For  four  or 
five  centuries  a  succession  of  "  prophets  "  developed  the  antag- 
onism between  the  Jahveh  rehgion  and  heathenism.  They  main- 
tained that  Jahveh  was  not  only  the  single  god  of  the  Hebrews 
but  the  sole  God  of  all  the  earth.  Other  gods  were  nullities. 
The  prophets  condemned  idolatry,  and  all  sensuality,  licentious- 
ness, and  bestiality,  with  which  they  connected  all  sorcery  and 
divination.  They  insisted  on  a  broad  and  firm  sex  taboo  and 
denounced  sacral  harlotry  and  child  sacrifice  together.  It  must 
be  remembered  that  the  peoples  of  that  age  generally  regarded 
sex  usages  which  seem  to  us  the  most  abominable  as  trivial, 
unworthy  of  notice,  matters  of  personal  liberty  and  choice. 
Brahmins,  a  century  ago,  held  that  view  of  pederasty. ^  The 
prophets  also  set  in  opposition  to  their  own  traditional  ritual 
religion  a  doctrine  of  righteousness,  by  which  religion  was  made 
ethical.  It  was  a  marvelous  product  for  an  insignificant  hill 
people.  It  is,  however,  to  be  noticed  that  in  the  Zend-Avesta 
there  was  also  a  great  revolt  against  sex  vice.^ 

613.  How  the  Jewish  view  of  sensuality  came  to  prevail.  The 
religious  system  of  the  Jewish  prophets  never  has  become  the 
actual  popular  religion  of  any  people.  The  Old  Testament  con- 
tains the  story  of  the  protests  and  failures  of  the  prophets. 
Their  work  did  not  issue  from  the  mores  of  the  Jewish  nation, 
and  did  not  influence  the  mores  before  the  captivity.  The 
prophets  were  trying  to  introduce  a  new  world  philosophy 
by  virtue  of  its  ethical  value  and  by  interpretations  of  cur- 
rent political  history.  In  Jer.  xliv  we  see  the  latter  argument 
turned  against  the  prophet.  The  people  cite  their  own  expe- 
rience.   When  they  served  the  Queen  of  Heaven  they  fared  well. 

1  Dubois,  Mcetirs  de  rinde,  439.         2  Darmstetter,  Zend-Avesta,  I,  100,  102. 


SACRAL  HARLOTRY.     CHILD  SACRIFICE  559 

In  the  rabbinical  period  the  Jews  emphasized  everything  which 
could  differentiate  them  from  heathen,  and  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment we  find  that  idolatry  and  sensuality  are  presented  as  the 
two  great  heathen  characteristics  which  Christians  are  to  avoid. 
It  is  impossible  for  us  to  know  to  what  extent  the  mores  of  the 
masses,  in  the  western  Roman  empire,  were  marked  by  the 
ancient  Roman  austerity  in  the  sex  mores.  It  is,  however,  rea- 
sonable to  believe  that  the  ancient  mores  prevailed  most  in 
the  class  amongst  whom  Christian  converts  were  found.  Sal- 
vianus  also  gives  to  the  German  nations  very  remarkable  testi- 
mony as  to  their  freedom  from  sensuality  and  sex  vice.  The 
experience  of  societies  also  went  to  prove  that  such  vice  can 
corrupt  the  finest  brain  and  the  most  cultivated  character ; 
also  that,  if  it  becomes  current  in  a  society,  as  pederasty  and 
prostitution  did  in  the  Greco-Roman  world,  it  will  eat  out  all 
manly  virtues,  all  cooperative  devotion,  the  love  of  children,  the 
energy  of  invention  and  production,  of  an  entire  population. 
Thus  by  the  syncretism  of  the  mores  of  the  nations,  and  by 
experience,  the  conviction  was  produced  that  the  view  of  sensu- 
ality and  sex  vice  which  the  Jewish  prophets  taught  was  true, 
and  that  that  view  was  the  most  important  part  of  the  mores 
and  of  religion  for  the  welfare  of  mankind. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

POPULAR  SPORTS,  EXHIBITIONS,  AND  DRAMA 

Limits  of  the  study,  Introduction.  ■ —  Literature  and  drama  in  ethology.  — 
Public  amusements  of  the  uncivilized  ;  reversion  to  archaic,  "  natural  " 
ways.  —  Chaldean  and  Mexican  myths  of  reproduction  dramatically  repre- 
sented.—  Limit  of  toleration  for  propriety  in  exhibitions.  —  Origin  of  the 
Athenian  drama.  —  Drama  and  worship  ;  customs  derived  from  the  mys- 
teries.—  The  word  "  God." — Kinship  yields  to  religion  as  social  tie. — 
Religion  and  drama ;  syncretism.  —  Beginnings  of  the   theater  at   Rome. 

—  Gladiatorial  exhibitions.  —  Spread  of  gladiatorial  exhibitions.  —  The 
folk  drama.  —  The  popular  taste  ;  realism  ;  conventionality  ;  satire.  — 
Popular  exhibitions.  —  Ancient  popular  festivals.  —  The  mijuus.  —  Modern 
analogies.  —  Biologs  and  ethologs.  —  Dickens  as  a  biolog.  —  Early  Jewish 
plays.  —  The    Roman   iniinus.  —  The   Suffering    Christ;   Psetido-quer'ohis. 

—  The  ininius  and  Christianity.  —  Popular  phantasms.  —  Effects  of  vicious 
amusements.  —  Gladiatorial  games.  ■ — •  Compromise  between  the  church  and 
popular  customs.  —  The  ca/itica.  —  Passion  for  the  games.  — •  German  sports. 

—  The  miijius  from  the  third  to  the  eighth  century.  —  The  drama  in  the 
Orient.  —  Marionettes.  —  The  drama  in  India.  —  Punch  in  the  West. — 
Resistance  of  the  church  to  the  drama.  —  Hrotsvitha. — The  jongleurs; 
processions.  —  Adam  de  la  Halle.  —  The  flagellants.  —  Use  of  churches 
for  dramatic  exhibitions.  —  Protest  against  misuse  of  churches.  —  Tolera- 
tion of  jests  by  the  ecclesiastics.  —  Fictitious  literature. —  Romances  of 
roguery.  —  Picaresque  novels.  — Books  of  beggars.  —  At  the  beginning  of 
the  sixteenth  century.  —  The  theater  at  Venice.  —  Dancing  ;  public  sports. 

—  Women  in  the  theater  and  on  the  stage.  —  The  cotnniedia  del  arte.  —  Jest 
books;  Italian  comedy  at  Vdius.  —  Co/nrnedia  del  a/'te  in  Italy.  —  Sum- 
mary and  review.  —  Amusements  need  the  control  of  educated  judgment 
and  will.  —  Amusements  do  not  satisfy  the  current  notions  of  progress. 

Limits.  The  cases  of  public  amusement  and  entertainment 
which  shall  here  be  mentioned  are  such  as  were  within  the  limits 
of  usage  and  accepted  propriety  at  the  time.  They  are  not  cases 
of  vice  or  of  disputed  propriety  at  the  time.  Drunkenness, 
gambling,  bull  baiting,  cockfighting,  and  prize  fighting  are  amuse- 
ments which  have  entered  into  the  mores  of  groups  and  sub- 
groups, as  bullfighting  still  does  in  Spain,  but  they  were  limited 
to  classes  or  groups,  or  they  were  important  on  account  of  the 

560 


POPULAR  SPORTS,  EXHIBITIONS,  AND   DRAMA      56 1 

excess,  or  they  were  disapproved  by  great  numbers  or  by  the 
ecclesiastical  authorities.  They  would,  therefore,  lie  outside  the 
mores,  to  which  the  cases  to  be  noticed  belonged.  The  theater 
in  England  in  Charles  II's  time  testified  to  a  depraved  taste  and 
a  low  standard  of  morals,  but  it  was  temporary  and  indeed  limited 
in  time.  In  different  groups  also  the  moral  standards  are  unequal 
at  the  same  time,  and  the  mores  are  on  different  levels.  There 
is  a  wider  limit  now  for  romances  and  dramas  in  France  than  in 
English-speaking  countries.  The  cases  which  now  interest  us 
are  those  of  long  and  wide  currency,  which  the  mores  have  firmly 
established  according  to  current  standards,  even  though  moral- 
ists may  have  inveighed  against  them  sometimes,  as  the  same 
class  now  sometimes  denounces  all  dancing. 

The  cases  here  to  be  noticed  are  further  illustrations  of  the 
fact  that  the  mores  can  make  anything  right,  and  can  protect 
anything  from  condemnation,  in  addition  to  those  in  the  last  two 
chapters. 

614.  Literature  and  drama  in  ethology.  Poetry,  drama,  and 
literary  fiction  are  useful  to  ethology  in  one  or  the  other  of  two 
ways:  (i)  they  reveal  facts  of  the  mores;  (2)  they  show  the 
longings  and  ideals  of  the  group,  —  in  short,  what  the"  people  like 
and  wish  for.  The  second  division  includes  mythology,  fairy  tales, 
and  extravaganzas.  The  taste  for  them,  if  it  exists,  is  a  feature 
of  the  mores,  but  in  fact  such  a  taste  is  hardly  ever  popular.  It 
is  a  product  of  culture.  Myths,  legends,  proverbs,  fables,  riddles, 
etc.,  are  popular  products. 

615.  Public  amusements  of  the  uncivilized.  Reversion  to 
archaic,  ''natural"  ways.  We  find  in  savage  life,  almost  uni- 
versally unless  the  group  has  been  crushed  by  conquest  or  mis- 
fortune, festivals,  games,  dances,  and  orgies,  which  are  often 
celebrated  with  masks  and  dramatic  action.  The  motives  are 
fidelity  to  the  traditions  of  ancestors,  entertainment,  sex  excite- 
ment, war  enthusiasm,  and  occult  influence  in  aid  of  the  food 
quest.  The  dramatic  representation  of  sex  attraction  and  of  the 
ways  of  animals  is  often  intensely  graphic,  and  it  gives  great 
pleasure  to  the  spectators.  An  occult  effect,  to  bring  about  what 
is  desired  in  war  or  the  chase  by  enacting  it  in  a  dance  or  play, 


562  FOLKWAYS 

involves  demonism,  the  existing  form  of  religion.  Therefore 
religion,  dramatic  dances,  music,  songs,  emotional  suggestion, 
and  sex  stimulation  are  intertwined  from  low  barbarism  or 
savagery.  Experience  of  the  perils  and  pains  of  sexual  excess 
and  overpopulation  force  the  development  of  folkways  of  restraint, 
which  are  customary  and  conventional  regulations  of  primary 
natural  impulses.  At  the  recurring  points  of  time  at  which  the 
festivals  are  held  there  is  often  a  reversion  from  the  moral  status 
created  by  the  later  mores  to  the  ancient  "  natural  "  ways,  because 
the  later  ways  are  a  reflection  on  the  ancestors  who  were  "  uncul- 
tivated." Their  ghosts  will  be  displeased  at  the  new  ways  and 
will  inflict  ill  fortune  on  the  group.  The  festival  is  not  a  time  at 
which  to  emphasize  the  novelty,  but  to  set  it  aside  and  revert  to 
old  ways.  How  far  back  shall  the  reversion  go .?  What  is 
"  natural  "  ?  As  no  one  ever  has  known  from  what  depths  of 
beastliness,  rendered  more  acute  by  some  intelligence,  man  came, 
no  one  has  ever  known  what  "nature  "  would  be.  Men  reverted 
actually  to  some  ancient  custom  of  their  ancestors  beyond  which 
they  knew  nothing,  and  which  therefore  to  them  seemed  primi- 
tive and  original.  The  festivals  were  always  outside  of  the 
routine  of  regular  life.  We,  for  a  holiday  frolic,  relax,  for  our- 
selves and  our  children,  the  discipline  of  ordinary  life  ;  for  instance, 
on  the  Fourth  of  July.  In  the  theater  we  make  allowances  for 
what  we  would  not  tolerate  in  the  street  or  parlor.  That  a  thing 
is  in  jest  is,  and  always  has  been,  an  excuse  for  what  is  a  little 
beyond  the  limit  otherwise  observed.  It  was  a  favorite  Arab  jest 
to  fasten  the  train  of  a  woman's  dress,  while  she  was  sitting, 
to  the  waist  of  it,  so  that  when  she  arose  her  dress  would  be 
disordered .1    She  must  learn  to  guard  herself. 

616.  Chaldean  and  Mexican  myths  of  reproduction  dramatically 
represented.  In  the  mythical  period  of  Chaldea  the  worship  of  the 
Great  Mother  Ishtar  (the  patroness  of  sex  attraction,  but  a  goddess 
whose  love  was  a  calamity  to  all  her  husbands,^  perhaps  a  mythi- 
cal representation  of  the  perils  and  pains  of  sex)  was  a  setting 
loose  of  sex  passion  from  the  later  societal  ("moral  ")  regulations, 

1  Wellhausen,  Skizzen  unci  Vorarbeiten,  III,  85. 

2  Maspero,  Peiiples  de  V  Orietit,  I,  580. 


POPULAR  SPORTS,  EXHIBITIONS,  AND   DRAMA      563 

in  favor  of  the  original  passionate  impulse  of  sex  and  reproduc- 
tion. The  festival  was,  therefore,  a  period  of  license.  The  seat 
of  the  licentious  rites,  and  of  sacral  prostitution,  was  Uruk,  the 
city  of  the  dead  (i.e.  of  ancestors),  where  men  liked  to  be  buried 
(in  order  to  join  their  ancestors).^  The  Tammuz  (Adonis)  worship 
was  connected  with  the  worship  of  Ishtar,  the  relation  between 
the  god  and  the  goddess  being  different  in  different  myths.  The 
Tammuz  worship  was  a  dramatic  enactment  of  the  death  and  resur- 
rection of  the  god  (connected  with  the  decay  and  renewal  of  the 
world  of  vegetation),  with  corresponding  lamentations  and  rejoic- 
ings of  the  worshipers.^  In  Mexico  we  find  a  parallel  pantomime 
of  the  nature  process  at  a  religious  harvest  festival,  the  panto- 
mime being  used  for  occult  magic,  in  order  to  get  good  crops  in 
the  next  season.  Obscene  figures  and  rites  were  used.  There  is 
a  maize  goddess  who  is  the  "Mother  of  the  Gods."  The  union 
of  the  sun  god  with  the  earth  gives  fertility,  so  that  the  food 
supply  is  at  stake  in  these  rites  and  notions.^  This  most  absorb- 
ing interest  of  mankind  drove  men's  minds  along  the  same  lines 
of  world  philosophy.  The  "  Mother  of  the  Gods,"  by  her  sex 
activity,  brought  about  growth  on  earth  and  became  goddess  of 
lewdness  and  filth,  just  as  the  German  Corn-mother  became  a 
harlot.  So  the  goddess  by  whose  activity  the  earth  bears  flowers 
was  honored  at  a  festival  at  which  boys  and  girls  nine  or  ten 
years  old  became  senselessly  drunk  and  perpetrated  sex  vice. 
This  was  at  a  religious  festival.*  Here  then  we  find  reversion  to 
more  primitive  sex  mores,  and  dramatic  representation  of  a  myth, 
conjoined  in  religion,  on  the  very  threshold  of  the  higher  civiliza- 
tion. The  reversion  to  primitive  sex  mores  to  satisfy  notions  of 
duty  to  religion  and  ancestors  comes  to  us  as  an  incomprehensible 
violation  of  "primary  instincts,"  which  we  have  inferred  from 
ideas  that  we  can  trace  back  beyond  any  known  origin,  which 
we  suppose  to  be  universally  accepted,  and  which  seem  to  us 
axiomatic  as  to  social  welfare.  The  only  way  to  understand  the 
case  is  to  take  the  standpoint  of  the  mores  of  that  time.  The 
mores  contained  the  answer  to  the  questions  :   How  far  back  shall 

1  Tiele-Gehrich,  Relig.  i?n  Altert.,  I,  i6o.      ^  Archiv  filr  Antkrop.,  XXIX,  129. 

2  Barton,  Semitic  Origins,  85.  *  Ibid.,  138,  150. 


564  FOLKWAYS 

we  go  ?  What  shall  be  the  degree  of  license  at  the  festival  ?  At 
the  limit  fixed  by  custom  the  mores  extend  their  sanction  over 
the  function  and  make  it  "right."  Another  source  of  barbaric 
festivals  may  be  noticed.  Men  won  victories  over  the  elements 
and  over  beasts  before  they  won  victories  over  each  other.  This 
is  true  of  remote  antiquity  and  of  primitive  society.  It  is  also 
true  of  the  Middle  Ages.  The  destruction  of  great  beasts, 
demons,  and  other  monsters  led  to  dramatic  and  religious  festi- 
vals. Magnin  ^  thinks  that  he  could  make  a  cycle  of  beasts,  of 
which  Reineke  Fuchs  would  be  the  last  link,  anterior  to  the 
cycles  of  Arthur  and   Charlemagne. 

617.  Limit  of  toleration  for  propriety  in  exhibitions.  There- 
fore :  What  shall  be  the  limit  of  toleration  in  theatrical  and  other 
exhibitions  with  respect  to  dress,  language,  gesture,  etc.,  in  order 
to  define  propriety,  is  altogether  a  matter  of  the  mores.  It  is  not 
conceivable  that  the  Lysistrata  of  Aristophanes  could  be  pre- 
sented on  any  public  stage  in  Christendom.  The  whole  play  is 
beyond  the  toleration  of  modern  mores.  We  meet  with  jugglers 
in  Homer,^  also  mountebanks  and  tumblers.'^  The  hibisteteres 
spun  around  on  the  perpendicular  axis  of  the  body,  and  are  com- 
pared to  the  wheel  of  the  potter.  Then  they  pitched  down  head- 
foremost, like  plungers  or  tumblers  turning  somersaults.  Some 
archseologs  have  thought  that  the  play  of  these  persons  had 
some  analogy  with  that  of  the  cubic  stones  which  were  so  promi- 
nent in  the  cult  of  the  Phrygian  Cybele.  If  that  analogy  is 
accepted,  then  the  pyramidal  dance  must  be  regarded  as  originally 
hieratic  and  consecrated  to  Cybele.  That  dance  was  at  first 
aristocratic,  but  speedily  became  popular  and  descended  to  the 
mountebanks.* 

618.  Origin  of  Athenian  drama.  The  theater  originated  in 
the  Dionysiac  mysteries  of  the  Greeks,  in  which  dramatic  action 
and  responsive  choruses  were  employed.  Sex  symbols  were  used 
without  reserve.  Intoxication  and  ecstasy  belonged  to  due  per- 
formance. In  later  mysteries  dramatic  action  was  employed  to 
present  myths  and  legends,  or  religious  doctrines,  in  order  to  get 

1  Origines  dii  Theatre  Moderne,  60.    ^  II.,  XVIII,  601. 

2//.,  XVI,  750;   XVIII,  604.  *  Magnin,  Origines  dii  T/iedfre  Moder7te,  !■]?>. 


POPULAR   SPORTS,   EXHIBITIONS,  AND   DRAMA      565 

the  powerful  effects  in  suggestion  which  dramatic  action  exerts. 
Many  myths  presented  acts  such  as  later  mores  could  not  toler- 
ate. Allowance  had  to  be  made  for  the  representations,  as  we 
now  make  allowances  for  Bible  stories  and  Shakespeare.  We 
know  that  the  mysteries  were  often  in  bad  repute  for  'their 
indecency  and  realism,  even  in  an  age  of  low  standards.  Anybody 
■  who  is  not  in  the  convention  can  scoff  at  it,  however  low  his  own 
code  may  be.  The  Greeks  described  the  Phrygian  mysteries  as 
abominable  and  immoral,  while  they  praised  and  admired  the  Eleu- 
sinian.  "The  former  were  introduced  by  slaves  and  foreigners, 
and  participated  in  by  the  superstitious  and  ignorant.  They  were 
celebrated  for  money  by  strolling  priests,  and  any  one  who  paid 
a  fee  was  initiated  without  preparation,  except  some  ritual  acts. 
There  was  no  solemnity  in  the  surroundings,  and  no  dignity  in 
the  ceremonial,  but  all  was  vulgar  and  sordid."  ^  The  Athenian 
drama,  in  the  fifth  century  b.c,  went  through  an  amazing  develop- 
ment and  reached  high  perfection.  The  art  of  the  theater  was 
especially  cultivated.  As  to  the  effect  of  the  dramas  on  the 
character  of  the  spectators,  it  is  to  be  noticed  that  they  were 
presented  only  once  in  the  year,  at  the  greater  festival  of  Dionysus 
in  the  spring,  and  that  then  a  large  number  of  plays  were  repre- 
sented. The  spectators,  at  Athens,  were  a  very  mixed  assem- 
blage and  included  the  populace,  "  who  remained  populace  in 
spite  of  any  beautiful  verses  which  they  might  chance  to  hear." 
They  cared  only  to  be  amused,  "just  like  modern  audiences."  ^ 
619.  Dramatic  taste  and  usage  in  worship.  Customs  derived 
from  the  mysteries.  About  the  time  of  Christ,  by  syncretism 
all  the  religions  took  on  a  dramatic  form  in  their  ritual,  with 
liturgies  and  responses,  on  account  of  the  attractiveness  of  that 
form  for  worshipers.  The  Christian  year  was  built  up  as  a 
drama  of  the  life  of  Christ.  The  ceremony  of  the  mass  was  pro- 
duced by  an  application  of  modes  of  worship  which,  so  far  as  we 
can  learn,  were  devised  and  used  in  the  mysteries.  "  There  is 
unmistakable  evidence  that  a  marriage  ceremony  of  a  religious 
nature  existed,  and  that  this  ceremony  stood  in  close  relation  to 

^  Ramsay,  Reliff.  of  G)-eece  and  Asia  Minor,  Hastings's  Diet.,  Addit.  vol.,  120. 
2  Beloch,  Griech.  Gesch.,  I,  579,  592. 


566  FOLKWAYS 

a  part  of  the  ritual  of  the  mysteries.  In  fact,  the  marriage  was, 
as  it  were,  a  reproduction  by  the  bride  and  bridegroom  of  a  scene 
from  the  divine  Ufe,  i.e.  from  the  mystic  drama.  The  formula, 
'  I  escaped  evil :  I  found  better,'  was  repeated  by  the  celebrant 
who  'was  initiated  in  the  Phrygian  mysteries ;  and  the  same 
formula  was  pronounced  as  part  of  the  Athenian  marriage  cere- 
mony. Another  formula,  '  I  have  drunk  from  the  kymbalon^' 
was  pronounced  by  the  initiated  ;  and  drinking  from  the  same 
cup  has  been  proved  to  have  formed  part  of  a  ceremony  performed 
in  the  temple  by  the  betrothed  pair."  "  It  is  an  extremely  impor- 
tant fact  that  the  human  marriage  ceremony  was  thus  celebrated 
by  forms  taken  from  the  mysteries  ;  and  the  conclusion  must  be 
that  the  human  pair  repeat  the  action  in  the  way  in  which  the 
god  and  goddess  first  performed  and  consecrated  it,  and  that, 
in  fact,  they  play  the  parts  of  the  god  and  goddess  in  the  sacred 
drama.  This  single  example  is,  as  we  may  be  sure,  typical  of  a 
whole  series  of  actions."  ^ 

620.  The  word  ''god."  "That  man  when  he  dies  becomes  a 
god  was  considered  already  in  the  fourth  century  B.C.  to  be  part 
of  the  teaching  conveyed  in  the  mysteries."  ^  This  meant  no 
more  than  the  earlier  notion  that  when  a  man  died  he  became  a 
ghost.  The  word  "god  "  was  used  in  senses  very  strange  to  our 
ears,^  and  to  quote  an  expression  of  any  writer  of  the  beginning 
of  the  Christian  era  in  which  he  uses  the  word  "god,"  and  to 
give  to  that  word  our  sense  of  it,  is  to  be  led  into  great  error. 
The  age  was  one  which  put  all  its  religion  in  dramatic  form  and 
acted  it  out.  It  was  an  age  with  a  gift  for  manufacturing  rites 
and  liturgies. 

621.  Kin  yields  to  religion  as  social  tie.  This  was  due  to  a 
great  ethnological  change  which  was  then  coming  to  its  culmina- 
tion. The  kin  tie,  which  had  been  the  primitive  mode  of  asso- 
ciation and  coherence  of  groups,  began  to  break  down  in  the 
sixth  century  B.C.  in  Greece.  It  was  superseded  by  the  social 
tie  of  a  common  religious  faith  and  ritual.  The  Pythagorean  and 
Orphic  sects  developed  this  tie.    They  had  a  revelation  of  the 

1  Ramsay  in  Hastings's  Diet.,  Addit.  vol.,  129-130.  ^  Ibid.,  125. 

3  Boissier,  Religion  Rojiiaine,  I,  132. 


POPULAR  SPORTS,   EXHIBITIONS,  AND   DRAMA      567 

other  world,  a  system  of  mystic  and  cathartic  rites,  which  cleared 
men  of  ritual  imcleanness,  purified  them,  and  "saved"  them. 
The  cathartic  rites  were  a  means  of  warding  off  evil  spirits  and 
did  the  work  of  the  old  shamans.^  The  sectarian  brotherhood  of 
the  initated,  the  "church,"  the  faith,  the  contrast  of  ordinary 
life  with  the  ecstatic  emotions  of  the  mysteries,  the  consequent 
antagonism  of  the  "flesh"  or  the  "world,"  and  the  "spirit," 
were  easy  deductions  from  the  teaching  and  ritual  of  the  sects.^ 
It  was  all  concentrated  in  the  godlikeness,  divinity,  or  immortality 
of  the  human  soul,  with  the  mystic  notions  of  union  between  the 
soul  and  God.  "  Mysticism,  as  doctrine  and  theory,  grew  up  from 
the  soil  of  a  more  ancient  practice  in  worship."  "The  worship 
of  Dionysus  must  have  furnished  the  first  germ  of  the  belief  in 
the  immortality  of  the  soul."  ^  The  idea  of  the  Orphic  mysteries 
was  that  humanity  is  suffering  and  sinful,  and  must  be  initiated 
in  order  to  wash  away  its  stains  and  be  redeemed  from  its  sins. 
Initiation  puts  a  man  in  communication  with  the  divinity.  The 
soul  is  raised  by  ecstasy  to  feel  its  own  divinity,  which  is  the 
deepest  element  in  all  mystic  religion.  In  all  this  compound  of 
rites  and  notions  the  great  antecedent  philosophy  was  not  the 
same  as  ours.  It  was  demonism,  superstitious  anxiety  about  the 
world  of  demons,  who  floated  around  men  and  stretched  their 
hands  out  of  the  surrounding  darkness  to  seize  them.  It  was 
from  these  that  men  wanted  to  be  "  saved."  Atonement  was  to 
be  made  to  the  chthonic  gods,  for  they  were  displeased  at  ritual 
uncleanness,  and  the  chthonic  cults  had  the  other  world  in  view.* 
The  uncleanness  was  ritual,  and  hence  it  came  from  anything  far 
out  of  the  regular  order,  either  by  abomination  or  holiness.  The 
rabbis  held  that  the  handling  of  the  Scriptures  defiled  the  hands 
and  called  for  ceremonial  washing  (Num.  xix.  8,  10).^ 

622.  Combination  of  religion  and  drama.  Syncretism.  The 
interest  of  all  this  for  our  present  purpose  is  the  combination  of 
religious  ideas  with  dramatic  representation.  Processions  of  all 
kinds  easily  turn  into  such  representations.    Rites  and  ceremonies 

1  Rohde,  Psyche,  II,  70.  ^  Ibid.,  34.  ^  Ibid.,  3. 

*  V^ ohhexmm.,  Beeinjlnssn7ig  des  Urckristenthtims  diirch  das  Alysterienwesett,  21. 

^  W.  R.  Smith,  Relig.  of  the  Semites,  426.    See  sec.  565. 


568  FOLKWAYS 

are  but  a  form  of  drama.  Symbols  and  emblems  have  the  same 
character.  The  old  religions  were  subjected  to  criticism,  which 
means  that  they  had  lost  their  authority.  They  did  not  verify 
when  the  attempt  was  made  to  use  them  for  societal  needs. 
Slaves,  merchants,  soldiers,  etc.,  afloat  in  the  world,  associated 
from  choice  and  contributed  traditions  from  the  whole  known 
world.  Then  syncretism  began,  and  a  body  of  sectarian  notions 
was  formed.  There  was  a  new  totemism,  a  breaking  down  of 
national  religion,  a  spirit  of  propaganda,  and  a  setting  forth  of 
the  whole  in  all  dramatic  forms. ^  In  the  sects  women  were 
admitted,  a  fact  of  double  significance.  It  was  an  emancipation 
for  the  women  and  a  peril  for  the  sect.  The  doubt  with  which 
the  mysteries  are  now  regarded  is  due  to  the  uncertainty  as  to 
the  relations  of  the  sexes  in  them.  The  word  "orgy"  originally 
meant  worship,  or  rites,  then  secret  rites,  that  is,  mysteries.  The 
sense  in  which  the  word  has  come  down  to  us  shows  the  notion 
about  secret  meetings  which  became  commonly  accepted. 

The  customs  which  had  grown  out  of  religious  interest  had 
reached  the  desire  for  entertainment  and  pleasure.  They  satis- 
fied it  and  stimulated  it,  and  the  religious  element  might  be  for- 
gotten. 

623.  Beginnings  of  the  theater  at  Rome.  The  Floralia  were 
instituted  at  Rome  in  240  b.c.  They  were  celebrated  by  cour- 
tesans with  processions,  lascivious  pantomimes,  etc.  They  are  said 
to  have  come  from  Greece.^  In  the  same  year  Livius  Andronicus 
presented  at  Rome  the  first  play  translated  from  the  Greek.  In 
154  the  first  permanent  theater  was  established  there  against 
great  opposition.  In  146  the  first  theater  outside  the  circus, 
with  seats,  was  provided.^  All  mimic  actions  were  foreign  to  the 
austere  mores  of  the  early  Romans,  but  in  the  second  century 
B.C.  the  mores  changed  through  the  growth  of  wealth  and  contact 
with  other  nations.  Young  Romans  learned  from  actors  to  sing 
and  dance,  acts  which  their  ancestors  thought  unworthy  of  free 
persons.  The  earliest  plays  were  called  satnrae,  because  they  were 

^  W.  R.  Smith,  Relig.  of  the  Semites,  357-359. 

2  Wissowa,  Relig.  of  the  Roniatis,  163. 

3  Magnin,  Origines  du  Theatre  Moderne,  324,  463. 


POPULAR  SPORTS,  EXHIBITIONS,  AND   DRAMA      569 

mixed  dialogues,  music,  and  dances.  The  sense  of  the  word  was 
closely  that  of  "  farce  "  in  the  Middle  Ages,^  i.e.  an  episode  or 
intermezzo  of  a  comic  character  interjected  into  a  drama.  The 
saturae  contained  an  Etruscan  element,  but  atellans  were  entirely- 
Etruscan.  They  were  comic  and  grotesque,  and  got  their  name 
from  Atella  (i.e.  Aversa  or  Santo  Arpino)  in  Campania.  They 
could  be  played  by  persons  who  did  not  on  that  account  lose 
their  places  in  their  tribes  or  their  right  to  serve  in  the  legion. 
No  personalities  at  all  were  allowed  on  the  Roman  stage.  Cyni- 
cism and  obscenity  characterized  the  Oscan  style.^  In  55  B.C. 
the  younger  Cato  was  present  at  the  Floralia.  The  populace 
hesitated  to  call,  in  his  presence,  for  the  stripping  of  the  miinae. 
He  left  in  order  not  to  hinder  the  celebration  from  taking  its 
usual  course.^  Valerius  Maximus*  says  that  the  pantomime  was 
brought  to  Rome  from  Etruria,  the  Etruscans  having  brought  it 
from  their  old  home  in  Lydia.  We  see  from  the  epigi'ams  in  the 
first  book  of  Martial  that  at  the  Roman  theater  in  the  first 
century  of  the  Christian  era  incidents  of  the  Roman  mythology 
were  made  into  dramas  and  represented  in  pantomime. 

624.  Gladiatorial  exhibitions.  The  gladiatorial  exhibitions  are 
supposed  to  have  been  of  Etruscan  origin  in  the  form  of  funeral 
games.  Games  to  rejoice  the  ghosts,  sacrifices  of  prisoners,  a 
chance  given  to  a  prisoner  to  fight  for  his  life,  are  steps  of  a 
development  of  which  we  find  many  examples.  The  Romans 
showed  the  pitilessness  and  inhumanity  of  their  mores  in  the 
development  they  gave  to  the  gladiatorial  exhibitions.  "Campa- 
nian  hosts  used  to  entertain  their  guests  at  dinner  with  them  in 
the  days  before  the  Second  Punic  War.  It  was  in  Campanian 
towns  that  in  the  first  century  was  disp]a3'ed  most  glaringly  the 
not  unusual  combination  of  cruelty  and  voluptuousness."  ^  Some 
murmurs  of  dissent  arose  from  the  philosophers  of  the  first  and 
second  centuries  of  the  Christian  era,  —  Plutarch,  Seneca,  Mar- 
cus Aurelius,^  —  but  at  that  time  the  popular  sentiment  had  not 

^  Magnin,  Origines^  304.  ^  Dill,  A'^ero  to  M.  Aurel.,  236. 

2  Ibid.,  304-317.  6  cf.  Lecky,  Ettr.  Morals,  I,  285  ;  Dill,  Nero 

8  Val.  Max.,  II,  X,  8.  to  M.  Aurel.,  235. 

*  11,  IV,  7. 


570  FOLKWAYS 

faltered  at  all  in  its  love  and  zeal  for  the  gladiatorial  shows  and 
beast  contests  on  account  of  any  doubt  whether  the  exhibitions 
were  "  right."  Tertullian,  at  the  end  of  the  second  century,  wrote 
a  tract,  Ad  Nationes,  in  which  he  criticised  the  theater,  and 
also  another,  De  Spcxtaculis,  against  the  public  entertainments. 
Although  the  latter  is  chiefly  controversial  against  heathen  and 
heathenism,  it  contains  direct  and  noble  arguments  against  the 
games  of  the  arena  on  account  of  their  inhumanity.  He  says 
that  the  games  were  at  first  connected  with  funerals,  and  that  the 
theater  was  a  temple  of  Venus,  under  cover  of  which  the  games 
won  a  footing.  That  would  mean,  then,  that  they  were  at  first 
under  a  convention  of  time,  place,  occasion,  and  religion.  Cor- 
rectly understood,  therefore,  what  happened  at  Rome  was  that  the 
convention  was  broken  over  and  the  exceptional  rite  was  made 
the  everyday  usage,  the  religious  sentiment  being  disregarded 
and  the  sensual  entertainment  alone  being  valued.  When  we 
have  reached  this  point  we  can  understand  the  original  place 
of  the  games  within  the  intellectual  horizon  of  the  nation,  and 
also  the  deep  demoralization  which  they  caused  in  later  times. 
They  were  consonant  with  early  Roman  mores  which  were  war- 
like. Cicero  thought  them  an  excellent  school  to  teach  contempt 
for  pain  and  death.  He  cited  gladiators  as  examples  of  bodily 
exercise,  courage,  and  discipline.  He  seems  to  have  known  that 
some  disapproved  of  the  exhibitions,  and  he  was  disposed  to 
agree  with  them  if  the  gladiators  were  others  than  criminals  con- 
demned to  death. 1  A  usage  which  is  consonant  with  the  tastes, 
mores,  and  world  philosophy  of  a  people  need  work  no  corruption 
on  them,  for  it  is  under  taboos  and  conventions  ;  but  if  all  the 
restraints  are  taken  away  it  enters  into  their  life  for  just  what  it 
is  in  its  character,  —  sensual,  cruel,  bloody,  obscene,  etc.  What 
had  been  savage  and  bloodthirsty  when  the  Romans  were  warriors 
became  base  and  cowardly  when  they  never  risked  their  own 
blood  in  any  way.  Condemned  criminals  were  compelled  to  take 
roles  in  which  they  suffered  torture  and  a  frightful  death,  in  order 
to  entertain  the  Roman  crowd.  Such  roles  were  Prometheus, 
Daedalus,  Orpheus,  Hercules,  and  Attys  ;  Pasiphae  and  the  bull, 

1  Thsc.  Disp.,  II,  17. 


POPULAR  SPORTS,   EXHIBITIONS,  AND   DRAMA      571 

and  Leda  and  the  swan  were  also  enacted.  In  Martial's  Epigrams , 
Book  I,  the  cases  are  mentioned  where  a  woman  fought  with  a  lion  ; 
Laureolus,  a  robber,  was  crucified  and  torn,  as  he  hung  on  the 
cross,  by  a  bear  ;  Daedalus,  when  his  wing  broke,  was  precipitated 
amongst  bears  who  tore  him  to  pieces  ;  and  Orpheus  was  torn  by 
a  bear.  These  exhibitions  were  recognized  as  indecencies.^ 
Later  the  exhibitions  had  no  limit. ^  "  From  father  to  son,  for 
nearly  seven  centuries,  the  Roman  character  became  more  and 
more  indurated  under  the  influence  of  licensed  cruelty.  The 
spectacle  was  also  surrounded  by  the  emperors,  even  the  greatest 
and  best,  for  politic  reasons,  with  ever  growing  splendor."  ^  "It 
is  a  grave  deduction  from  the  admiring  judgment  of  the  glory  of 
the  Antonine  age,  that  its  most  splendid  remains  are  the  stately 
buildings  within  whose  enclosure  for  centuries  the  populace  were 
regaled  with  the  sufferings  and  the  blood  of  the  noblest  creatures 
of  the  wild  animal  world  and  of  gallant  men.  The  deserts  and 
forests  of  Africa  and  the  remotest  East  contributed  their  elephants 
and  panthers  and  lions  to  these  scenes."'* 

625.  Spread  of  gladiatorial  exhibitions.  The  Romans  carried 
gladiatorial  exhibitions  wherever  their  conquests  extended.  "  The 
Teutonic  regions  of  the  North  and  Greece  were  almost  the  only 
provinces  in  which  the  bloody  games  were  not  popular.  The  one 
Greek  town  where  the  taste  for  them  was  fully  developed  was 
the  mongrel  city  of  Corinth,  which  was  a  Roman  colony.  In  the 
novel  of  Apuleius  we  meet  a  high  Corinthian  magistrate  travel- 
ing through  Thessaly  to  collect  the  most  famous  gladiators  for 
his  shows.  Plutarch  urges  public  men  to  banish  or  to  restrain 
these  exhibitions  in  their  cities.  When  the  Athenians,  from  an 
ambition  to  rival  the  splendor  of  Corinth,  were  meditating  the 
establishment  of  a  gladiatorial  show,  the  gentle  Demonax  bade 
them  first  to  overturn  their  altar  of  Pity.  The  apostles  of  Hel- 
lenism,—  Dion,  Plutarch,  and  Lucian,  ■ — were  unanimous  in  con- 
demning an  institution  which  sacrificed  the  bravest  men  to  the 
brutal  passions  of  the  mob."  °    At  Byzantium  the  lack  of  any 

1  Martial,  II,  Introd.  ^  Dill,  A'ero  to  M.  Atirel.,  235. 

2  Scherr,  Knit.  Gesc/i.,  181.  *  Ibid.,  238. 

5  Ibid.,  240. 


572  FOLKWAYS 

standard  of  decency  and  propriety  in  the  exhibitions  was  even 
more  complete,  and  they  lasted  indefinitely.^  Constantine  in 
325  A.D.  absolutely  forbade  gladiatorial  exhibitions,  because 
bloody  shows  were  unfit  for  a  time  of  peace.  He  forbade  the 
condemnation  of  criminals  to  be  gladiators.  His  laws,  however, 
failed  of  effect.^  At  the  end  of  the  fourth  century  Symmachus, 
"  who  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  estimable  pagans  of  his 
age,"  collected  some  prisoners  to  fight  in  honor  of  his  son.  They 
committed  suicide  to  escape  the  destiny  for  which  he  designed 
them.  He  lamented  the  misfortune  which  had  befallen  him  from 
their  "impious  hands,"  but  endeavored  to  calm  his  feelings  by 
recalling  the  patience  of  Socrates  and  the  precepts  of  philosophy. 
He  will  not,  he  says,  use  such  people  any  more,  but  Libyan 
lions,  more  docile  than  men.^  He  serves  to  point  a  moral  on  the 
mores  of  his  age. 

626.  The  folk  drama.  The  culture  classes  pass  by  the  sports 
of  the  "  vulgar"  with  contempt ;  but  the  student  of  the  mores 
cannot  do  so.  The  tastes  of  the  crowd  are  manifested  in  them. 
We  read  the  great  dramas  which  have  become  a  part  of  the 
world  literature,  and  we  form  from  them  our  ideas  of  the  current 
intellectual  interest  of  the  time  of  their  origin  and  of  the  society  in 
which  they  were  produced.  Such  inferences  need  to  be  corrected. 
They  are  certainly  erroneous.  The  Greeks  were  not  all  of  them, 
nor  any  of  them  all  the  time,  on  a  plane  of  classical  severity  and 
correctness.  Far  from  it.  They  were  realistic,  egoistic,  cold, 
cruel,  and  fond  of  sensual  pleasure.*  The  great  dramas,  epics, 
etc.,  were  enjoyed  only  by  the  real  upper  strata  of  the  society, 
just  as  is  the  case  in  regard  to  Shakespeare  amongst  us.  The 
great  populace  of  no  society  has  ever  found  its  amusement  in 
purely  intellectual  suggestions.  With  us  popular  amusement  is 
found  in  the  circus,  negro  minstrels,  the  variety  show,  opera 
bouffe,  the  spectacle,  and  ballet,  and  it  attaches  to  parody 
and  burlesque,  "  knock-down  business,"  buffoonery,  and  broad 

1  Gibbon,  Chap.  XL,  i. 

2  Schmidt,  La  Societe  Civile  dans  le  Monde  Homain  et  sa  Traiisformation  par  le 
Christiatiisme,  469. 

3  Ep.,  II,  46;  Migne,  Patrol.  Latina,  XVIII,  190.         *  Reich,  Der  Minius,  32. 


POPULAR  SPORTS,  EXHIBITIONS,  AND   DRAMA      573 

allusion.  Stupidity  is  always  funny.  Everything  which  breaks 
over  the  social  taboo  is  funny.  A  violation  of  propriety,  accidental 
disorder  of  the  dress,  grotesque  postures,  vulgar  gestures  of  deri- 
sion or  defiance,  blows,  painful  accidents  and  mishaps,  —  if  not  too 
serious,  —  deformations  of  the  body  (humpbacks),  epithets  and 
nicknames,  slang  and  other  abuses  of  language  (like  mispronun- 
ciation by  foreigners),  vituperation,  caricature  and  burlesque  of 
respectable  types  like  the  pedant,  dandy,  Puritan,  imbecile,  or 
the  rich  and  great,  always  raise  a  laugh  in  the  crowd  and  are 
relished  by  the  crowd.  They  are  constant  elements  of  farce  and 
fun.  They  have  been  so  for  three  thousand  years.  Jugglery 
and  feats  of  strength  and  skill  excite  wonder  until  they  become 
familiar.  They  are  proofs  of  individual  capacity.  They  do  not 
give  amusement  like  the  points  which  have  just  been  mentioned 
and  which  have  been  repeated  to  generation  after  generation. 
The  crowd  always  delights  in  any  degradation  of  the  things 
which  the  selected  classes  prefer  and  try  to  impose  on  all. 
They  rejoice  to  see  the  restrictions  trampled  upon  which  they 
hear  preached  as  the  rules  of  life.  In  opera  bouffe  classical 
heroes,  gods  of  the  classical  mythology,  royalty,  nobles  of  the 
mediaeval  type,  feudalism,  dominies,  are  turned  to  ridicule.  The 
crowd  worships  its  heroes  fanatically  while  they  are  in  fashion, 
but  it  likes  to  turn  about  and  roll  them  in  the  mud  of  satire,  in 
order  to  teach  them  who  made  them  and  how  easily  it  can  un- 
make them.  Aristophanes  derided  all  which  was  serious  in  the 
Athenian  social  system.  Long  before  Don  Quixote  was  written 
chivalry  was  treated  with  derision.  Satire  is  a  reversal  of  respect 
and  admiration. 

627.  The  popular  taste.  Realism.  Conventionality.  Satire. 
That  which  is  realistic  and  graphic  appeals  to  the  popular  and 
uneducated  taste,  not  that  which  is  conventional,  regulated,  and 
refined  according  to  rule  and  standard.  That  which  is  realistic 
reproduces  all  the  facts  of  life.  If  the  mirror  is  held  up  to 
nature  it  will  show  some  nasty  things.  The  social  taboos  began 
in  superstitious  fear,  but  they  formed  a  series  of  conventional 
folkways  under  which  some  acts  and  facts  of  life  were  veiled 
from    sight,   knowledge,    speech,    and    publicity.     Other    lesser 


574  FOLKWAYS 

conventions  were  grafted  on  these,  and  produced  the  great  mass 
of  usages  within  which  our  Uves  are  passed.  That  which  is  artistic 
is  the  highest  form  of  conventional  refinement.  Realism  antag- 
onizes and  breaks  through  all  these  conventions  and  taboos, 
which  are  always  a  strain  upon  those  who  are  not  brought  up  in 
them  from  infancy.  Therefore  we  hear  demands  for  realism 
and  naturalness  from  those  who  weary  of  the  strain  and  do  not 
want  to  submit  to  it.  The  conventionalities  define  respectabihty, 
and  respectability  has  always  been  sneered  at.  In  all  comedy  it 
is  made  ridiculous.  The  husband  was  possessed  of  conventional 
rights  in  which  he  was  protected  by  society  so  that  he  had  a 
secured  and  uneventful  status.  In  comedy  his  rights  have  been 
violated  and  his  security  has  been  broken.  The  crowd  has  always 
enjoyed  this.  It  rejoiced  to  see  the  wife  deceive  the  husband, 
and  the  adulterer  fool  him.  The  latter  represented  freedom  and 
cleverness  at  war  with  philistinism.  On  the  other  hand,  all  the 
taboos  and  conventions  which  have  penetrated  the  masses  and 
become  familiar  to  them  from  infancy  are  fiercely  defended  by 
them  (e.g.  female  dress  and  the  taboo  on  man's  dress  for  females). 
The  popular  magazines  and  the  "  great  moral  shows  "  religiously 
respect  the  standards  of  the  crowd.  That  which  is  broad  is 
funny,  but  there  is  always  a  limit  of  toleration.  What  is  prudish, 
puritanical,  fastidious,  affected,  pharisaical,  etc.?  These  adjec- 
tives are  in  use,  and  they  apply  to  things  which  are  beyond  a 
line  which  is  undefined  and  indefinable.  It  depends  on  the 
codes  and  standards  of  the  group.  Realism  presents  everyday 
experience,  no  humbug,  the  world  as  it  is.  It  must,  therefore, 
be  cynical  and  ruthless  to  all  conventions.  It  shows  the  mean- 
ness of  greatness,  the  other  side  of  virtue,  the  weakness  of 
heroes.  No  doubt  it  is  great  fun  to  pour  scorn  and  ridicule  on 
all  who  assume  to  be  better  than  we  are,  and  to  look  down  on  us. 
The  easiest  way  to  do  it  is  to  show  up  their  weaknesses,  follies, 
and  sins.  Here  is  another  task  for  the  satirists.  Satire  in 
comedy  may  be  a  gratification  of  envy.  The  role  of  Pierrot  is 
dangerous  to  him  who  exercises  it.  In  fact  no  man  is  fit  for  it. 
Where  does  any  one  get  a  charter  to  be  censor  of  all  the  rest .? 
He   will  certainly   become    proud,   arrogant,   self-seeking,   and 


POPULAR  SPORTS,  EXHIBITIONS,  AND   DRAMA     575 

tyrannical.  Each  one  satirizes  follies  which  are  not  to  his  taste, 
or  sins  to  which  he  is  not  tempted.  Satire  to  be  artistic  and 
permanently  effective  must  be  marked  by  light  and  shade.  It 
always  exaggerates  what  it  wants  to  impress  on  the  attention, 
but  to  do  this  artistically  it  must  subdue  other  elements.  This 
is  very  difficult  to  accomplish  when  for  popular  effect  it  must 
use  big  brushes  and  glaring  colors. 

628.  Popular  exhibitions.  From  the  time  of  Homer  we  can 
trace  popular  exhibitions  which  accompanied  the  theatrical  forms 
above  described  as  an  inferior  class  of  the  same  species.  The 
popular  exhibitions  were  marked  by  the  features  which  have  been 
described  (sec.  626),  to  which  we  may  add  bloodshed  and  cruel 
rites. 

629.  Ancient  popular  festivals.  The  tJiargelia  were  ancient 
sanguinary  festivals  celebrated  in  Greece  in  honor  of  Apollo  and 
Diana.  Two  men,  or  a  man  and  a  woman,  were  immolated  in 
Attica,  to  expiate  the  sins  of  the  people.  "  The  circular  dances 
of  the  Greeks  around  the  victims,  or  later  around  the  altar,  can 
only  be  compared  with  the  songs  and  furious  dances  of  the  Iroquois 
and  Brazilians  around  their  prisoners."  ^  At  Athens  also  the 
kronia  were  festivals  of  Saturn.  The  notion  that  there  was  a 
period  of  original  liberty  and  equality  "at  the  beginning"  was. 
entertained  at  that  time,  and  this  festival  was  held  to  represent 
it.  Also  on  Crete  there  were  festivals  of  Mercury.  In  Thessaly 
the  peloria  were  a  festival,  the  name  of  which  was  derived  from 
Pelor,  the  man  that  brought  news  that  an  earthquake  had  drained 
the  valley  of  Tempe.  The  sacca  were  a  festival  at  Babylon 
similar  to  the  saturnalia.  A  slave  in  each  house,  including  the 
palace  of  the  king,  ruled  as  a  house  sovereign  for  five  days.  The 
leading  idea  was  to  reverse  or  invert  everything  in  ordinary  life. 
The  koTda.v\wA9,  an  ancient  dance  of  the  old  comedy,  with  indecent 
gestures,  in  which  the  human  figure  was  caricatured  according  to 
all  the  deformations  which  it  underwent  by  vice  or  sensuality.  All 
the  effects  of  gluttony  and  Bacchic  excess  were  caricatured  in  the 
figure  of  Silenus.  The  old  woman  fond  of  wine  lost  all  modesty 
under  the  influence  of  wine.^    The  leaders  of  the  choruses,  in  a 

^  Magnin,  Origines  du  TJicatre  Aloderne,  30.  2  /i,jj_^  ^i. 


576  FOLKWAYS 

later  time  at  Athens,  offered  reminders  of  primitive  barbarism 
and  of  the  immolation  of  human  beings,  and  a  representation  of 
savage  nudity,  but  they  presented  no  image  which  was  ridiculous 
or  base.  Tragedy  had  a  long  struggle  to  become  separate  from 
lyric  forms,  but  ^schylus  at  last  accomplished  the  separation. 
This  was  really  the  separation  of  the  high  literary  drama  from 
the  popular  viimiis.  After  ten  centuries  of  glory  in  Greece 
tragedy  was  lost  again  under  the  lyric  form.^  The  popular  drama, 
however,  lasted  on  until  to-day,  and  it  has  never  changed  its 
characteristic  elements. 

630.  The  mimus.  The  essence  of  the  mimus  is  in  pantomime 
as  the  name  denotes.  It  imitates  facts  of  life  and  behavior  and 
is,  therefore,  essentially  realistic.  It  may  well  be  derived  from 
the  mimetic  dances  of  nature  peoples,  in  which  beasts,  warriors, 
and  lovers  are  imitated,  with  jest  and  satirical  exaggeration  of 
characteristic  traits.  In  the  folk  drama  in  its  simplest  forms 
nothing  has  ever  been  written.  The  actor  assumed  a  role  and 
improvised  all  which  he  had  to  say  in  trying  to  act  it  out.  His 
responsibility  for  the  role  was  far  greater  than  that  of  an  actor 
in  a  culture  drama.  The  actor,  by  repeating  a  role,  produced  a 
representation  of  it  which  was  personal  to  himself  and  which  he 
perfected.  The  most  interesting  and  marked  characters  became 
fixed.  A  large  number  of  them  are  now  established  in  literature 
and  have  become  known  all  over  the  world.  The  latest  instance 
of  such  a  type  is,  perhaps.  Lord  Dundreary.  The  word  mhmis 
appears  in  Greece  in  the  fifth  century  b.c.  The  7nivms  was  a 
picture  of  life  or,  more  exactly,  an  unwritten  parody  of  life.  It 
was  divided  into  grades  and  the  actors  into  castes.  Women  had 
previously  appeared  as  jugglers  and  mountebanks.  They  now 
appeared  amongst  the  actors  of  the  popular  drama.  This  made 
the  exhibitions  questionable  according  to  Greek  standards.  The 
exhibitions  were  given  by  wandering  companies.  While  actors  of 
the  culture  drama  always  wore  masks,  those  of  the  mimus  were 
the  first  to  appear  unmasked  ;  ^  later  others  imitated  them.  At  the 
present  day  the  theatrical  exhibitions  which  maybe  seen  on  the  out- 
skirts of  a  fair  in  central  Europe  well  represent  the  ancient  mimus. 

1  Magnin,  Origmes,  33,  38-40.  ^  Reich,  Der  Mitrnis,  527. 


POPULAR  SPORTS,  EXHIBITIONS,  AND   DRAMA      577 

The  marionettes  were  an  early  offshoot  of  the  viimus,  and  the 
modern  Punch-and-Judy  show  is  a  descendant  in  part  of  both. 
For  the  mores  the  viivms  and  the  marionette  theater  are  a  thou- 
sandfold more  important  than  the  great  tragedies,  but  the  former 
have  left  no  mark  on  history.  They  never  were  written  down; 
the  actors  are  dead ;  their  reputation  is  forgotten.  The  mores 
contain  the  effect  as  a  fact  but  no  explanation  of  it.  From  the 
time  of  Alexander  the  Great  that  which  is  common,  popular, 
realistic  prevailed  in  politics  and  literature.  The  heroic  and  ideal- 
poetic  declined  and  was  made  an  object  of  satire  in  the  viivms. 
"  The  trivial,  prosaic,  and  libertine  taste  of  the  Macedonian 
princes  of  Egypt  and  Syria  at  last  reigned  alone  in  enslaved 
Greece."  Then,  under  different  forms  and  names,  nothing  re- 
mained but  mimes,  realistic  representation  of  common  life. ^  The 
Olympian  gods  and  Homeric  heroes  were  burlesqued  for  fun.  The 
miviits  won  acceptance  at  courts  and  in  higher  circles.  It  was 
developed  into  the  so-called  "hypothesis"  and  won  a  place  on 
the  stage.  The  most  distinguished  maker  of  hypotheses  was 
Philistion,^  who  lived  at  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era.  They 
became  popular  throughout  the  Greco-Roman  world  in  the  first 
centuries  of  the  Christian  era.^  The  emperor  Tiberius  caused 
actors  to  be  expelled  from  Italy  as  disturbers  of  the  peace,  and 
because  the  old  Oscan  farce,  once  amusement  for  the  com- 
mon people,  had  become  indecent.'^  Out  of  the  common  origin 
of  all  dramatic  exhibitions  (sec.  616)  the  viivms  kept  the  corn 
demons,  or  growth  demons,  which  always  commanded  the  inter- 
est of  husbandmen.  The  actors  of  this  role  wore  masks  in  which 
the  features  of  a  low  and  sensual  countenance  were  greatly 
exaggerated.  An  artificial  phallus  (sec.  473)  was  worn  outside  of 
the  dress,  and  the  entire  region  of  the  hips  was  enlarged  so  as 
to  produce  a  conventional,  extravagant,  and  stereotyped  figure, 
like  the  modern  clown,  punch,  or  Mephisto,  being,  in  fact,  in 
some  measure,   their   ancestor.^    Greek  vases   represent    these 

1  Magnin,  Origines,  161.  ^  Ibid.,  27-29. 

2  Reich,  Der  Afim7ts,  12.  *  Tacitus,  Aiifiales,  IV,  14. 

^  Preuss  {Archiv  filr  Anthrop.,  XXIX,  182)  suggests  that  Falstaff's  fatness  may 
be  a  survival  of  one  of  the  physical  features  of  the  stereotyped  buffoon. 


578  FOLKWAYS 

figures.  The  same  set  of  ideas  and  course  of  thought  has  been 
traced  in  Mexico  in  connection  with  crop  interests  and  growth 
demons. 1  There  also  the  pubhc  rites  at  festivals  passed  by  imper- 
ceptible steps  into  dramatic  representations  with  dogmatic  mean- 
ing or  magical  significance. 

631.  Modern  analogies.  The  end  man  of  the  negro  minstrel 
troupe  is  a  modern  creation  like  the  Greek  pJilyax,  for  he  is  a 
buffoon  of  the  plantation-negro  type,  with  every  feature  exagger- 
ated to  the  utmost,  so  that  he  is  unreal  and  a  caricature  ;  but  the 
exaggerations  direct  attention  to  familiar  facts  and  display  char- 
acteristic features  which  are  a  cause  of  merriment.  The  rise, 
development,  and  decline  of  negro  ministrelsy  illustrate,  within 
our  observation,  many  features  in  the  history  of  popular  comedy. 
It  originated  in  fun  making  by  the  imitation  of  a  foreign  group, 
whose  peculiar  ways  appeared  to  be  ridiculous  antics.  Then  the 
negro  was  used  to  burlesque  and  satirize  the  weaknesses,  follies, 
and  affectations  of  whites.  The  negro  plantation  hand  is  a  type 
which  is  disappearing  and  interest  in  him  is  declining.  He  is  no 
longer  available  for  direct  study  or  derived  satire. 

632.  Biologs  and  ethologs.  The  QxQ,€^phlyax  (the  play)  passed 
to  southern  Italy  in  the  fourth  century  B.C.,  whence  it  was  trans- 
mitted to  Rome  and  confused  with  the  atellan.  It  became  very 
popular,  and  lasted  until  the  fifth  century  a.d.^  Reich  divides 
the  mimes  into  two  classes  :  (i)  biologs,  i.e.  those  who  repre- 
sent individual  types,  e.g.  an  unfaithful  wife,  an  imbecile  hus- 
band, a  fatuous  nobleman,  a  physician,  etc.  ;  (2)  ethologs,  i.e. 
those  who  impersonate  some  feature  in  the  mores  of  the  time 
and  satirize  it,  e.g.  faith  in  miracles,  fondness  for  drink  or  gam- 
bhng,  sycophancy  to  the  rich,  or  "getting  on  in  the  world."  This 
is  a  very  important  distinction  and  one  which  illuminates  the 
connection  between  the  drama  and  the  mores.  Socrates  was  an 
etholog,  although  not  an  actor.  He  spent  sarcasm,  irony,  and 
humor  on  the  ways  of  the  Athenians  of  his  time.^  Aristophanes 
was  another,  Rabelais  was  another,  Erasmus  was  an  inferior  one. 
In  his  Colloquies  and  Praise  of  Folly  he  is  more  of  a  preacher,  but 

1  Archiv  fiir  Atitkrop.,  XXIX,  133.  2  Reich,  Der  Alifmcs,  679,  682. 

3  Ibid.,  360. 


POPULAR   SPORTS,   EXHIBITIONS,  AND    DRAMA      579 

his  aim  is  to  influence  by  graphic  satirical  description.  In  our 
day  the  comic  papers  attempt  the  task  of  the  etholog.  They 
try  to  satirize  manners  and  men.  A  comic  paper  owned  or  sub- 
sidized by  a  political  party  is  the  sorriest  representative  of  Pierrot 
that  the  world  has  yet  seen.  The  biolog  personates  an  individual 
type,  like  an  aberration  of  human  nature,  which  may  be  found 
anywhere  and  at  any  time.  The  etholog  personates  a  specimen 
of  a  class  which  helps  to  characterize  a  period.  Dandies  exist  at 
all  times,  but  vary  in  detail.  The  fatuity  and  vanity  of  all  dan- 
dies are  features  for  the  etholog ;  the  follies  of  the  dandy  of  a 
period  belong  to  the  biolog.  Beau  Brummel  would  be  a  model 
for  a  biolog.  The  etholog  is  apt  to  overlook  his  best  subjects. 
He  cannot  himself  escape  from  his  own  times  enough  to  recog- 
nize them.  He  never  satirizes  the  reigning  features.  The  Ameri- 
can etholog  never  satirizes  democracy,  or  the  politician,  or  the 
newspaper.  The  etholog  wants  a  big  party  or  a  strong  senti- 
ment behind  him.  It  is  not  until  after  skepticism  about  a  ruling 
"way"  has  formed  in  the  minds  of  a  large  section  of  the  masses 
that  the  etholog  makes  himself  the  mouthpiece  of  it.  We  have 
no  satire  yet  on  militarism,  or  imperialism,  or  the  Monroe  doc- 
trine. A  protective  tariff  is  a  grand  object  for  satire,  but  so 
long  as  the  masses  believe  in  it  satire  is  powerless.  The  same 
is  true  of  any  folkway  so  long  as  it  is  not  yet  doubted.  Satire 
is  then  blasphemy.  While  a  way  is  prevalent  there  is  pathos 
about  it  (sec.  178),  as  there  is  now  amongst  us  about  democracy, 
but  there  never  can  be  satire  and  pathos  at  the  same  time,  in 
the  same  society,  about  the  same  thing.  One  might  have  be- 
lieved that  nothing  need  be  sacred  to  the  theaters  of  Paris,  but 
a  few  years  ago  a  play  was  written  which  set  the  French  Revo- 
lution in  a  different  light  from  the  now  consecrated  common- 
place in  regard  to  it.  It  was  found  impossible  to  produce  it. 
A  marionette  player  and  his  wife  made  fun  of  Pere  Duchesne 
on  the  boulevard  during  the  Revolution.  Both  were  guillotined.^ 
These  facts  limit  very  much  the  high  moral  function  sometimes 
ascribed  to  satire.  It  never  gets  into  action  until  the  mischief 
is  done.    It  never  squelches  a  folly  at  its  commencement.    That 

1  Magnin,  Mario7iettes,  188. 


580  FOLKWAYS 

function  belongs  to  educated  reason,  but  educated  reason  is  not 
in  the  masses. 

633.  Dickens  as  a  biolog.  Charles  Dickens  was  a  biolog.  His 
novels  contain  very  little  evidence  of  the  manners  and  customs 
of  his  time,  and  what  they  do  contain  is  forced  and  untrue.  He 
invented  characters  whose  names  have  become  common  nouns 
and  adjectives  for  individual  types  which  are  found  in  all  societies 
at  all  times  (Pecksniff,  Micawber,  Turveydrop,  Uriah  Heep, 
etc.),  but  which  may,  at  a  time,  be  especially  common  and  pro- 
duce fine  specimens. 

634.  Early  Jewish  plays.  Ezekiel  (an  Alexandrian  Jew,  fl.  c. 
200  B.C.)  is  said  to  have  written  a  play  on  the  exodus  from  Egypt, 
with  the  same  motive  as  the  mystery  plays,  —  the  edification  of 
the  faithful.  Herod  Atticus  (f  c.  180  a.d.),  having  caused  the 
death  of  his  wife,  Regilla,  was  not  satisfied  with  the  expiations 
in  the  usual  funeral  rites.  He  built,  as  a  monument  to  her,  a 
theater  with  a  roof  .^  Ezekiel's  play  on  the  exodus  was  presented 
in  Herod's  theater.  Nicholas  of  Damascus  (b.  74  b.c.)  is  said 
to  have  written  a  play  on  the  story  of  Susanna. ^ 

635.  Roman  mimus.  The  viiinus,  in  the  Greco-Roman  empire, 
stereotyped  its  figures  for  a  period,  since  of  course  they  did  not 
change  suddenly  or  greatly.  In  the  Roman  minms  the  recurring 
features  were  the  pursuit  of  legacies,  the  impotency  of  men,  the 
stupidity  of  the  clown,  blows  and  other  physical  violence.  The 
fixed  types  were  :  old  women  as  drunkards,  sorceresses,  go- 
betweens,  peddlers,  and  panders ;  men  as  scJiolastictcs  (the 
pedant  and  learned  imbecile),  Ardalio  (a  character  introduced 
by  Philistion),  the  fatuous,  fussy  old  man,  and  then  the  Chris- 
tian, a  type  which  was  kept  up  for  several  centuries.^  These 
personages,  remaining  unchanged  in  character,  were  put  in  vari- 
ous assumed  positions  and  conjunctures.  The  actors  had  to 
invent  the  dialogue  and  work  out  the  situation.  The  characters 
have  come  down  to   us  as  Punch,   Harlequin,  Pantaloon,  etc.* 

1  Lucian,  Demonax,  33. 

2  D'Ancona,  Origine  del  Teatro  in  Italia,  I,  15- 
2  Reich,  Der  Rlimtis,  58,  436,  470,  505. 

*  Magnin,  Origiites  du  Thedti-e  Moderne,  321. 


POPULAR   SPORTS,   EXHIBITIONS,  AND   DRAMA      58 1 

Punch  (=Pulcino,  Pulcinella)  is  only  a  Neapolitan  rendering  of 
Maccus,  a  character  in  the  atellans.  "Maccus,"  in  Etruscan, 
meant  a  little  cock.^  Christian  antiphonal  singing,  like  the  Greek 
mystery  acts  of  Dionysus,  helped  to  develop  the  drama. ^  In 
the  first  centuries  of  the  Christian  era  "  obscenity  dominated  the 
theater."  "  It  was  no  longer  a  school  of  patriotism,  recalling  the 
heroes  of  the  early  ages  or  criticising  the  misdoings  of  contem- 
poraries. It  was  a  scene  of  vice  and  corruption  for  actors  and 
spectators.  There  was  nothing  represented  but  the  adventures 
of  deceived  husbands,  adulteries,  intrigues  of  libertines,  incidents 
in  lupanars.  The  only  characters  represented  were  shameless 
women  and  effeminate  men.  The  most  shameful  things  were 
exhibited.  Everything  which  ought  to  be  respected  was  there 
degraded.  Virtue  was  mocked  and  the  gods  were  derided.  The 
actor  caused  the  taste  for  evil  things  to  penetrate  the  mind  of 
the  spectator;  he  stimulated  ignoble  and  criminal  passions,  and, 
familiar  as  he  was  with  vice,  he  blushed  sometimes  at  the  shame- 
ful role  which  he  was  forced  to  play  before  the  crowd."  ^ 

636.  <<  The  Suffering  Christ."  <'  Pseudo-Querolus."  In  the 
fourth  century  the  Christians  tried  to  use  the  theater  for  their 
purposes.  The  drama  TJie  Sufferittg  CJirist  is  attributed  to 
Gregory  of  Nazianz.  It  represents  the  passion  of  Jesus  as  under- 
stood by  the  Nicene  theologians.  It  consists  of  twelve  hundred 
and  seventy-three  verses  taken  more  or  less  exactly  from  the 
tragedies  of  Euripides  and  patched  together.  Lintilhac  *  says  it 
is  now  the  accepted  opinion  that  it  cannot  be  of  remoter  origin 
than  the  eleventh  century,  so  that  the  most  noteworthy  fact 
about  it  would  be  that  it  is  a  Greek  liturgical  play  of  even  date 
with  the  earliest  western  plays  of  that  class.  In  it  the  Virgin 
Mary  is  a  pagan  woman,  who  uses  verses  of  Hecuba  and  Medea, 
and  thinks  of  suicide.^  Another  play  of  the  fourth  century, 
which  is  mentioned  as  important  in  the  history  of  the  drama,  is 
the  Pseitdo-Qiierolus.    It  is  an  imitation  of  Plautus.    Querolus 

1  Magnin,  Origines,  47.  2  D'Ancona,  I,  45. 

3  Schmidt,  La  Societe  Civile  dans  le  Monde  Remain,  98. 

4  Theatre  Serieiix  du  M.  A.,  13  note.  ^  D'Ancona,  I,  372. 


582  FOLKWAYS 

is  the  forerunner  of  Moliere's  Misanthrope  and  so  a  biolog,  — 
a  permanent  type  of  person.^  Dramas  representing  martyrdom 
and  other  Christian  incidents  were  presented  with  very  great 
reahsm.^ 

637.  The  mimus  and  Christianity.  The  niinius  opened  war  on 
Christianity.  The  rehgion  was  unpopular  and  hated.  It  set  itself 
against  the  mores  of  the  society  at  the  time.  It  was  scoffed  at 
just  as  Puritans,  Quakers,  Mormons,  and  Christian  Scientists 
have  been  scoffed  at  since  and  for  the  same  reasons.  It  shared 
the  unpopularity  of  the.  Jews,  who  came  before  the  heathen 
world  claiming  the  isolation  of  superiority,  exclusive  favor  of 
God,  ascendancy  by  rights  over  all  the  world.  To  the  pagans 
the  Christians  seemed  to  make  a  great  fuss  about  nothing.  The 
niiimis  seized  the  popular  sentiment  and  gave  it  expression. 
The  Christian  became  the  clown  and  simpleton.  Christian  rites 
were  parodied  and  ridiculed.  Martyrdoms  were  represented  on 
the  stage,  the  martyr  being  the  buffoon.  The  heathen  gods  were 
taken  under  the  protection  of  the  7ninms,  instead  of  being  bur- 
lesqued as  they  had  been  for  several  centuries.  This  mockery 
ran  through  the  Roman  empire  until  the  end  of  the  fourth 
century,  when  the  church  got  the  protection  of  the  state  against 
public  insult,  but  Christianity  fell  under  the  dominion  of  heathen 
mores.  The  great  ecclesiastics  of  the  fifth  century  preached 
fiercely  against  the  theater,  not  because  of  the  insults  of  the 
theater  against  the  church,  for  they  were  silenced,  but  on  account 
of  the  action  of  the  theater  upon  Christian  mores.  Chrysostom 
denounced  the  theater  on  account  of  the  manners  of  actresses  in 
the  mimus,  on  account  of  false  hair,  paint,  exposed  bodies,  un- 
covered heads,  melodies,  gross  language,  gestures,  strife,  repre- 
sentations of  adultery  and  other  sex  vice,  and  because  it  was  the 
school  of  intrigue  and  seduction.  This  became  the  attitude  of 
the  church  towards  the  theater.^ 

638.  Popular  phantasms.  Although  the  crowd  likes  to  see 
realistic  representations  of  life,  and  also  likes  to  see  in  the  drama 
that  ridicule  of  the  cultured  classes  which  seems  like  a  victory 

1  Klein,  Gesch.  des  Dramas,  III,  599,  638.  ^  D'Ancona,  I,  372. 

8  Reich,  80,  93,  95,  107,  117. 


POPULAR  SPORTS,  EXHIBITIONS,  AND   DRAMA      583 

over  them,  yet  it  also  loves  fantastic  scenes,  and  acts  in  which 
the  limitations  of  reality  are  left  behind  and  imaginary  luck  and 
joy  are  represented,  —  such  as  magical  transformations,  fairy 
tales,  and  realms  of  bliss.  Extremes  of  realism  and  phantasm  m.eet 
in  the  folk  drama.  After  the  fifth  century  the  sense  of  societal 
decline  and  loss  was  strong  in  the  popular  mind.  It  was  felt 
that  the  world  was  failing.  There  was  a  contempt  for  life.^ 
Pagan  society  was  ennuye.  "  It  wanted  to  laugh.  It  wanted 
games  and  dances  to  make  gay  the  last  hours  which  separated 
it  from  its  fall."  ^  Salvianus  says  that  the  Roman  world  died 
laughing.^ 

639.  Effects  of  vicious  amusements.  Vicious  amusements 
provoke  all  kinds  of  vicious  passions.  Excitement,  sensuality, 
frivolity,  and  meanness  go  together.  Lecky  '^  points  out  the 
contrast  between  the  conduct  of  the  Romans  of  the  time  of 
Marius,  who  refused  to  plunder  the  houses  of  the  opposing 
faction  when  Marius  threw  them  open,  and  that  of  the  Romans 
of  the  time  of  Vespasian,  who  enjoyed  the  fun  and  plunder  of 
his  war  with  Vitellius  in  the  streets  of  Rome.  "The  moral 
condition  of  the  empire  is,  indeed,  in  some  respects  one  of  the 
most  appalling  pictures  on  record." 

640.  Gladiatorial  games.  The  mores  of  the  Romans  of  the 
third  century  B.C.  (sec.  624)  seized  upon  the  gladiatorial  contests 
as  something  suited  to  the  genius  of  the  Roman  people,  and,  as 
the  Romans  gained  wealth  and  power  by  conquest  and  plunder, 
with  numerous  war  captives,  they  developed  the  sport  of  the 
arena  to  a  very  high  point.  Then  the  sport  reacted  on  the 
mores  and  made  them  more  cruel,  licentious,  and  cowardly.  It 
required  more  and  more  extravagant  inventions  to  produce  the 
former  degree  of  pleasure.  The  Romans  were  fond  of  all  torture 
and  showed  great  invention  in  connection  with  it,  both  for 
beasts  and  men.  'Children  amused  themselves  by  torturing 
beasts  and  insects,  making  them  draw  loads,  and  making  fowls 
and  birds  fight.    They  loved  the  sight  of  pain  and  bloodshed 

^  Schmidt,  La  Societe  Civile  dans  le  Monde  Romain,  113. 
2  Ibid.,  loi.  3  j)g  GubernaL  Dei.,  VII. 

*  Eur.  Morals,  I,  264. 


584  FOLKWAYS 

and  found  their  greatest  pleasure  in  it.^  Under  Nero  women 
fought  in  the  arena.  This  was  forbidden  under  Severus.  A  law, 
probably  of  the  time  of  Nero,  forbade  masters  to  give  their 
slaves  to  fight  beasts.  Hadrian  forbade  the  sale  of  slaves  to 
be  gladiators.  Marcus  Aurelius  forbade  the  condemnation  of 
criminals  to  be  gladiators,  and  he  tried  to  limit  the  gladiatorial 
exhibitions.  They  were  far  too  popular.^  It  is  thus  that  amuse- 
ments and  mores  react  on  each  other  to  produce  social  degen- 
eration. The  whole  social  standard  of  "  right  "  moves  down  with 
the  moral  degeneracy,  and  at  no  stage  is  there  a  sense  of  shame 
or  wrongdoing  in  the  public  mind  in  connection  with  what  is 
customary  and  traditional  at  the  time.  There  is  no  contrast 
between  facts  and  standards.  The  great  Christian  ecclesiastics 
of  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries  denounced  the  public  amuse- 
ments and  tried  to  keep  the  Christians  away  from  them.  They 
tried  to  convert  actors.  They  pointed  out  the  subtle  corruption 
of  character  produced  by  feigning  vice.  Gladiators  were  not 
admitted  to  baptism  unless  they  repented  and  renounced  their 
profession.^  In  325  Constantine  forbade  gladiatorial  combats 
as  unfit  for  a  time  of  peace.  He  forbade  the  use  of  condemned 
criminals  in  the  arena.    These  laws  were  powerless.* 

641.  Compromise  between  church  and  customs.  The  mamma 
{mock  sea  fight  on  the  Tiber  in  May)  was  forbidden,  probably 
under  Constance,  a  prohibition  which  was  repeated  by  Theodo- 
sius.  Arcadius  tried  to  allow  it  again,  under  conditions  that 
propriety  be  observed,  but  it  was  impossible,  and  he  forbade  all 
immodest  exhibitions.  Theodosius  forbade  magistrates  to  be 
present  at  exhibitions  after  midday,  when  the  most  obscene 
and  bloody  were  presented,  except  on  the  anniversaries  of  his 
own  birth  and  accession.  He  also  forbade  actresses  to  use  fine 
clothes  and  jewels,  and  forbade  Christians  to  be  actors.  Leo  I 
(f  461)  forbade  that  any  Christian  woman,  free  or  slave,  should 
be  compelled  to  be  an  actress  or  meretrix.^    Salvianus  describes,^ 

^  Grupp,  Kiilturgesch.  der  ram.  Kaiserzeit,  I,  200. 
2  Magnin,  Origines,  435.  *  Ibid.,  469. 

8  Schmidt,  251-253.  ^  Ibid.,  451,  466,  477. 

<'  De  Giibernat.  Dei,  VI,  10,  15,  38,  44-55. 


POPULAR  SPORTS,  EXHIBITIONS,  AND   DRAMA      585 

in  very  emphatic  but  general  terms,  the  pubhc  exhibitions  in 
Gaul  and  Africa  in  the  second  half  of  the  fifth  century.  There 
was,  he  says,  scarcely  a  crime  or  outrage  which  was  not  repre- 
sented on  the  stage,  and  the  spectators  enjoyed  seeing  a  man 
killed  or  cruelly  lacerated.  All  the  earth  was  ransacked  for 
beasts.  All  the  senses  were  outraged  by  indecencies.  Never- 
theless, on  any  day  on  which  performances  occurred  the  churches 
were  empty.  The  Christians,  as  we  see,  lived  in  the  mores  of 
their  age,  and  all  these  things  had  centuries  of  tradition  behind 
them.  Salvianus  and  other  ecclesiastics  were  not  heeded  because 
they  derived  their  standards  from  Christian  dogmas,  and  those 
standards  were  far  removed  from  the  current  mores.  The 
church  was  forced  to  compromise.  It  allowed  feasts,  fairs,  and 
games  near  the  churches.  It  converted  heathen  festivals,  with 
processions,  lights,  and  garlands,  into  Christian  festivals  and 
usages.  It  borrowed  the  attractions  of  the  worship  of  Isis, 
Mithra,  and  Cybele,  and  adopted  all  the  means  of  suggestion 
employed  in  their  rites.  The  great  ecclesiastics  were  divided  as 
to  this  policy.  Augustine  put  an  end,  so  far  as  his  jurisdiction 
went,  to  the  feasts  in  the  churches  in  honor  of  martyrs,  with 
singing,  dancing,  and  drinking,  although  they  were  very  popu- 
lar.^ He  complained  earnestly  of  the  indecency  of  the  exhibitions 
of  his  time.^  "  Especially  at  the  festivals  in  honor  of  the  heathen 
gods,  and  in  civil  celebrations,  the  ancient  religious  practices 
were  renewed,  not  infrequently  degenerating  into  shameless 
immorality,  yet  protecting  civil  usages.  The  patriot,  the  phi- 
losopher, the  skeptic,  and  the  pious  man  had  to  make  a  capitula- 
tion with  those  ancient  religious  practices,  for  they  were  not, 
in  truth,  emancipated  from  them  at  heart,  and  they  did  not 
know  of  anything  better  to  replace  what  those  practices  did  for 
society."^  So  the  philosopher,  patriot,  skeptic,  and  pious  man 
always  have  to  compromise  with  the  ancient  and  existing  mores. 
Salvianus  "^  says  that  poverty  caused  the  great  exhibitions  to 
cease.  It  was  advancing  poverty  and  misery  which  put  an  end 
to  all  the  old  forms  of  amusement.    It  was  not  the  church  or 

1  McCabe,  Si.  Aug.,  238.  ^  Harnack,  Dogme7igesch.,  I,  116. 

2  De  Civil.  Dei,  II,  27.  *  De  Gubernat.  Dei,  VI,  42. 


586  FOLKWAYS 

Christianity.  The  Christian  rites  and  festivals  alone  remained. 
Modern  Spanish  bullfights  appear  to  be  a  survival  of  the  old 
sports  of  the  arena.  Bullfights  were  introduced  into  Italy  in 
the  fourteenth  century.  They  were  general  in  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury. The  Aragonese  brought  them  to  Naples  and  the  Borgias 
to  Rome.^  We  hear  of  a  kind  of  gladiatorial  exhibition  at  some 
festivals  in  India  early  in  the  nineteenth  century.^  There  were 
gladiators  also  in  Japan  ^  and  in  Mexico.* 

642.  The  cantica.  Roman  drama  ran  down  to  pantomime  with 
explanatory  recitation,  that  is,  cantica.  From  the  seventh  to  the 
tenth  century  few  dramas  were  produced  with  dialogue.  Some 
biblical  narratives,  legends  of  saints,  and  profane  compositions 
from  that  time  exist,  which  are  probably  cantica.,  to  be  accom- 
panied by  pantomime  at  fairs  or  in  church  porches. 

643.  Passion  for  the  games.  It  certainly  was  not  on  account 
of  any  decline  in  the  taste  for  amusement  that  the  games 
declined.  In  the  fifth  century,  when  the  Vandals  were  besieging 
Carthage,  "the  church  of  Carthage  was  crazy  for  the  games," 
and  the  cries  of  those  dying  in  battle  were  confused  with  those 
of  the  applauding  spectators  at  the  games.  The  leading  men  of 
Treves  were  gratifying  their  love  of  feasting  when  the  barbarians 
entered  their  city.^  The  people  of  Antioch  were  in  the  theater 
when  the  Persians  surprised  them,  about  265  a.d.^ 

644.  German  sports.  Amongst  the  Germanic  nations,  from 
a  very  early  period,  popular  amusements  consisted  in  panto- 
mimes, mummery  with  animal  masks,  horseplay  by  clowns,  etc. 
The  feast  of  Holda,  or  Berchta,  during  the  first  twelve  days  of 
January,  was  an  especial  period  for  those  sports.  From  the 
sixth  century  there  was  also  a  pantomime  of  the  strife  of  winter 
and  spring." 

645.  The  mimus  from  the  third  to  the  eighth  century.  As  the 
culture  drama  fell  into  neglect  the  viivuis  was  left  in  possession 
of  the  field.    The  culture  drama,  as  we  have  seen,  was  built 

^  Gregorovius,  Lticret.  Borgia,  220.  -  Dubois,  Mcetcrs  de  Vlnde,  II,  33I. 

3  JAI,  XII,  222. 

*  Bancroft,  N^ative  Races  of  the  Pacific  Coast,  II,  305. 

^  Salvianus,  De  Gubernat.  Dei,  VI,  69,  71,  77. 

6  Ammianus  Marcel.,  XXIII,  v,  3.  '  Grimm,  Deutsche  MythoL,  166,  440. 


POPULAR  SPORTS,  EXHIBITIONS,  AND   DRAMA      587 

upon  and  above  the  mirniis,  and  has  the  character  of  a  high 
product  which  could  be  maintained  only  in  a  peaceful  and  pros- 
perous society  whose  other  literary  and  artistic  products  were  of 
a  high  grade.  With  a  failure  of  societal  power  the  highest 
products  disappeared  first,  but  the  low  and  vulgar  minms^  which 
had  been  disregarded  but  had  amused  the  crowd  during  pros- 
perity, continued  to  exist.  In  the  third,  fourth,  and  fifth  cen- 
turies the  mumis  existed  throughout  the  Roman  world  and  was 
very  popular.  In  the  fifth  century  it  flourished  at  Ravenna,  and 
perhaps  it  continued  later  in  the  same  form  as  in  the  East.  It  can 
be  traced  in  Italy  in  the  sixth  century,  after  which  its  existence 
is  doubtful.  In  the  seventh  century  the  theater  was  a  thing  of 
1:he  past,  but  the  viiinus  still  existed.  The  ascetics  of  Charle- 
magne's time  disapproved  of  it  and  got  legislation  against  it, 
but  the  laws  were  of  no  avail.  The  ecclesiastics  were  fond  of 
the  mimus.  It  was  in  the  hands  of  strolling  players  of  the 
humblest  kind.  It  coarsened  with  the  general  decay.  All  court 
festivals  needed  the  mimus  for  the  festivities.^ 

646.  Drama  in  the  Orient.  There  is  no  drama  in  Mohammedan 
literature  and  it  appears  that  there  is  no  original  drama  in  the 
Orient.^  The  viinuis  declined  in  the  West  in  the  disaster  of 
the  fifth  century,  but  in  the  Byzantine  empire  it  lasted  until  the 
Turkish  conquest,  so  that  it  appears  that  if  there  is  any  histor- 
ical connection  between  modern  and  ancient  drama  it  must  be 
through  Byzantium. 3  The  actors  at  Byzantium  kept  a  certain 
traditional  license  in  the  face  of  the  emperor  and  court  which 
was  not  without  social  and  political  value.* 

647.  Marionettes.  Marionettes  are  mentioned  in  Xenophon's 
Symposium.  They  were  of  more  ancient  origin.  The  puppet 
play  was  used  as  a  means  of  burlesquing  the  legitimate  theater 
and  drama.  It  passed  to  the  Turks  as  the  puppet  shadow  play, 
in  which  the  hero  Karagoz  is  the  same  as  Punch  in  figure, 
character,  and  acts.  This  puppet  play  spread  all  over  the 
Eastern  world.  Lane^  says  of  it  in  Egypt,  in  the  first  half  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  that  it  was  very  indecent.    Reich  ^  describes 

1  Reich,  Der  Mimus,  7S5-S10.  ^  Ibid.,  48,  133.  5  ]\jod.  Egypt,  II,  125. 

2  Ibid.,  622.  ■*  Ibid.,  191.  ^  Der  Mimus,  656. 


588  FOLKWAYS 

an  indecent  shadow  play.  A  special  form  of  it  was  developed 
in  Java,  the  zvajatig-pocrva,  with  figures  of  the  pantin  type, 
operated  by  strings  and  levers.  This  amusement  is  very  popular 
in  Java  and  very  representative  of  the  mores.  Whether  these 
oriental  forms  of  the  mimics  were  derived  from  the  Greco-Roman 
world  is  uncertain.  The  mimns  is  so  original  and  of  such  spon- 
taneous growth  that  it  does  not  need  to  be  borrowed. 

648.  The  drama  in  India.  In  India,  at  the  beginning  of  the 
Christian  era,  there  was  a  development  of  drama  of  a  high  charac- 
ter. The  one  called  the  Clay-waggon  (a  child's  toy)  is  described 
as  of  very  great  literary  merit,  —  realistic,  graphic,  and  Shake- 
spearean in  its  artistic  representation  of  life.^  Every  drama  which 
has  that  character  must  be  in  and  of  the  mores.  In  the  Clay-zvag- 
gon  the  story  is  that  of  a  Brahmin  of  the  noblest  character, 
who  marries  a  courtesan,  she  having  great  love  for  him.  The 
courtesan  gives  to  the  Brahmin's  son  a  toy  wagon  of  gold  for 
his  own  made  of  clay.  The  name  of  the  play  comes  from  this 
trivial  incident  in  it.  A  wicked,  vain,  and  shallow-pated  prince 
intervenes  and  is  taken  as  a  biolog,  or  standing  type  of  person. 
Modern  Hindoo  dramas  require  a  whole  night  for  the  represen- 
tation. They  represent  the  loves  and  quarrels  of  the  gods  and 
other  mythological  stories.  "  The  actors  are  dressed  and  painted 
in  imitation  of  the  deities  they  represent,  and  frequently  the 
conversations  are  rendered  attractive  by  sensual  and  obscene 
allusions,  whilst  in  the  interludes  boys  dressed  in  women's 
clothes  dance  with  the  most  indecent  gestures.  The  worst 
dances  that  I  have  ever  seen  have  been  in  front  of  an  image  and 
as  a  part  of  the  rejoicings  of  a  religious  festival.  Crowds  of 
men,  women,  and  children  sit  to  watch  them  the  whole  night 
through."  2  The  history  of  Ram  is  also  enacted  in  pantomime 
in  northern  India.  The  text  of  the  Ramayana  is  read  and  days 
are  spent  in  acting  it,  by  a  great  crowd,  which  moves  from  place 
to  place,  and  naively  plans  to  act  city  incidents  in  cities,  forest 
incidents  in  forests,  boat  episodes  on  ponds,  and  war  episodes 
or  battles  on  great  fields.^ 

^  Klein,  Gesch.  des  Dramas,  III,  84.  ^  Wilkins,  Modern  Hindi/ism,  225. 

3  Globus,  LXXXVII,  60. 


POPULAR  SPORTS,   EXHIBITIONS,  AND   DRAMA      589 

649.  Punch  in  the  West.  Punch  was  brought  to  Italy  in  the 
fifteenth  century.^  Pohchinelle,  as  developed  in  France,  is  dis- 
tinctly French.  The  model  is  Henri  IV.  The  hump  is  an 
immemorial  sign  of  the  French  badin-h-farces.  "  Polichinelle 
seems  to  me  to  be  a  purely  national  (French)  type,  and  one  of 
the  most  spontaneous  and  vivacious  creations  of  French  fan- 
tasy." ^  The  puppet  play  of  Punch  and  Judy  has  enjoyed 
immense  popularity  in  western  Europe.  The  Faust  legend  has 
been  developed  by  the  puppets.^  With  the  improvements  in  the 
arts  people  became  more  sophisticated.  The  puppets  were  left 
to  children  and  to  the  simplest  rural  population,  not  because  the 
mores  improved,  but  because  people  were  treated  to  more 
elaborate  entertainments  and  the  puppets  became  trivial.  Punch 
is  now  a  blackguard  and  criminal,  who  is  conventionally  tolerated 
on  account  of  his  antiquity.  He  is  not  in  modern  mores  and  is 
almost  unknown  in  the  United  States.  He  is  generally  popular 
in  southern  Europe.  To  the  Sicilians  "  a  puppet  play  is  a  book, 
a  picture,  a  poem,  and  a  theater  all  in  one.  It  teaches  and 
amuses  at  the  same  time."  ^  Then  it  still  is  what  it  has  been  for 
three  thousand  years. 

650.  Resistance  of  the  church  to  the  drama.  The  council  in 
the  palace  of  Trullo,  at  Constantinople  in  692,^  adopted  canons 
forbidding  clerics  to  attend  horse  races  or  theatrical  exhibi- 
tions, or  to  stay  at  weddings  after  play  began,  also  panto- 
mimes, beast  combats,  and  theatrical  dances,  also  heathen 
festivals,  vows  to  Pan,  bacchanal  rites,  public  dances  by  women, 
the  appearance  of  men  dressed  as  women,  or  of  women  dressed 
as  men,  and  the  use  of  comic,  tragic,  or  satyric  masks.  All 
the  Dionysiac  rites  had  been  forbidden  long  before.  These 
canons  prove  that  those  rites  were  still  observed.  These  clerical 
rules  and  canons  do  not  represent  the  mores  and  they  never 
overruled  the  mores  at  Constantinople.  They  only  bear  witness 
to  what  existed  in  the  mores  late  in  the  seventh  century,  and 

1  Reich,  Der  A/imiis,  669,  673,  676. 

2  Magnin,  Marionettes,  1 21-122.  '  Ibid.,  343. 
*  Alec-Tweedie,  Sunny  Sicily,  173,  and  Chap.  XI. 
^  Hefele,  Conciliengesch.,  Ill,  304. 


590 


FOLKWAYS 


they  were  an  attempt  to  purify  the  usages  which  had  been  taken 
over  by  compromise  from  heathenism.  In  the  sixth  century  in 
the  West  dances  in  church  were  often  forbidden.  The  only 
stock  of  ideas  in  the  eighth  and  ninth  centuries  were  fantastic 
notions  of  nature,  heaven  and  hell,  history,  supernatural  agents, 
etc.,  which  notions  the  ecclesiastics  had  an  interest  to  teach. 
Dramatic  representation  was  a  means  of  teaching.  The  external 
action  corresponded  closely  with  the  mental  concept  or  story. 
From  the  time  of  Charlemagne  pantomimes,  tableaux,  etc.,  set 
forth  incidents  of  biblical  stories  and  the  resurrection,  ascension, 
etc.  The  mores  of  the  age  seized  on  these  modes  of  represen- 
tation and  gave  method  and  color  to  them.  All  the  grossness, 
superstition,  and  bad  taste  of  the  age  were  put  into  them. 
Satan  and  his  demons  were  realistically  represented,  and  the  mass 
was  travestied  by  ecclesiastics  in  a  manner  which  we  should 
think  would  be  deeply  offensive  to  them.^  It  was  another  case 
of  conventionality  for  a  limited  time  and  place.  Some  of  the 
clergy  no  doubt  enjoyed  the  fun ;  others  had  to  tolerate  what 
was  old  and  traditional.  The  folk  drama  reawakened  as  bur- 
lesque, parody,  satire.  The  evil  characters  in  the  Scripture 
stories  (Pharaoh,  Judas,  Caiaphas,  the  Jews)  all  fed  this  interest. 
All  persons  and  institutions  which  pretended  to  be  great  and 
good  and  were  not  such  provoked  satire  (clergy,  nobles,  warriors, 
women).  The  drama,  introduced  to  show  forth  religious  notions, 
served  also  to  set  forth  others  (social,  political,  city  rivalry, 
class  antagonisms).  The  "  mass  of  fools "  was  a  complete 
parody  of  the  mass,  with  mock  music  and  vestments  and  bur- 
lesque ceremony.  In  the  "mass  of  innocents"  children  took 
the  place  of  adults  and  carried  out  the  ceremony  as  a  parody. 
At  the  "  feast  of  the  ass  "  an  ass  was  led  into  church  and  treated 
with  mock  respect.  This  last  degenerated  into  obscenity,  inde- 
cency, and  disorder.  Bulls  and  edicts  against  it  were  long 
vain.  It  was  popular  as  a  relief  from  restraint.^  It  continued 
the  function  of  the  Saturnalia,  which  had  been  a  grand  frohc 

1  ScheiT,  D.  F.   IF.,  I,  245. 

~  Lenient,  Ld  Satire  en  France  an  ALA.,  422  ;   Du  Cange,  s,  v.  "  Festum  Asino- 


rum. 


POPULAR   SPORTS,   EXHIBITIONS,  AND   DRAMA      591 

and  relaxation.  The  ecclesiastics  tolerated  these  outbursts,  per- 
haps because  they  saw  that  the  lines  could  not  be  drawn  very 
tightly  without  such  relaxation.  From  the  eleventh  century  the 
ecclesiastics  opposed  any  automatic  figure.  They  construed  the 
making  of  such  a  figure  as  an  attempt  to  call  the  saints,  etc.,  to 
life  again.  The  skill  employed  also  seemed  to  them  like  sorcery. ^ 
"  There  was  not  an  ecumenic,  national,  or  diocesan  council  in 
whose  canons  may  not  be  found  severe  and  peremptory  reproofs 
of  all  sorts  and  qualities  of  drama,  of  actors,  and  of  those  who 
run  to  see  plays."  ^  This  became  the  orthodox  attitude  of  the 
church  to  the  theater.  There  were  complaints  of  the  attendance 
of  clerics  and  people  at  theatrical  exhibitions  until  the  tenth 
century.  Then  they  cease  because  the  church  ceremonies  were 
more  interesting  and  better  done.^  The  Christian  drama  reached 
the  height  of  its  hieratic  development  between  the  ninth  and 
twelfth  centuries.'^ 

651.  Hrotsvitha.  Klein  ^  puts  as  the  next  important  literary 
work  of  dramatic  composition  after  the  Psetido-Querohis  the 
works  of  the  nun  Hrotsvitha.  In  the  tenth  century  she  wrote 
six  comedies  in  Latin,  in  imitation  of  Terence,  her  purpose 
being  to  show  the  superiority  of  the  conventual  conception  of 
love  to  the  worldly  theory,  and  of  religious  passion  to  erotic 
passion.  In  the  introduction  she  apologizes  for  her  realistic 
descriptions  of  erotic  passion,  which  she  says  was  necessary  for 
the  argument  implicit  in  her  plays.  She  introduces  God  as  a 
character,  and  miracles  as  a  means  of  bringing  about  the  denoue- 
ment at  which  she  wants  to  arrive.  It  became  the  custom  in 
mediaeval  drama  to  reach,  by  introducing  a  miracle,  the  moral 
result  which  current  dogma  required.^  The  situations  and 
intrigue  are  generally  very  unedifying.  To  our  taste  the  plays 
seem  very  unfit  to  be  acted  by  nuns  before  nuns.    • 

652.  Jongleurs.  Processions.  In  the  eleventh  century  abbeys 
and  cathedrals  were  built.    At  the  beginning  of  the  century  the 

1  Magnin,  Marionettes,  58. 

■■^  D'Ancona,  Origini  del  teatro  in  Italia,  I,  12. 

^  Ibid.,  I,  49.  *  Magnin,  Origines  dii  Theatre  JModerne,  XXV. 

^  Gesch.  des  Dramas,  III,  646.    ^  Magnin,  Theatre  de  Ilrots^'it/ia. 


592 


FOLKWAYS 


basilicas  of  the  churches  were  repaired  throughout  Latin  Chris- 
tendom.^ The  Jongleurs  of  the  twelfth  century  were  the  popular 
minstrels.  "  Poet,  mountebank,  musician,  physician,  beast  show- 
man, and  to  some  extent  diviner  and  sorcerer,  the  jongleur  is  also 
the  orator  of  the  public  market  place,  the  man  adored  by  the  crowd 
to  whom  he  offers  his  songs  and  his  couplets.  Questions  of  morals 
and  politics,  toothache,  pious  legends,  scandalous  tales  about 
priests,  noble  ladies,  and  cavaliers,  gossip  of  grog  shops,  and  news 
from  the  Holy  Land  were  all  in  his  domain."  ^  Li  the  second  third 
of  the  twelfth  century  the  vulgar  language  began  to  displace  the 
Latin  in  church,  especially  in  dramas.^  Processions  were  in  the 
taste  and  usage  of  the  Middle  Ages  and  Renaissance  for  both  civil 
and  religious  pomp  and  display.  The  dresses,  banners,  arches, 
etc.,  contributed  to  the  spectacle,  and  all  took  on  a  dramatic 
character  for,  on  a  saint's  day  or  other  occasion,  the  exhibition 
had  a  second  sense  of  reference  to  the  story  of  the  saint,  or  the 
success  in  war  of  the  king  or  potentate.  The  latter  sense  might 
be  dramatically  set  forth,  and  generally  was  at  least  suggested. 
Tableaux  and  dramatic  pantomime  in  the  streets  were  combined 
with  the  processions.  Mythological  subjects  as  well  as  incidents 
of  Christian  history  were  so  represented.  All  classes  cooperated 
in  these  functions.  Poets  and  artists  of  the  first  rank  assisted. 
The  contribution  of  these  functions  to  the  development  of  the 
drama  is  obvious.  In  modern  times  the  taste  for  processions  is 
lost,  and  the  cultivated  classes  refuse  to  participate,  but  when 
the  whole  population  of  a  city  took  part  in  setting  forth  some- 
thing they  all  cared  for,  the  social  effect  was  great,  and  the 
whole  proceeding  nourished  dramatic  taste  and  power.  In  Italy 
the  pantomime  with  song  and  dance,  or  ballet,  had  its  origin  in 
the  procession.*  In  the  churches  arrangements  were  made,  with 
elaborate  machinery,  for  exhibiting  representations  of  Scripture 
incidents.  Godfrey,  Abbot  of  St.  Albans  (f  1146)  wrote  a 
play  on  the  life  of  St.  Catharine  "  such  as  was  afterwards  called 

1  Lintilhac,   Theatre  Serieiix  dit  M.  A.,  i8. 

2  Lenient,  La  Satire,  23. 

3  Lintilhac,  Theatre  Serieux  du  M.  A.,  34. 
^  Burckhardt,  Renaissance,  401. 


POPULAR   SPORTS,  EXHIBITIONS,  AND   DRAMA      593 

a  miracle."  The  Annunciation  was  represented  in  St.  Mark's, 
Venice,  in  1267.  In  Germany  the  mysteries  were  partly  in 
German  from  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century.^ 

653.  Adam  de  la  Halle.  De  Julleville  ^  puts  Adam  de  la  Italic 
as  the  first  comic  writer  in  France,  in  point  of  time.  He  wrote 
the  Jeii,  de  la  Feuillee  zbovit  1262.  It  is  described  as  a  "  scenic 
satire  rather  than  a  comedy."  It  is  local,  personal,  and  satirical, 
and  includes  miracles  and  capricious  inventions  without  much 
regard  to  probability.  It  stands  by  itself  and  is  not  the  first  of  a 
series.  The  notion  of  a  connection  between  comedy  and  bodily 
deformity  was  now  so  firmly  established  that  Adam  was  called 
the  "  Humpback  of  Arras,"  although  he  was  not  humpbacked 
at  all.^  Association  of  acts  and  ideas  is  always  very  important 
in  all  folkways  and  popular  mores.  At  Florence,  in  1304,  on 
boats  on  the  Arno,  devils  were  represented  at  work.  The  bridge 
on  which  the  spectators  stood  broke  down  under  the  crowd, 
and  it  was  said  that  "  many  went  to  the  real  hell  to  find  out 
about  it."*  At  Paris,  in  13 13,  at  the  celebration  of  the  knight- 
ing of  the  sons  of  Philippe  le  Bel,  devils  were  represented  tor- 
menting souls. ^ 

654.  Flagellants.  The  flagellants  exerted  some  of  the  sugges- 
tions of  the  processions,  and  they  used  dramatic  devices  to  set 
forth  their  ideas,  to  say  nothing  of  the  dramatic  element  in  the 
self -scourging.  They  were  outside  of  the  church  system,  and 
acted  on  their  own  conception  of  sin  and  discipline,  like  modern 
revivalists.  They  reappeared  from  time  to  time  through  the 
fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries.  They  meant  to  declare  that 
the  asserted  correlation  between  goodness  and  blessing  did  not 
verify,  and  they  were  at  a  loss  for  a  doctrine  to  replace  it.  Their 
antiphonal  singing  turned  into  dialogue,  and  then  became  drama 
at  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century.^ 

655.  Use  of  churches  for  dramatic  exhibitions.  The  mediaeval 
plays  were  presented  in  churches  or  on  the  open  spaces  on 
the  streets  in  front  of  them,  at  Florence.     Later  this  became 

1  D'Ancona,  I,  62,  78,  86.  *  D'Ancona,  I,  88. 

2  La  Comedie  en  France  au  M.  A.,  19.  ^  Ibid.,  89. 

3  Magnin,  Marionettes,  121.  6  Jhid.,  98- 107. 


594 


FOLKWAYS 


customary  in  all  cities.^  The  old  idea  had  been  that  churches 
were  common  public  property,  a  universal  rendezvous  for  every 
common  interest.  Dedications  of  churches  and  feasts  of  martyrs 
had  been  general  merrymakings.  D'Ancona  collects  dicta  of 
councils  and  popes  condemning  dramatic  actions  in  churches,  and 
the  singing  of  lewd  songs  and  dancing  by  women. ^  The  language 
used  implies  that  the  songs,  gestures,  acts,  and  suggestions  con- 
nected with  the  performances  in  the  churches  were  lewd  and 
indecent.  The  populace,  while  using  the  license,  well  perceived 
its  incongruity  and  impropriety,  and  this  stimulated  the  satire, 
which  was  so  strong  a  feature  of  the  late  Middle  Ages  and  which 
produced  the  farce.  The  mysteries  and  moralities  for  a  time 
gave  entertainment,  but  they  became  tedious.  The  farce  was  at 
first  "  stuffing,"  put  in  to  break  up  the  dullness  by  fun  making 
of  some  kind  and  to  give  spice  to  the  entertainment,  just  as  meats 
yNQXQ.  farcies  to  give  them  more  savor.  It  grew  until  it  surpassed 
and  sviperseded  the  sober  drama.  The  populace  did  not  want 
more  preaching  and  instruction,  but  fun  and  frolic,  relief  from 
labor,  thought,  and  care.  The  take-off,  caricature,  burlesque, 
parody,  discerns  and  sets  forth  the  truth  against  current  humbug, 
and  the  pretenses  of  the  successful  classes.  The  fool  comes 
into  prominence  again,  not  by  inheritance  but  by  rational 
utility.  The  fifteenth  century  offered  him  plenty  of  material. 
As  a  fool  he  escaped  responsibility.  This  role,  —  that  of  the 
badin  in  France,  the  gracioso  in  Spain,  arlcqimio  in  Italy,  Hans- 
zviirst  in  Germany,  —  becomes  fixed  like  the  buffoon  {maccus) 
in  the  classical  comedy.  In  France,  from  the  beginning  of  the 
fourteenth  century,  the  basocJiicns  were  young  clerks  and  advo- 
cates who  were  studying  law  and  who  made  fun  of  law  proceed- 
ings. They  met  with  only  limited  toleration.  Their  satire  was 
not  relished  by  the  legal  great  men.  In  the  fourteenth  century 
they  took  up  moralities  overweighted  with  allegory  but  broken 
up  by  farces.  In  the  fifteenth  century  the  Eiifans  sans  Soiici 
were  another  variety  of  comediens .  Their  emblem  was  the 
cap  with  two  horns  or  ass's  ears.^    The  life  of  St.  Louis  was 

1  D'Ancona,  Origine  del  Teatro  in  Italia,  I,  344.  ^  Jhid.,  I,  47. 

''  Lenient,  La  Satire  en  France  au  M.  A.,  324-340. 


POPULAR   SPORTS,   EXHIBITIONS,  AND   DRAMA      595 

represented  in  tableaux  at  Marseilles  in  1517.^  The  Passion  was 
represented  in  the  Coliseum  until  1539,  when  Paul  III  forbade 
it.    Riots  against  the  Jews  had  been  provoked  by  the  exhibition.^ 

656.  Protest  against  misuse  of  churches.  It  may  be  said  that 
there  was  never  wanting  a  dissenting  opinion  and  protest  amongst 
the  ecclesiastics  about  the  folk  drama  in  the  churches.  In  12 10 
Innocent  III  forbade  such  exhibitions  by  ecclesiastics.  Then 
the  fraternities  began  to  represent  them  on  public  market  places. 
The  "festival  of  fools  "  at  Christmas  time  was  originally  invented 
to  turn  the  heathen  festivals  into  ridicule.  When  there  were  no 
more  heathen  it  degenerated  into  extreme  popular  farce.  Thomas 
Aquinas  consented  to  the  minnis,  if  it  was  not  indecent.^  The 
synod  of  Worms,  in  13 16,  forbade  plays  in  churches.  Such 
plays  seem  to  have  reached  their  highest  perfection  in  the  four- 
teenth century.*  Plays  of  this  type  gave  way  in  the  fifteenth 
century  to  "  moralities,"  with  allegorical  characters,  which  pre- 
vailed for  a  long  time,  the  taste  for  allegory  marking  the  mental 
fashion  of  the  time.  The  council  of  Basle  forbade  plays  in 
churches  (1440).^ 

657.  Toleration  of  jests  by  the  ecclesiastics.  The  ecclesiastical 
authorities  were  very  patient  with  the  folk  theater  for  its  satires 
on  the  clergy,  the  church,  and  religion.  They  heeded  only 
attacks  on  "  the  faith."  "We  are  astonished  to  meet,  in  a  time 
which  we  always  think  of  as  crushed  under  authority,  with  such 
incredibly  bold  expressions  against  the  papacy,  the  episcopate, 
chivalry,  and  the  most  revered  doctrines  of  religion  such  as  para- 
dise, hell,  etc."  ^  Lenient  suggests  as  reasons  the  divisons  and 
factions  in  church  and  state  and  the  current  contempt  for  popular 
poetry.  In  the  fifteenth  century,  in  France,  the  popular  drama 
expressed  the  class  envy  of  the  poor  against  the  rich.  In  the 
mystery  play  Job  (1478)  the  "Pasteur"  says:  "The  great 
lords  have  all  the  goods.  The  poor  people  have  nothing  but 
pain  and  adversity.  Who  would  not  be  irritated  [at  such  a  state 
of  things]  }  "    The  passion  plays  of  the  Rhine  valle}   followed 

1  Scherr,  Z>.  F.   JJ'.,  II,  124.  *  von  Schack,  Gesch.  der  Dramat.  Lit.,  I,  35. 

2  D'Ancona,  I,  2S2  5  Session  XXI,  sec.  11. 

^  Summa,  II,  2,  qu.  16S,  art.  3.       ^  Lenient,  La  Satire  eii  France  an  M.  A.,  29. 


596  FOLKWAYS 

those  of  France.  Those  of  the  fourteenth  century  lacked  the 
rude  jests  and  ghoulish  interest  of  those  of  France  in  the  fifteenth. 
The  street  public  never  tired  of  the  horrors  of  executions,  or  of 
the  low  gaiety  of  funerals,  etc.  The  "  sot "  first  appeared  in  the 
Passion  de  Troycs  at  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century.  He  was 
long  popular.^ 

658.  Fictitious  literature.  Fictitious  literature,  after  printing 
became  common,  was  greatly  increased,  especially  in  Italy  and 
Spain.  Through  the  dialogued  story  it  led  up  to  the  drama. 
At  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century  F.  de  Rojas  wrote  a  dialogued 
story,  Calisto  c  Melibasa,  about  two  distressed  lovers.  The  hero- 
ine is  Celestina,  a  bawd  who  helped  them  out  of  their  troubles. 
The  book  is  generally  named  after  her,  and  she  became  a  fixed 
character  in  drama  and  fiction.  The  noble  bawd,  however,  is 
an  artificial  creation  of  literature  and  never  could  be  a  biolog. 
It  is  not  true  enough.  The  Spaniards  also  developed  a  new 
form  of  the  mystery  play,  —  the  mitos  sacrament  ales.  These 
plays  represented  some  Scriptural  incident,  but  the  roles  were 
taken  by  allegorical  figures.  They  were  regularly  represented 
on  the  festival  of  Corpus  Christi,  in  the  afternoon,  on  the  public 
square.  They  satisfied  the  taste  of  the  people  for  religiosity,  if 
not  religion.  Machiavelli  (1469— 1527)  wrote  a  story,  Majidra- 
gore.,  which  in  its  day  enjoyed  great  popularity.  A  man  in 
Paris  heard  of  the  beauty  of  a  lady  at  Florence.  He  went  to 
the  latter  place  to  see  her  and  fell  in  love  with  her.  Her  hus- 
band was  an  imbecile  who  greatly  desired  a  child.  He  persuaded 
his  wife  to  receive  the  stranger.  She  and  the  lover  contracted 
an  enduring  relation.  Cardinal  Bibbiena  wrote  a  comedy  at 
the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century,  Calandra,  which  was 
esteemed  as  a  great  work.  The  intrigue  consists  of  qiiiproquos 
produced  by  twins,  a  male  and  a  female,  who  exchange  dress. 
Many  classical  stories  are  introduced.  Lope  de  Vega  (1562— 
1635)  wrote  autos  and  comedies.  He  wrote  eighteen  hundred 
comedies,  four  hundred  autos,  and  a  great  number  of  other  pieces, 
—  in  all,  it  is  said,  twenty-one  million  verses.^    Calderon  (1600- 

1  Lintilhac,  Theatre  Serieux  dii  RFoyen  Age,  io6,  123,  133,  167. 

2  Zarate,  Liter.  Espah.,  II,  30S,  423,  451. 


POPULAR  SPORTS,  EXHIBITIONS,  AND   DRAMA      597 

168 1)  continued  on  the  same  lines.  The  servant-buffoon  was 
the  time  form  of  the  buffoon.  All  these  productions  furnished 
models  and  material  for  the  poets  and  dramatists  of  other  coun- 
tries. The  comedies  are  always  long  and  wordy  and  generally 
tedious.  They  run  in  fixed  molds,  and  have  unyielding  con- 
ventions to  obey.    Rarely  have  they  ethological  value. 

659.  Romances  of  roguery.  The  "  romances  of  roguery"  were 
closely  akin  to  the  popular  drama  as  exponents  of  popular  tastes 
and  standards.  It  is  very  possible  that  the  romances  were  derived 
from  the  tastes.^  The  clever  hero  has  been  a  very  popular  type 
in  all  ages  and  countries.  He  easily  degenerates  into  the  clever 
rogue.  The  rogue  is  an  anti-hero  to  offset  the  epic  hero.  There 
was  in  France,  in  the  thirteenth  century,  "a  bold  rogue,  Eustache 
le  Moine,  who  became  the  central  hero  of  a  rovian^  which  set 
forth  his  life  and  deeds  as  thief  and  pirate."  ^  In  Germany 
Till  Eulenspiegel  was  a  rascal  who  lived  in  the  first  part  of  the 
fourteenth  century  and  around  whose  name  anecdotes  clustered 
until  he  became  an  anti-hero.  There  were  in  Germany  popular 
tales  which  were  picaresque  novels  in  embryo.  Those  about 
Eulenspiegel  were  first  reduced  to  a  coherent  narrative  in  15  19. 
Hemmerlein  was  an  ugly  and  sarcastic  buffoon  of  the  fourteenth 
century.  Hanswurst  was  a  fat  glutton  of  the  fifteenth  century 
who  aimed  to  be  clever  but  made  blunders.  Pickelhering,  in 
Holland,  was  of  the  same  type.^  In  England,  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  Punch  began  to  degenerate.  He  took  away  the  role  of 
"  Old  Vice,"  and  became  more  and  more  depraved,  —  a  popular 
Don  Juan,  a  type  of  physical  and  moral  deformity.*  The  play 
was  popular.  The  marionettes,  being  only  dolls  and  sexless, 
escaped  the  onslaught  of  the  Puritans.^ 

660.  Picaresque  novels.  The  picaresque  novels  do  not  deal 
with  love,  but  with  intrigues  for  material  gain  in  the  widest 
sense.  Lazarillo  de  Tonnes  is  counted  as  the  first  of  these.  It 
is  attributed  to  Diego  Hurtado  de  Mendoza  and  is  thought  to 
have  been  produced  about  1500.  The  best  known  of  the  class 
is  Gil  Bias.    The  hero  lives  by  his  wits,  has  many  vicissitudes, 

1  Chandler,  Romances  of  Roguery,  191.  2  JdiJ,^  g, 

3  Magnin,  Marionettes,  298.  *  Ibid.,  255-265.  ^  Ibid.,  233. 


598  ■  FOLKWAYS 

and  plays  and  suffers  many  cruel  practical  jokes.  The  Spanish 
stories  of  Queredo  and  Perez  are  coarse  but  never  obscene.  The 
view  of  women,  however,  is  low.  They  are  fickle,  shallow,  vain, 
and  cunning.  The  church  is  "  gingerly  handled,"  but  the  clergy 
are  derided  for  immorality,  hypocrisy,  and  trickiness. 

661.  Books  of  beggars.  A  variety  of  the  picaresque  species 
was  the  "  books  of  beggars."  An  English  specimen  of  this  variety 
is  Audley's  Fraternity  of  Vagabonds  (1561).  Mediaeval  social 
ways  produced  armies  of  vagabonds,  beggars,  and  outcasts,  who 
practiced  vice  and  evil  ways  and  cultivated  criminal  cleverness. 
The  picaresque  stories  illustrate  their  ways. 

662.  At  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century.  Isabella  d'Este 
describes  a  play  at  Ferrara,  in  1503,  in  which  the  Annunciation 
was  represented,  angels  descending  from  heaven  by  concealed 
machinery,  etc.  There  was  also  a  moresca,  a  ballet  or  panto- 
mime dance,  with  clowns  and  beasts,  and  blows  and  other  clown 
tricks.  Another  very  noteworthy  incident  is  the  enactment,  at 
Urbino  in  1504,  of  a  "comedy,"  in  which  the  recent  history  of 
that  city  was  represented,  including  the  marriage  of  Lucrezia 
Borgia,  the  conquest  of  Urbino  by  Cesar  Borgia,  the  death  of 
Alexander  VI,  and  the  return  of  the  Duke  of  Urbino.  This 
application  of  the  dramatic  method  to  their  own  recent  history, 
which  had  been  indeed  dramatic,  shows  the  high  development  of 
graphic  and  artistic  power,  which  is  also  shown  by  the  other  arts 
of  the  time.  Ladies  did  not  then  abdicate  their  prerogative  to 
judge  and  condemn  the  propriety  of  artistic  products  offered  to 
them.  Isabella  declared  the  Cassaria  "lascivious  and  immoral 
beyond  words,"  and  forbade  her  ladies  to  attend  the  perform- 
ance of  it  at  the  marriage  of  Lucrezia  Borgia  to  her  (Isabella's) 
brother. 1  In  France,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  imitations  of 
classical  dramas  held  the  stage.  The  Protestants  sought  to  use 
the  drama  for  effect  on  the  populace.^  St.  Charles  Borromeo 
(1538-1584),  as  Archbishop  of  Milan,  carried  on  a  war  against 
exhibitions  of  all  kinds.    He  maintained  that  they  were  indecent.^ 

^  Gregorovius,  Isabella  d^Este,  212,  251,  255,  264;  'BMrck\v2irdt,  Retiaissance,  316. 
^  De  Julleville,  La  Comedie  en  France  an  M.  A.,  183,  331. 
^  Scherillo,  La  Commedia  del  Arte,  Chap.  VI. 


POPULAR  SPORTS,  EXHIBITIONS,  AND   DRAMA      599 

663.  The  theater  at  Venice.  The  first  tragedy  produced  in 
Italy  was  written  by  Albertino  Mussato,  a  Paduan,  early  in  the 
fourteenth  century  in  imitation  of  Latin  dramas.  The  subject 
was  the  conflicts  of  Padua  with  Ezzelino  da  Romano.  Albertino's 
work  was  not  imitated,  for  the  mysteries  held  the  stage  until  the 
end  of  the  fifteenth  century.  They  were  represented  on  stages 
erected  in  public  places  of  the  cities.  At  Venice  were  invented 
momaria,  in  which  there  was  no  theatrical  illusion,  but  brio, 
joviality,  and  irony.  They  began  at  weddings,  where  after  the 
wedding  feast  some  one,  impersonating  an  heroic  personage,  nar- 
rated the  great  deeds  of  the  ancestors  of  the  spouses,  with  num- 
berless exaggerations  and  jest,  from  which  the  name  momaria,  or 
bombaria,  was  derived.  The  companies  of  the  caha  figured  in 
all  gay  assemblies  at  Venice  from  1400  to  the  end  of  the  six- 
teenth century.  They  renewed  the  Latin  comedies  and  "  carried 
festivity  and  good  taste  even  into  the  churches."  Theatrical 
exhibitions  became  the  favorite  amusement  of  the  Venetians, 
and  were  presented  not  only  in  private  houses  but  also  in 
monasteries,  although  secular  persons  were  not  present.^ 

664.  Dancing.  Public  sports.  From  the  early  Middle  Ages  the 
ecclesiastical  authorities  disapproved  of  dancing,  but  the  people 
were  very  fond  of  it  and  never  gave  it  up.  The  poems  and 
romances  are  full  of  it.^  Some  usages  of  dancing  in  Germany 
v;ere  very  gross.  The  man  swung  his  partner  off  the  floor  as 
far  as  he  could.  If  any  woman  refused  to  dance  with  any  man, 
it  occurred  sometimes  that  he  slapped  her  face,  but  it  was  dis- 
puted whether  this  was  not  beyond  the  limit. ^  The  usages  at  the 
carnival  were  very  gross  and  obscene.*  All  popular  sports  were 
coarse  and  cruel.  It  seemed  to  be  considered  good  fun  to  torment 
the  weak  and  to  watch  their  helpless  struggles.  Birds  were  shot, 
and  beasts  baited,  in  a  way  to  give  pain  and  prolong  it.  At 
Nuremberg  the  "cat  knight"  fought  with  a  cat  hung  about  his 
own  neck,  which  he  must  bite  to  death  in  order  to  be  knighted 

1  Molmenti,  J^enezia  nella  Vita  Pnvata,  297-299. 

*  Lacroix,  Ma?iners,  Customs,  a?id  Dress  of  AT.  A.,  241. 
^  Angerstein,  Volkstdnze,  30. 

*  Schultz,  D.  L.,  414. 


6oO  FOLKWAYS 

by  the  biirgermeister.  Blind  people  were  shut  in  an  inclosed 
space  in  the  market  place  with  a  pig  as  a  prize,  which  they  were 
to  beat  with  sticks.  The  fun  was  greatest  when  they  struck 
each  other.  This  amusement  is  reported  from  many  places  in 
central  Europe.^  "  Nothing  amused  our  ancestors  more  than 
these  blind  encounters.  Even  kings  took  part  at  these  burlesque 
representations."  At  Paris  they  were  presented  every  year  at 
mid-lent.^ 

665.  Women  in  the  theater  and  on  the  stage.  No  young 
women  were  allowed  to  be  present  at  the  commcdia  del  arte  in 
the  first  times  of  the  principate  at  Florence.  Masi  ^  says  that 
this  was  true  in  general  of  all  Italy.  Later  they  were  addressed 
in  the  prologue,  which  became  customary,  and  so  they  must  have 
been  present.  Popular  opinion  still  held  that  they  ought  to  stay 
at  home,  as  of  old.  They  were  never  on  the  stage.  De  Julleville 
says  *  that  women  in  France  in  the  Middle  Ages  were  present 
at  the  freest  farces.  In  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century,  in 
Italy,  wandering  players  began  to  employ  women  for  female 
parts.  The  Italian  comedians,  when  they  went  to  Paris,  con- 
tinued this  custom  there. ^  Philip  II  of  Spain  forbade  women  on 
the  stage. ^  French  actresses  appeared  at  London  in  1629; 
they  were  allowed  in  1659."  Innocent  XI,  in  1676,  forbade  the 
employment  of  women  on  the  stage. ^ 

666.  The  "  commedia  del  arte."  In  Italy  the  commedia  del 
arte  was  the  continuation  or  revival  of  the  vmmis.  The  speeches 
were  impromptu ;  the  characters  and  roles  were  stereotyped. 
The  action  and  speeches  must  have  grown  by  the  contributions 
of  talented  men  who  played  the  parts  from  generation  to  gen- 
eration. The  characters  have  become  traditional  and  universal.^ 
Such  were  Maccus  (later  Polichinella)  of  Naples,  Manducus  or 

1  Barthold,  Hansa,  III,  177. 

2  Lacroix,  Manners,  Customs,  and  Dress  of  M.  A.,  220;  Schultz,  D.  L.,  409; 
Scherr,  Knit.  Gesch.,  623.  ^  Scherillo,  La  Commedia  del  Arte,  72. 

3  Teatro  Ital.  nel  Sec.  XVIII,  232.  ^  Chandler,  Romances  of  Roguery,  159. 

*  Comedie  en  France  au  M.  A.,  23.  ''  Magnin,  Alarionettes,  233. 

*  D'Ancona,  Origine  del  Teatro  in  Italia,  I,  341. 

^  Burckhardt,  IDie  Renaissance,  318.  In  Gozzi's  Aletnoirs  (ed.  Symonds)  may 
be  seen  good  colored  plates  representing  these  fixed  characters  of  the  commedia 
del  arte. 


POPULAR  SPORTS,   EXHIBITIONS,  AND   DRAMA     6oi 

the  French  Croquemitaine,  Bucco,  a  half-stupid,  half-sarcastic 
buffoon,  Pappus  (the  later  Venetian  Pantalon)  the  fussy  old  man, 
and  Casnar,  the  French  Cassandre.  Scaramucca  or  Fracassa 
was  added  to  satirize  the  Spanish  soldier.  He  was  recognized  as 
the  Miles  Gloriosus  of  Plautus.^  The  Spanish  trooper  was  a 
boastful  coward.  He  called  himself  the  son  of  the  earthquake 
and  lightning,  cousin  of  death,  or  friend  of  Beelzebub. ^  At  the 
marriage  of  Alphonso  d'Este  comedies  of  Plautus  were  acted 
for  effect  and  conventional  pretense,  but  they  were  considered 
tiresome,  and  interludes  of  pantomime,  ballet,  clown  tricks, 
peasant  farce,  mythology,  and  fireworks  were  introduced  to 
furnish  entertainment.^ 

667.  Jest  books.  Italian  comedy  at  Paris.  In  the  sixteenth 
century  the  theater  became  entirely  secular,  and  amusement  and 
religion  were  separated  as  a  consequence  of  the  general  move- 
ment of  the  Renaissance.  In  the  Middle  Ages  serious  men 
collected  jests  and  published  jest  books,  which  were  collections 
of  the  jokes  made  by  the  ininnis,  just  as  modern  jests  have  been 
made  by  negro  minstrels,  circus  clowns,  and  variety  actors.*  At 
the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century  the  Italians,  "  suffocated  by 
Spanish  etiquette,  and  poisoned  by  Jesuitical  hypocrisy,  sought 
to  expand  healthy  lungs  in  free  spaces  of  open  air,  indulging  in 
dialectical  niceties,  and  immortalizing  street  jokes  by  the  genius 
of  masked  comedy."  ^  The  coniviedia  del  arte  took  this  course. 
It  was  open  to  every  chance  of  political  and  social  influence.  It 
became  the  recognized  Italian  comedy  and  was  transported  to 
the  north  as  such.  In  each  province  of  Italy  the  fixed  characters 
were  independently  developed,  so  that  variations  were  produced. 
The  type  of  play  reached  a  climax  in  the  middle  of  the  seven- 
teenth century.  Then  it  declined  for  lack  of  competent  actors. 
It  was  the  realism  of  everyday  life.  It  tended  always  back  again 
to  the  mountebanks,  jugglers,  rope  dancers,  etc.^  The  lacziwtxo. 
"  business  "  which  gave  the  actors  time  to  improvise.    In  the 

1  Scherillo,  La  Commedia  del  Arte,  90,  114. 

2  Ibid.,  95.  *  Reich,  Der  Mimus,  473. 

3  Burckhardt,  316.  ^  Symonds,  Catholic  Reaction,  I,  55. 

6  Masi,  Teatro  Ital.  net  Sec,  XVIII,  229. 


6o2  FOLKWAYS 

sixteenth  century  Italian  comedians  began  to  play  at  Paris  in 
Italian.  The  Italian  actresses  undressed  on  the  stage  much  and 
often,  so  that  "Italian  comedy"  came  to  mean  vulgar  and 
licentious  comedy.  The  Parlement  of  Paris  held  that  the  plays 
were  immoral.  Many  of  them  are  said  to  have  been  obscene. ^ 
Madame  de  Maintenon  having  heard  that  they  were  immoral, 
they  were  forbidden  in  1697.^  The  Italian  comedy  struggled 
on,  however.  For  a  long  time  no  women  visited  it,  but  in  the 
eighteenth  century  a  comedy  called  Arleqnin,  Einpereur  dans  la 
Litne  became  celebrated.  It  was  a  satire  on  the  France  of  the 
time.  Women  ignored  the  grossness  for  the  sake  of  the  satire.^ 
The  plays  of  the  Italians  were  all  either  farces  for  pure  fun  or 
satires  on  the  mores  of  the  time.  "  Many  were  satires  on  women." 
In  one  of  these  last,  the  saying  was  ascribed  to  Aristotle,  upon 
seeing  a  tree  from  the  limbs  of  which  four  women  were  hang- 
ing, "  How  happy  men  would  be,  if  all  trees  bore  that  fruit." 
Women  were  currently  represented  as  empty-headed,  vain,  fond 
of  pleasure,  frivolous,  and  fickle.  Lawyers  were  also  a  favorite 
object  of  satire.*  In  the  Italian  theater  ecriteaiix  were  hung  up, 
on  which  the  speeches  were  written  and  the  audience  joined  in 
singing  the  couplets.^ 

668.  '<  Commedia  del  arte  "  in  Italy.  In  Italy  the  commedia 
del  arte  went  through  many  vicissitudes.  At  Venice,  late  in  the 
eighteenth  century,  Gozzi  undertook  to  revive  it  by  composing 
what  he  called  "fables."  They  were  fairy  extravaganzas,  based 
on  Mother  Goose  stories  or  fairy  tales.  They  were  in  part 
improvised,  but  in  part  written,  either  in  prose  or  verse,  in  order 
to  make  sure  of  the  essential  points  of  the  action.  The  older 
custom  had  been  to  prepare  only  a  scenario,  in  which  the  story 
was  told  in  brief  outline,  with  the  allotment  of  parts  in  the 
production.^  Pantaleone,  in  the  commedia  del  arte,  is  sad, — an 
imbecile,  dissolute  old  man.  Gozzi  gave  him  brio  and  bonarietd, 
with  cordiality  and  humor.    Goldoni,  who  got  into  a  war  with 

^  Bemardin,  Comedie  Ital.  en  France,  ^  Bemardin,  Com.  Ital.  eji  France^  27. 
9,  12,  13.  4  Ji,ij_^  42. 

2  Ibid.,  52.  S  Ibid.,  90. 

^  Gozzi's  Memoir's  {Syviond''s  irans.). 


POPULAR  SPORTS,   EXHIBITIONS,  AND   DRAMA     603 

Gozzi,  made  Pantaleone  a  philistine,  who  used  good  sense  against 
the  folUes  of  fashion.  No  women  were  present  at  these  comedies 
at  Venice  at  this  time.^ 

Scherillo^  quotes  Perucci,  that  at  the  end  of  the  seventeenth 
century  the  folk  theater  was  obscene  in  word  and  act  beyond 
the  ancient  comedies.  If  that  is  true,  it  is  only  a  detail  of  the 
degeneracy  of  Italy  from  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century. 

669.  Summary  and  review.  It  is  evident  that  amusement  and 
relaxation  are  needs  of  men.  The  fondness  for  exhibitions  and 
theatrical  representations  can  be  traced  through  history.  The 
suggestion  is  direct  and  forcible.  It  can  be  made  to  play  upon 
harmful  tastes  as  well  as  upon  good  ones.  There  is  nothing  to 
guide  it  or  decide  its  form  and  direction  except  the  mores,  —  the 
consenting  opinion  of  the  masses  as  to  what  is  beneficial  or 
harmful.  The  leading  classes  try  to  mold  this  opinion.  The 
history  shows  that  the  mores  can  make  anything  right,  and  pro- 
tect any  violation  of  the  sex  taboo  or  of  ordinary  propriety. 
There  is  no  subject  in  regard  to  which  the  mores  need  more 
careful  criticism  than  in  regard  to  amusements.  The  standard 
and  the  usage  degenerate  together  unless  there  is  control  by  an 
active  and  well-trained  taste  and  sense.  The  popular  taste  and 
sense  are  products  of  inherited  mores.  It  is  this  reflex  action  of 
habitual  acts  and  experiences  which  makes  the  subject  difficult. 
All  the  primary  facts  and  the  secondary  or  remoter  reflections 
are  intertwined  as  in  an  organic  growth,  and  all  go  together. 
The  facts  exert  constant  education,  and  every  positive  effort  to 
interfere  with  the  course  of  things  by  primitive  education  must 
be  content  to  exert  slight  effects  for  a  long  time.  Wealth  and 
luxury  exert  their  evil  effects  through  amusement.  Poverty  cuts 
down  these  products  of  wealth  and  brings  societies  back  to 
simplicity  and  virtue.  Men  renounce  when  they  cannot  get. 
The  periods  of  economic  and  social  decay  have  cut  off  the 
development  of  forms  of  amusement,  arrested  vice,  and  forced 
new  beginnings. 

670.  Amusements  need  the  control  of  educated  judgment  and 
will.    The  history  shows  that  amusements  are  a  pitfall  in  which 

1  Masi,  Teatro  Ital.,  89,  232,  264.  2  /;^  Cotnmedia  del  Arte,  50. 


6o4  FOLKWAYS 

good  mores  may  be  lost  and  evil  ones  produced.  They  require 
conventional  control  and  good  judgment  to  guide  them.  This 
requirement  cannot  be  set  aside.  Amusements  always  present 
a  necessity  for  moral  education  and  moral  will.  This  fact  has 
impressed  itself  on  men  in  all  ages,  and  all  religions  have  pro- 
duced Puritan  and  ascetic  sects  who  sought  welfare,  not  in 
satisfying  but  in  counteracting  the  desire  for  amusement  and 
pleasure.  Their  efforts  have  proved  that  there  is  no  solution  in 
that  direction.  There  must  be  an  educated  judgment  at  work 
all  the  time,  and  it  must  form  correct  judgments  to  be  made 
real  by  a  cultivated  will,  or  the  whole  societal  interest  may  be 
lost  without  the  evil  tendency  being  perceived. 

671.  Amusements  do  not  satisfy  the  current  notions  of  progress. 
It  is  clear  from  the  history  that  amusements  have  gone  through 
waves  upward  and  downward,  but  that  the  amplitude  of  the 
waves  is  very  small.  It  is  true  that  the  shows  of  the  late  Roman 
empire  were  very  base,  and  that  the  great  drama  has  gone  very 
high  by  comparison,  but  the  oscillation  between  the  two  entirely 
destroys  anything  like  a  steady  advance  in  dramatic  composition 
or  dramatic  art.  This  is  a  very  instructive  fact.  It  entirely 
negatives  the  current  notion  of  progress  as  a  sort  of  function 
of  time  which  is  to  be  expected  to  realize  itself  in  a  steady  im- 
provement and  advance  to  better  and  better.  The  useful  arts 
do  show  an  advance.  The  fine  arts  do  not.  They  return  to  the 
starting  point,  or  near  it,  again  and  again.  The  dramatic  art  is 
partly  literary  and  partly  practical  handicraft.  Theater  build- 
ings improve  ;  the  machinery,  lights,  scenery,  and  manipulation 
improve.  The  literary  products  are  like  other  artistic  products  : 
they  have  periods  of  glory  and  periods  of  decay.  It  is  the 
literary  products  which  are  nearest  to  the  mores.  They  lack  all 
progress,  or  advance  only  temporarily  from  worse  to  better  lit- 
erary forms. 


CHAPTER    XVIII 

ASCETICISM 

The  exaggeration  of  opposite  policies.  —  Failure  of  the  mores  and  revolt 
against  expediency.  —  Luck  and  welfare;  self-discipline  to  influence  the 
superior  powers.  —  Asceticism  in  Japan.  —  Development  of  the  arts  ; 
luxury;  sensuality.- — The  ascetic  philosophy.  —  Asceticism  is  an  aberra- 
tion.—  The  definitions  depend  on  the  limits.  —  Asceticism  in  India  and 
Greece  ;  Orphic  doctrines.  —  Ascetic  features  in  the  philosophic  sects.  — 
Hebrew  asceticism.  —  Nazarites,  Rechabites,  Essenes.  —  Roman  asceticism. 

—  Christian  asceticism.  —  Three  traditions  united  in  Christianity.  —  Asceti- 
cism in  the  early  church.  —  Asceticism  in  Islam.  —  Virginity.  —  Mediaeval 
asceticism. — Asceticism  in  Christian  mores.  —  Renunciation  of  property; 
beggary.  —  Ascetic  standards.  —  The  Mendicant  Friars.  —  The  Franciscans. 

—  Whether  poverty  is  a  good.  —  Clerical  celibacy.  —  How  Christian  asceti- 
cism ended. 

672.  The  exaggeration  of  opposite  policies.    It  is  not  to  be 

expected  that  all  the  men  in  a  society  will  react  in  the  same 
way  against  the  same  experiences  and  observations.  If  they 
draw  unanimously  the  same  conclusions  from  the  same  facts, 
that  is  such  an  unusual  occurrence  that  their  unanimity  gives 
great  weight  to  their  opinion.  In  almost  all  cases  they  are 
thrown  into  parties  by  their  different  inferences  from  the  same 
experiences  and  observations.  There  is  nothing  about  which 
they  differ  more  than  about  amusement,  pleasure,  and  happiness, 
and  as  to  the  degree  in  which  pleasure  is  worth  pursuing. 
Those  who  feel  deceived  by  pleasure  and  duped  by  the  pur- 
suit of  happiness  revolt  from  it  and  denounce  it.  Inasmuch  as 
others  not  yet  disillusioned  still  pursue  pleasure  as  the  most 
obviously  desirable  good,  there  are  two  great  parties  who  divide 
on  fundamental  notions  of  life  policy.  Two  such  parties,  face 
to  face,  tend  to  exaggerate  their  distinctive  doctrines  and  prac- 
tices. Each  party  goes  to  extremes  and  excess.  We  have  seen 
in  the  last  chapter  (sees.  624  ff.)  that  at  the  beginning  of  the 
Christian  era  moral  restraints  were  thrown  aside  and  that  all 

605 


6o6  FOLKWAYS 

living  men  seemed  to  plunge  into  vice,  luxury,  and  pleasure, 
so  far  as  their  means  would  allow.  There  were,  however,  a 
number  of  sects  and  religions  in  the  Greco-Roman  world  that 
held  extremely  pessimistic  views  as  to  the  worth  of  human  life 
and  of  those  things  which  men  care  for  most.  They  renounced 
the  ordinary  standards  of  welfare  and  happiness,  and  sought 
welfare  and  happiness  in  merely  denying  the  popular  standards. 
The  old  world  philosophies  no  longer  commanded  faith,  and  they 
seemed  to  be  rejected  with  active  hatred,  not  with  mere  indiffer- 
ent unbelief.  The  poor  and  those  who  were  forced  to  live  by 
self-denial  joined  these  sects  of  philosophy  or  religion.  The  age 
which  saw  extremes  of  luxury  and  vicious  excess  was  also  the 
age  which  saw  great  phenomena  of  ascetic  philosophy  and  prac- 
tice. Each  school  or  tendency  developed  its  own  mores  to  treat 
the  problems  of  life  in  its  own  way.  An  ascetic  policy  never  is 
a  primary  product  of  the  "ways"  in  which  unreflecting  men 
meet  the  facts  of  life.  It  is  reflective  and  derived.  It  is  a 
secondary  stage  of  faith  built  on  experience  and  reflection.  It  is, 
therefore,  dogmatic.  It  must  be  sustained  by  faith  in  the 
fundamental  pessimistic  conviction.  It  never  can  be  verified  by 
experience.  It  purposely  runs  counter  to  all  the  sanctions  which 
are  possible  in  experience.  If  any  one  declares  evil  good  and 
pain  pleasure,  he  cannot  find  proof  of  it  in  any  experiment.  The 
mores  produced  out  of  asceticism  are  therefore  peculiar  and  in 
many  ways  instructive. 

673.  Failure  of  the  mores  and  revolt  against  expediency.  We 
have  seen  that  the  mores  are  the  results  of  the  efforts  of  men 
to  find  out  how  to  live  under  the  conditions  of  human  life  so  as 
to  satisfy  interests  and  secure  welfare.  The  efforts  have  been 
only  very  imperfectly  successful.  The  task,  in  fact,  never  can 
be  finished,  for  the  conditions  change  and  the  problem  contains 
different  elements  from  time  to  time.  Moreover,  dogmas  inter- 
fere. They  dictate  "duty"  and  "right"  by  authority  and  as 
virtue,  quite  independently  of  any  verification  by  experience  and 
expediency.  All  the  primitive  taboos  express  the  convictions  of 
men  that  there  are  things  which  must  not  be  done,  or  must  not 
be  done  beyond  some  limited  degree,  if  the  men  would  live  well. 


ASCETICISM  607 

Such  convictions  came  either  from  experience  or  from  dogma. 
The  former  class  of  cases  were  those  things  which  were  connected 
with  food  and  the  sex  relation.  The  latter  class  of  cases  were 
those  things  which  were  connected  with  the  doctrine  of  ghosts. 
There  are  also  a  great  many  primitive  customs  for  coercing  or 
conciliating  superior  powers, — either  men  or  spirits,  —  which 
consist  in  renunciation,  self-torture,  obscenity,  bloodshedding, 
filthiness,  and  the  performance  of  repugnant  acts  or  even  suicide. 
These  customs  all  imply  that  the  superior  powers  are  indif- 
ferent, or  angry  and  malevolent,  or  justly  displeased,  and  that 
the  pain  of  men  pleases,  or  appeases  and  conciliates,  or  coerces 
them,  or  wins  their  attention.  Thus  we  meet  with  a  fundamental 
philosophy  of  life  in  which  it  is  not  the  satisfaction  of  needs, 
appetites,  and  desires,  but  the  opposite  theory  which  is  thought 
to  lead  to  welfare.  Renounce  what  you  want ;  do  what  you  do 
not  want  to  do  ;  pursue  what  is  repugnant ;  in  short,  invert  the 
relations  of  pleasure  and  pain,  and  act  by  your  will  against  their 
sanctions,  so  as  to  seek  pain  and  flee  pleasure.  A  doctrine  of 
due  measure  and  limit  upon  the  rational  satisfaction  of  needs 
and  desires  is  turned  into  an  absolute  rule  of  well-being.  Within 
narrower  limits  the  same  philosophy  inculcates  acts  of  labor, 
pain,  and  renunciation,  which  produce  no  results  in  the  satisfac- 
tion of  wants  but  are  regarded  as  beneficial  or  meritorious  in 
themselves,  as  a  kind  of  gymnastic  in  self-control  and  self- 
denial.  It  is  not  to  be  denied  that  such  a  gymnastic  has  value 
in  education,  especially  in  the  midst  of  luxury  and  self-indulgence, 
if  it  is  controlled  by  common  sense  and  limited  within  reason. 
Nearly  all  men,  however,  are  sure  to  meet  with  as  much  neces- 
sity for  self-control  and  self-denial  as  is  necessary  to  their 
training,  without  arbitrarily  subjecting  themselves  to  artificial 
discipline  of  that  kind. 

674.  Luck  and  welfare.  Self-discipline  to  influence  the  superior 
powers.  The  notion  of  welfare  through  acts  which  upon  their  face 
are  against  welfare  is  directly  referable  to  experience  of  the 
impossibility  of  establishing  sure  relations  between  positive  efforts 
and  satisfactions.  The  lowest  civilization  is  full  of  sacrifices, 
renunciation,  self-discipline,  etc.     It  is  the  effect  of  the  aleatory 


6o8  FOLKWAYS 

element  and  of  the  explanation  of  the  same  by  goblinism  (sees. 
6,  9).  The  acts  of  renunciation  or  self -discipline  have  no 
rational  connection  with  the  interests  which  they  aim  to  serve. 
Those  acts  can  affect  interests  only  by  influencing  the  ghosts 
or  demons  who  always  interfere  between  efforts  and  results  and 
make  luck.  Soldiers,  fishermen,  hunters,  traders,  agriculturists, 
etc.,  are  bidden  to  practice  continence  before  undertaking  any 
of  their  enterprises.  Hence  arises  the  notion  of  a  "  state  of 
grace,"  not  the  state  produced  by  work  in  the  workday  world, 
but  a  state  produced  by  abstinence  from  work,  from  enjoyment, 
and  from  the  experience  of  good  and  ill.  Abstention  from  wine, 
meat,  other  luxuries  of  food  and  drink,  and  from  women  gives 
power  which  is  magical,  because  it  has  no  real  causal  connection 
with  desired  results  in  war  or  industry.  Uncivilized  people  almost 
always  have  some  such  notion  of  reaching  a  higher  plane  of 
power,  or  more  especially  of  luck,  by  self-discipline.  Acts  of 
self-discipline,  e.g.  fasting,  gashing,  mutilating  one's  self,  also 
enter  into  mourning.  In  some  tribes  parents  who  expect  a 
child  engage  in  acts  of  the  same  kind.^  Asceticism  in  higher 
civilization  is  a  survival  of  the  life  philosophy  of  an  earlier  stage, 
in  which  the  pain  of  men  was  believed  to  be  pleasant  to  the 
superior  powers.  The  same  sentiment  revives  now  in  times  of 
decline  or  calamity,  when  the  wrath  of  God  is  recognized  or 
apprehended.  We  appoint  a  fast  when  we  are  face  to  face  with 
calamity.  The  same  sentiment  is  at  work  in  sects  and  individuals 
when  they  desire  "  holiness,"  or  a  "  higher  life,"  or  mystic  com- 
munion with  higher  powers,  or  "purity"  (in  the  ritual  sense), 
or  relief  from  "sin,"  or  escape  from  the  terror  of  ghosts  and 
demons,  or  power  to  arise  to  some  high  moral  standard  by 
crushing  out  the  natural  appetites  which  according  to  that 
standard  are  base  and  wicked. 

675.  Asceticism  in  Japan.  The  Shinto  religion  of  the  Japan- 
ese "  is  not  an  essentially  ascetic  religion  ;  it  offers  flesh  and  wine 
to  its  gods  ;  and  it  prescribes  only  such  forms  of  self-denial  as 
ancient  custom  and  decency  require.  Nevertheless,  some  of  its 
votaries  perform  extraordinary  austerities  on  special  occasions,  — 
1  Spix  and  Marti  us,  Brasil,  13 18. 


ASCETICISM  609 

austerities  which  always  include  much  cold-water  bathing.  But 
the  most  curious  phase  of  this  Shinto  ascetism  is  represented  by 
a  custom  still  prevalent  in  remote  districts.  According  to  this 
custom  a  community  yearly  appoints  one  of  its  citizens  to  devote 
himself  wholly  to  the  gods  on  behalf  of  the  rest.  During  the 
term  of  his  consecration  this  communal  representative  must 
separate  from  his  family,  must  not  approach  women,  must  avoid 
all  places  of  amusement,  must  eat  only  food  cooked  with  sacred 
fire,  must  abstain  from  wine,  must  bathe  in  fresh  cold  water 
several  times  a  day,  must  repeat  particular  prayers  at  certain 
hours,  and  must  keep  vigil  upon  certain  nights.  When  he  has 
performed  these  duties  of  abstinence  and  purification  for  the 
specified  time  he  becomes  religiously  free,  and  another  man 
is  then  elected  to  take  his  place.  The  prosperity  of  the  settle- 
ment is  supposed  to  depend  upon  the  exact  observance  by  its 
representative  of  the  duties  prescribed  ;  should  any  public  mis- 
fortune occur,  he  would  be  suspected  of  having  broken  his  vows. 
Anciently,  in  the  case  of  a  common  misfortune,  the  representa- 
tive was  put  to  death."  ^ 

676.  Development  of  the  arts.  Luxury.  Sensuality.  In  the 
development  of  the  arts  there  has  been  an  increase  of  luxury  in 
the  ways  of  living.  This  has  seemed  to  be  a  good.  It  has  seemed 
like  successful  accomplishment  of  what  man  must  do  to  win  and 
enjoy  power  over  nature.  Luxury,  however,  has  brought  vice 
and  ill,  and  has  wrought  decay  and  ruin.  It  is  the  twin  sister  of 
sensuality,  which  is  corruption.  Is  luxury  a  good  or  not .-'  Men 
have  lost  faith  in  it,  and  have  declared  that  the  triumphs  of  the 
arts  were  delusions,  "  snares  to  the  soul,"  corruption  of  the  indi- 
vidual and  society.  They  have  turned  back  to  the  "  old  simple 
ways,"  and  have  renounced  the  enjoyments  which  were  within 
their  reach  by  the  power  of  the  arts.  Such  renunciation  has 
always  been  popular.  The  crowd  has  always  admired  it.  It  is 
certainly  a  noteworthy  feature  in  the  history  of  civilization  that 
there  has  always  been  present  in  it  a  reaction,  a  movement  of 
fear  and  doubt  about  the  innovations  of  eveiy  kind  by  which 
it   is   attended,   which   has    caused    sects   of    philosophers   and 

1  Heam,yrt/rt«,  165. 


6lO  FOLKWAYS 

religious  persons  to  refuse  to  go  on,  to  renounce  luxurious  novel- 
ties, and  to  prefer  the  older  and  inferior  ways. 

677.  The  ascetic  philosophy.  Here  then  we  have  a  life  phi- 
losophy, or  a  hfe  standpoint,  from  which  the  things  to  be  done 
are  presented  inverted.  It  is  ill  luck,  loss,  calamity,  etc.,  which 
have  inverted  human  nature.  The  element  of  luck  crossed  and 
cut  off  the  relations  between  effort  and  satisfaction,  and  disturbed 
all  the  lessons  of  industry.  All  effort  would  be  vain  if  the  ghosts 
who  control  luck  were  not  propitiated.  If  they  were  friendly, 
labor  was  of  no  importance.  Self-discipline,  therefore,  entered 
into  everything.  This  is  asceticism.  It  is  always  irrational  or 
magical,  addressed  directly  or  remotely  to  the  superior  powers, 
as  an  appeal  to  their  will  and  favor,  their  mystical  friendship, 
and  a  prayer  for  the  transcendental  communications  which  they 
give.  Pater  1  says  that  asceticism  is  a  sacrifice  of  one  part  of 
human  nature  to  another,  that  the  latter  may  survive ;  or  a 
harmonious  development  of  all  parts  to  realize  an  ideal  of  culture. 
If  the  first  sentence  of  this  statement  could  be  accepted  as  a 
fair  definition,  the  second  cannot.  Asceticism  does  not  aim  at 
a  harmonious  development  and  never  could  produce  it.  It  selects 
purposes  and  pushes  towards  their  accomplishment.  The  selec- 
tion has  often  been  made  with  the  purpose  to  attain  to  holiness, 
or  a  higher  realization  of  religious  ideals.  The  ideals  are  neces- 
sarily arbitrary  and  are  very  sure  to  be  extravagant.  They  do 
not  have  good  effect  on  character,  and  they  produce  moral  dis- 
tortion. They  are,  however,  an  outflow  of  honest  religious 
emotion. 

678.  Asceticism  is  only  an  aberration.  The  great  viewpoints 
and  the  great  world  philosophies  are  found  logically  at  the  end  of 
a  long  study  of  life,  if  anywhere.  If  one  is  found  or  adopted,  it  fur- 
nishes leading  for  the  notions  of  ways  to  be  employed  in  all  details 
of  life.  This  is  equally  true  if  it  is  reached  on  a  slight,  superficial, 
or  superstitious  view  of  life.  The  ascetic  philosophy  produces 
contradiction  and  confusion  in  the  acts  of  men,  because  some  of 
them  work  for  expediency  and  others  for  inexpediency  at  the 
same  time.    Therefore  also  the  mores,  if  they  are  affected  by 

1  Alarms  the  Epicurean,  357. 


ASCETICISM  6ll 

asceticism,  are  inconsistent  and  contradictory.  Nevertheless 
asceticism  is  only  an  aberration  which  starts  from  a  highly  vir- 
tuous motive.  We  must  do  what  is  right  and  virtuous  because 
it  is  so.  It  is  right  and  virtuous  to  fight  sensuality  in  personal 
character  and  social  action.  The  fight  will  often  consist  in  acts 
which  have  no  further  relation  to  interests.  By  zeal  the  work 
of  this  fight  absorbs  more  and  more  of  life,  and  it  may  engage  a 
large  number  associatively.  It  becomes  the  great  purpose  by 
which  mores  are  built.  Then  the  notion  of  pleasing  superior 
powers  by  self-inflicted  pain  is  thrown  out,  and  all  the  primitive 
superstition  is  eliminated.  We  find  a  vast  network  of  mores, 
which  may  characterize  a  generation  or  a  society,  which  are  due 
to  the  revolt  against  sensuality,  either  in  the  original  purity  of 
the  revolt  (which  is  very  rare)  or  in  some  of  its  thousands  of 
variations  and  combinations. 

679.  The  definitions  depend  on  the  limit.  Especially  in  con- 
nection with  food,  drink,  and  sex  the  asceticism  of  one  age 
becomes  the  virtue  of  another.  The  ideas  of  temperance  and 
moderation  of  one  age  are  often  clearly  produced  by  previous 
ascetic  usages.  The  definitions  are  all  made  by  the  limit.  A 
stricter  observance  than  the  current  custom  is  ascetic,  but  it 
may  become  the  custom  and  set  the  limit.  Then  it  is  only  tem- 
perance. It  is  often  impossible  to  distinguish  sharply  between 
taboos  which  only  impose  respect  for  gods,  temples,  etc.  (cleanli- 
ness, quiet,  good  clothing),  and  those  which  are  ascetic.  When 
the  ascetic  temper  and  philosophy  assumes  control  it  easily  degen- 
erates into  a  mania.  Acts  are  regarded  as  meritorious  in  pro- 
portion as  they  are  painful,  and  they  are  pushed  to  greater  and 
greater  extravagances  because  what  becomes  familiar  loses  the 
subjective  force  from  which  the  ascetic  person  wins  self-satis- 
faction. Asceticism  then  becomes  a  mental  aberration  and  a 
practical  negation  of  the  instinct  of  self-preservation.  It  leads 
to  insanity. 1  If  it  takes  a  course  against  other  persons,  it  explains 
the  conduct  of  great  inquisitors  like  Conrad  of  Marburg.^ 

680.  Asceticism  in  India  and  Greece.  Orphic  doctrines.  In 
India  ascetic  acts  were  supposed  to  produce  not  only  holiness 

1  Gallon,  Hcred.  Genius,  239.  2  Lea,  /iiquisition,  II,  330. 


6l2  FOLKWAYS 

but  also  power,  which  might  arise  to  superhuman  degrees  or 
even  avail  to  overcome  gods.  Rohde  ^  finds  that  the  theological 
ascetic  morality  of  the  later  history  of  Greece,  which  was  not  a 
determination  of  the  will  in  a  given  direction  but  a  mode  of 
defending  the  soul  from  an  external  evil  influence  which  threat- 
ened to  soil  it,  had  its  first  impulse  in  the  notion  of  the  antag- 
onism between  soul  and  body,  because  that  notion  would  cause 
the  body  to  be  regarded  as  a  base  constraint  from  which  the 
soul  would  need  to  be  "purified."  The  notion  of  the  pure  soul 
imprisoned, in  a  material  sensual  body,  and  stained  by  the  base 
appetites  of  the  latter,  was  current  amongst  the  Greeks  for  five 
centuries  before  Christ.  Hence  the  antagonism  between  the 
soul  and  the  "body,"  the  "  flesh,"  or  the  "world."  The  soul 
passed  from  one  body  to  another,  according  to  the  Orphic  sects, 
with  intervals  in  which  it  underwent  purification.  In  each  incar- 
nation it  underwent  punishment  for  the  misdeeds  of  the  last 
previous  existence.  The  soul  is  immortal.  The  soul  of  the  bad 
man  goes  on  forever  in  reincarnations  from  which  it  cannot 
escape.  The  soul  which  is  purified  by  the  Orphic  rites  and  Orphic 
mode  of  life  is  redeemed  from  this  eternal  round  and  returns  to 
God.  Orpheus  gives  salvation  by  his  rites,  but  it  is  a  work  of 
grace  by  the  redeeming  gods.  Orpheus  provides  by  his  revela- 
tions and  intercessions  the  way  to  salvation,  and  he  who  would 
walk  in  this  way  must  carefully  obey  his  ordinances.  This  is  a 
life  which  must  be  lived.  It  is  not  ritual  only.  Here  asceticism 
comes  in,  for  the  thing  to  be  renounced  is  not  the  errors  and 
faults  of  earthly  life,  but  earthly  life  itself  (worldliness).  The 
man  must  turn  away  from  everything  which  would  entangle  him 
in  the  interests  of  mortal  life  and  the  appetites  of  the  body. 
Renunciation  of  meat  food  was  one  of  the  leading  forms  of  this 
asceticism  ;  sex  restraint  was  another.  The  rites  do  not  free 
men  from  the  touch  of  demons.  They  purify  the  soul  from  the 
unclean  contact  with  the  body  and  from  the  dominion  of  death. 
Mysticism  is  conjoined  with  this  doctrine  of  purification.  The 
soul  came  from  God  and  seeks  to  return  to  him.  It  is  released 
by  the  rites  and  practices  from  everything  on  earth,  including 

1  Psyche,  II,  loi. 


ASCETICISM  6 1  3 

morals,  which  are  only  petty  attempts  to  deal  with  details,  and 
therefore  are  of  no  interest  to  a  soul  which  is  released.  The 
dead  are  led  to  the  place  of  the  dead.  The  Orphic  priests 
described  this  "intermediate  state"  with  graphic  distinctness, 
surpassing  that  of  the  Eleusinian  mysteries.  Probably  this  was 
the  most  popular,  although  not  the  most  original,  part  of  their 
teaching.  The  doctrine  was  not  a  folk  notion  ;  it  was  *'  holy  doc- 
trine" that  there  would  be  in  Hades  a  judgment  and  a  retribution. 
Then  woe  to  him  who  had  not  been  purified  in  the  Orphic  orgies ! 
The  Orphic  sects  also  had  a  doctrine  that  the  living,  by  the  rites, 
couid  act  upon  the  fate  of  deceased  relatives  in  the  other  world. ^ 
These  sects  began  in  the  second  half  of  the  sixth  century 
before  Christ.  We  do  not  know  the  course  or  mode  by  which 
they  spread.  They  formed  close  associations  or  conventicles  to 
practice  the  cult  of  Dionysus. ^ 

681.  Ascetic  features  in  the  philosophic  sects.  The  Pythag- 
oreans also  formed,  in  the  sixth  century,  at  Crotona,  an  asso- 
ciation to  practice  moderation  and  simplicity.  The  use  of  meat 
food  was  limited,  and  by  some  it  was  renounced  entirely.^  Our 
knowledge  of  this  sect  is  very  slight  and  vague,  although  the 
tradition  of  its  doctrines  was  certainly  very  strong  in  later  times. 
It  is  believed  that  there  was  included  in  its  teachings  disapproval 
of  prenuptial  unchastity  by  men.'*  This  would  not  be  considered 
ascetic  by  us,  but  it  appeared  so  to  ancient  Greeks.  The 
Cynics  were  ascetics.  They  renounced  the  elegances  and  luxu- 
ries of  life,  and  their  asceticism  became  more  and  more  the 
essence  of  their  sectarianism.  Some  Greek  priests  were  married, 
but  others  were  bound  to  be  chaste  for  life  or  while  engaged 
in  priestly  duties.  Sometimes  some  foods  were  forbidden  to 
them,  and  this  taboo  might  be  extended  to  all  who  entered  the 
temple.  All  must  be  clean  in  body  and  dress. ^  In  the  tragedies 
we  find  mention  of  the  ascetic  notion  of  virginity.^  In  the  Elcktra 
(250-270)   the  heroine  lays  great  stress  on  the  fact  that  her 

1  Rohde,  Psyche,  II,  1 21-130.  ^  Ueberweg,  Hist.  Philos.,  I,  45. 

2  Ibid.,  104.  ^  Lecky,  Eiir.  Morals,  II,  314. 

^  Stengel,  Griech.  Kidtusalterthilvier,  35. 

^  Euripides,  Hippolytus,  1300  ;    T^-ojaii  Women,  3S,  975. 


6 14  FOLKWAYS 

peasant  husband  has  never  taken  conjugal  rights.  Orestes  asks 
whether  the  husband  has  taken  a  vow  of  chastity,  so  that  a  vow 
of  chastity  was  not  an  unknown  thing.  The  notion  of  virginity 
was  very  foreign  to  the  mores  of  the  Greeks,  but  it  existed 
amongst  them.  It  gained  ground  in  the  later  centuries.  At  the 
time  of  Christ  it  is  certain  that  a  wave  of  asceticism  was  running 
through  the  Hellenistic  world. ^  It  may  have  been  due  to  the 
sense  of  decline  and  loss  in  comparison  wdth  the  earlier  times.  It 
seems  to  bear  witness  to  a  feeling  that  the  world  was  on  a  wrong- 
path,  in  spite  of  Roman  glory  and  luxury.  If  they  could  not 
correct  the  course  of  things,  they  could  at  least  renounce  the 
luxury.  That  seemed  like  an  effort  to  stem  the  tide.  More 
commonly  the  sentiment  was  less  defined  and  less  morally  vigor- 
ous. It  was  only  world  sickness.  Cases  occurred  of  individuals 
who  renounced  marriage,  or  lived  in  it  without  conjugal  intimacy.^ 
The  Stoics,  Cynics,  Neopythagoreans,  and  Neoplatonists  all  had 
ascetic  elements  in  their  doctrines.  The  wandering  preachers 
of  these  sects  were  rarely  men  of  any  earnest  purpose,  and  their 
speeches  were  empty  rhetorical  exercises,  but  they  popularized 
the  doctrines  of  the  sects.  Simon  Stylites  only  continued  a 
pagan  custom.  There  were  in  front  of  the  temple  at  Hierapolis 
two  columns  one  hundred  and  eighty  feet  high.  Twice  a  year 
a  man  climbed  one  of  these  and  remained  on  top  of  it  for  seven 
days  to  pray  and  commune  with  the  gods,  or  in  memory  of 
Deukalion  and  the  flood.  He  drew  up  supplies  with  a  rope. 
People  brought  him  gifts  of  money  and  he  prayed  for  them, 
swinging  a  brazen  instrument  which  made  a  screaming  sound. ^ 
682.  Hebrew  asceticism.  The  Jewish  tradition  was  that  at 
Sinai  all  the  people  were  ordered  to  refrain  from  w^omen  for 
the  time,  but  that  for  Moses  this  injunction  was  unlimited  (Exod. 
xix.  15).  In  the  rabbinical  period  it  was  established  doctrine 
that  any  one  who  desired  to  receive  a  revelation  from  God  must 
refrain  from  women. '^  Other  cases  in  the  Old  Testament  show 
that  persons  who  were  under  a  renunciation  of  this  kind  were  in 

1  Mahaffy,   The  Grecian  World  under  2  Lecky,  Eur.  ATorals,  II,  315. 

Roinaii  Sway,  iSo.  ^  Lucian,  De  Syria  Dea,  sec.  28. 

^Jewish  Encyc,  V,  226. 


ASCETICISM  615 

a  state  of  grace.    The  ritual  of  uncleanness  was  ascetic  and  it 
enforced  ascetic  views  of  sex  and  marriage.^ 

683.  Nazarites,  Rechabites,  Essenes.  The  Nazarites  were 
Hebrew  ascetics  by  temporary  vow  (Num.  vi.).  They  did  not 
cut  their  hair  or  drink  wine,  and  never  touched  a  corpse.^  The 
Rechabites  were  a  Jewish  ascetic  association  of  the  ninth  cen- 
tury B.C.  They  renounced  the  civiHzed  Hfeof  the  nation  at  that 
time  and  reverted  to  the  pre-Canaanite  Hfe.  They  adopted  wild 
dress  and  coarse  food,  and  renounced  wine.  They  lived  in  tents 
and  cultivated  Bedouin  mores.  The  Essenes  of  the  last  century 
before  Christ  were  an  ascetic  community  with  puritan  and  rigor- 
istic  tenets  and  practices.  The  laws  of  Antiochus  Epiphanes 
that  unclean  animals  might  be  brought  to  Jerusalem  opened  a 
chance  that  faithful  Jews  might  eat  of  such.  The  attempt  to 
guard  one's  self  was  made  easier  if  a  number  had  meals  in  com- 
mon. This  may  be  the  origin  of  the  custom  of  the  Essenes  to 
have  common  meals. ^  The  company  cultivated  holiness  by  set 
rules  of  life,  ritual,  washings,  etc.  Their  philosophy  was  that 
fate  controls  all  which  affects  man.'*  They  performed  no  sacri- 
fices in  the  temple,  but  had  rites  of  their  own  which  seemed  to 
connect  them  with  the  Pythagoreans.  They  were  "  the  best  of 
men,"  and  "  employed  themselves  in  agriculture."  They  thought 
evil  of  all  women,  and  educated  children  whom  they  adopted. 
All  who  joined  the  society  gave  their  property  to  it  and  all 
property  was  held  in  common.^  They  used  rites  of  worship  to 
the  svm.  Their  asceticism  was  derived  from  their  doctrine  of 
the  soul's  preexistence  and  its  warfare  with  the  body.*"  They  were 
stricter  than  the  Pharisees.  They  rejected  wealth,  oaths,  sensual 
enjoyment,  and  slavery.'^  They  renounced  all  occupations  which 
excite  greed  and  injustice,  such  as  inn  keeping,  commerce, 
weapon  making.^  Sex  intercourse  was  so  restricted  that  they 
could  not  fulfill  the  primary  duties  which  the  law  laid  on  every 

1  Levit.  XV.  16,  18  ;   Deut.  xxiii.  11  ;  ^  Cook,  Fathers  of  Jesus,  II,  30,  38. 
Josephus,  Cont.  Ap.,  II,  24.  ^  Hastings,  Diet.  Bib.,  Devel.  of  Doct, 

2  Judges  xiii.  4-14  ;   Amos  ii.  11.  in  Apoc.  Period :  Supp.  Vol.  292,  a. 

3  Lucius,  Essenismns,  102.  ^  Lucius,  Essenismus,  54,  59,  68. 
*  Josephus,  Atitiq.,  XIII,  5,  9.  ^  Ibid.,  52. 


6l6  FOLKWAYS 

man  to  beget  children.  Often  they  were  persons  who  entered 
the  society  after  having  fulfilled  this  duty.^  They  had  extreme 
rules  of  Sabbath  keeping,  food  taboo,  purification,  and  extreme 
doctrines  of  renunciation  of  luxury  and  pleasure.  They  either 
died  out  or  coalesced  with  Christians.^ 

684.  Roman  asceticism.  The  primitive  Roman  mores  were 
very  austere,  not  ascetic,  and  the  institutions  of  the  family  and 
sex  were  strictly  controlled  by  the  mores.  The  Vestal  Virgins 
might  be  cited  as  a  proof  that  virginity  was  considered  a  quali- 
fication for  high  religious  functions,  so  that  it  seemed  meritorious 
and  pure  and  a  nobler  estate  than  marriage. 

685.  Christian  asceticism.  Christianity  is  ascetic  in  its  atti- 
tude towards  wealth,  luxury,  and  pleasure.  It  inherited  from 
Judaism  hostility  to  sensuality,  which  was  thought  by  the  Jews 
to  be  a  mark  of  heathenism  and  an  especial  concomitant  of 
idolatry.  We  distinguish  between  luxury  and  pleasure  on  the 
one  side  and  sensuality  on  the  other,  and  repress  the  last  for 
rational,  not  ascetic,  reasons. 

686.  Three  traditions  united  in  Christianity.  The  three 
streams  of  tradition  which  entered  into  Christianity  brought 
down  ascetic  notions  and  temper.  The  antagonism  of  flesh 
and  spirit  is  expressed,  Galat.  v.  i6,  and  the  evil  of  the  flesh, 
Romans  vii.  i8,  25  ;  Eph.  v.  29.  Yet  ascetics  are  denounced, 
I  Tim.  iv.  3,  "forbidding  to  marry,  and  commanding  to  abstain 
from  meats,  which  God  created  to  be  received  with  thanksgiv- 
ing by  them  that  believe  and  know  the  truth."  In  i  Tim.  iii.  2 
and  Titus  i.  6  it  is  expressly  stated  that  a  priest  or  bishop  is 
to  be  the  husband  of  one  wife.  In  Revelation  xiv.  4  a  group 
are  described  as  "  they  who  were  not  defiled  with  women,  for 
they  are  virgins."  The  notion  that  procreation  is  "  impure  "  and 
that  renunciation  of  it  is  "purity"  is  present  here.  Cf.  Levit. 
XV.  16-18.  In  I  Cor.  vii  the  doctrine  is  that  renunciation  of 
marriage  is  best ;  that  marriage  is  a  concession  to  human  frailty  ; 
that  all  sex  relation  outside  of  marriage  is  sin.    If  there  is  a 

'^Jewish  Encyc,  V,  s.  v.  "  Essenes." 

2  Cook,  Fathers  of  Jesus,  II,  48;  Lucius,  Essenis7nus,  131  ;  Graetz,  Gesch.  der 
Jtide?i,  III,  92  ff.  « 


ASCETICISM  617 

technical  definition  of  sin,  virtue,  purity,  etc.,  it  can  only  be 
satisfied  by  arbitrary  acts  which  are  ascetic  in  character.  The 
definitions  also  produce  grades  of  goodness  and  merit  beyond 
duty  and  right.  The  "  religious  "  become  a  technical  class,  who 
cultivate  holiness  beyond  what  is  required  of  simple  Christians. 
Saints  are  heroes  of  the  same  development.  In  general,  the 
methods  of  attaining  to  holiness  and  saintliness  must  be  arbi- 
trary and  ascetic, —  fasting,  self-torture,  loathsome  acts,  exces- 
sive ritual,  etc. 

687.  Asceticism  in  the  early  church.  It  has  been  sufficiently 
shown  that  the  Greco-Roman  world,  at  the  birth  of  Christ,  was 
penetrated  by  ascetic  ideas  and  streams  of  ascetic  usage.  In 
the  postapostolic  period  there  was  a  specific  class  of  ecclesiastical 
ascetics.  There  were  many  different  fields  of  origin  for  such  a 
class  in  the  different  provinces.^  Epictetus  (b.  60  a.d.)  had  a 
spirit  and  temper  which  have  always  been  recognized  as  closely 
Christian.  He  thought  the  aim  should  not  be  to  endure  pain 
and  calamity  with  fortitude,  but  to  suppress  evil  desires  and  to 
cultivate  discipline.  There  were  congregations  in  the  earliest 
days  of  Christianity  which  were  composed  of  persons  who  wanted 
to  lead  a  purer  life  than  was  common  amongst  Christians.  They 
adopted  rules,  as  "  counsels  of  perfection,"  such  as  renunciation 
of  marriage  and  of  eating  meat.^  The  ascetic  tendency  got 
strong  sway  in  the  church  in  the  second  half  of  the  second 
century,  but  the  practices  were  voluntary,  suggested  by  the 
religious  impulses  of  the  individual,  and  the  leaders  tried  to  hold 
the  ruling  tendency  in  reason.  They  held  it  to  be  absurd  that 
self-inflicted  pain  could  please  God.^  The  tendency,  however, 
could  not  be  arrested.  It  was  in  the  age.  All  the  philosophies 
except  Epicureanism,  and  all  the  sects  in  the  mysteries,  had 
encouraged  it.  The  Christians  had  doctrines  which  were  not 
hostile  to  it..  It  therefore  flourished  amongst  them.  In  the 
second  century  there  was  a  deep  desire  for  a  moral  reformation, 
and  to  further  it  moral  discipline  was  formulated  in  rules  and 
made  a  system.    The  individual  was  taught  to  endure  hardships, 

^  Harnack,  Pseitdodement.  Briefe  de  Virg.^  3. 
^  Hatch,  Gricchenihuni  und  Christenthtitti,  121.  ^  Lea,  Sac£7\  Celib.,  29. 


6l8  FOLKWAYS 

to  drink  water  rather  than  wine,  to  sleep  on  the  ground  oftener 
than  on  a  bed.  In  some  cases  they  submitted  to  corporal  cruelty, 
being  scourged  and  loaded  with  chains.  The  converse  error 
here  appeared,  for  they  made  a  display  of  their  powers  of 
endurance.^  The  moral  gymnastics  could  be  best  practiced  in 
solitary  life.  Many  philosophers  urged  their  disciples  to  leave 
home  and  to  practice  elsewhere,  —in  another  town  or  in  loneli- 
ness.^ At  the  end  of  the  third  century  the  ascetic  party,  in 
spite  of  the  withdrawal  of  the  puritans,  was  very  powerful.  The 
ascetic  sentiment  was  stimulated  and  was  spreading  on  account 
of  the  ideas  of  neoplatonism,  the  increasing  confusion  in  the 
■  Christian  body,  the  excitement  and  anxiety  of  a  period  of  social 
decline,  and  finally  on  account  of  the  need  to  provide  other 
means  of  expending  the  passionate  love  of  God  which  had 
formerly  driven  Christians  to  martyrdom.  When  the  church 
became  a  religion  recognized  by  the  state  there  was  no  more 
martyrdom.  A  similar  tendency  marked  the  sects  of  philosophy 
at  the  same  time.  The  author  of  the  Letters  on  Virginity 
ascribed  to  Clement  (about  300  a.d.)  is  a  strong  admirer  of 
celibacy.  He  has  heard  of  shameless  Christian  men  and  women 
who  consort,  eat,  drink,  gossip,  slander,  and  visit  each  other, 
although  unmarried  persons.  The  ascetics  were  forced  to  sepa- 
rate themselves  entirely  from  the  rest.  They  wandered,  praying 
and  preaching  and  casting  out  devils,  having  no  means.  The 
motives  of  asceticism  were  the  apprehension  of  the  end  of  the 
world,  enthusiasm,  dualistic  philosophy,  fear  of  sensuality,  and 
gnostic  doctrines.  In  300  a.d.  the  ascetics  were  corrupt  and 
venal  and  needed  more  complete  isolation  (monasticism).^  In 
the  fourth  century  an  ascetic  life,  instead  of  a  form  of  life  for 
Christians  inside  the  church,  came  to  be  thought  of  as  an  inde- 
pendent form  of  life.  It  was  thought  of  as  a  "  philosophy,"  most 
closely  related  to  Cynicism.  In  externals  Cynics  and  Christian 
ascetics  were  alike.  The  coarse  garments  and  uncut  hair  gave 
them  the  same  appearance.^  In  the  fourth  century  the  ethics 
of  Paul  were  abandoned  by  Christians.     The  average  Christians 

1  Hatch,  Criechenthitm  lutd  Christenthiim,  io8.  ^  Ibid.,  109. 

3  Harnack,  Psetido-Clement.  Briefe  de  Virg.,  19,  21,  22.  *  Hatch,  122. 


ASCETICISM  619 

were  average  citizens.  They  held  the  current  ethical  ideas  of 
the  society.  The  intellectual  scaffolding  built  by  current  cul- 
ture was  stronger  than  the  new  ideas  which  were  accepted. 
The  mores  held  sway  against  the  new  influences.  In  place  of 
the  notions  of  justice  and  holiness  the  old  notion  of  "  virtue  " 
prevailed.  Instead  of  the  law  "  Love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself," 
the  old  enumeration  of  virtues  constituted  ethical  reflection. 
At  the  end  of  the  fourth  century  this  transformation  was  rec- 
ognized by  the  leaders  of  the  church. ^  The  Manichaean  sects 
practiced  asceticism  even  more  zealously  than  the  orthodox. 
Renunciation  of  "  the  world  "  was  selfish.  The  period  was  one 
of  turmoil.  The  burdens  of  the  state  were  excessive.  It  was 
an  evil  that  the  best  men  renounced  the  duties  of  the  state  and 
civil  society.  Virginity  was  praised  as  Christlike  and  taught 
in  opposition  to  society  and  the  family.  Marriage  was  not 
forbidden,  but  a  special  mystery  attached  to  it,  to  explain  how 
it  might  be  honored,  although  it  was  so  depreciated.  The 
body  of  that  soul  which  desired  to  be  the  bride  of  Christ 
must  be  virgin.^  If  any  one  turned  to  a  home  and  family  he 
must  understand  that  he  descended  to  something  inferior  and 
doubtful.  The  Roman  state  had  been  trying  for  three  hundred 
years  to  stimulate  marriage  and  increase  population.  Constan- 
tine  repealed  all  the  laws  against  celibacy.  Later  emperors 
liberated  ecclesiastics  from  the  "  municipal  burdens  which  were 
eating  out  the  heart  of  the  empire."  All  were  eager  to  become 
clerics,  and  as  the  number  of  settled  priests  was  limited,  they 
became  monks.  The  wealth  of  the  church  also  attracted  them.^ 
The  situation  produced  hypocrites,  false  ascetics,  and  vicious 
clerics.  After  the  middle  of  the  fourth  century  the  church  began 
to  legislate  that  those  who  took  vows  must  keep  them.  The 
penalty  of  death  was  to  be  inflicted  on  any  man  who  should 
marry  a  sacred  virgin.  Pope  Siricius,  in  384,  described  the  shame- 
less license  of  both  sexes  in  violation  of  vows.^  In  part  this  was 
due  to  another  logical  product  of  the  conception  of  purity  as 
negation,  especially  of  sex.    Men  and  women  exposed  themselves 

1  Hatch,  123.  3  Jbid.,  59. 

2  Hamack,  Dogmengesch.,  I,  747.  *  Ibid.,  60. 


620  FOLKWAYS 

to  temptation  and  risk  by  sensual  excitement,  holding  themselves 
innocent  if  they  were  not  criminal. ^  These  tricks  of  the  human 
mind  upon  itself  are  familiar  now  in  the  history  of  scores  of 
sects,  and  in  the  phenomena  of  revivalism.  Ritual  asceticism  is 
consistent  with  sensual  indulgence.  The  sophistry  necessary  to 
reconcile  the  two  is  easily  spun. 

688.  Asceticism  in  Islam.  Islam,  at  the  beginning,  had  an 
ascetic  tendency,  which  it  soon  lost.  Mohammed  and  his  com- 
rades practiced  night  watches  with  prayer.^  Jackson  found  in 
the  modern  Yezidi  community  a  "  sort  of  ascetic  order  of 
women,"  fakiriah,  corresponding  to  fakirs  amongst  men.^  The 
dervishes  are  the  technically  religious  Moslems,  and  in  the  his- 
tory of  Islam  there  have  been  frequent  temporary  appearances 
of  sects  and  groups  which  regarded  pain  as  meritorious. 

689.  Virginity.  Virginity  is  negative  and  may  be  a  renuncia- 
tion. It  then  falls  in  with  the  ascetic  way  of  thinking,  and  the 
notion  that  virginity,  as  renunciation,  is  meritorious  is  a  prompt 
deduction.  Christian  ecclesiastics  made  this  deduction  and 
pushed  it  to  great  extremes.  The  renunciation  was  thought  to 
be  more  meritorious  if  practiced  in  the  face  of  opportunity  and' 
temptation.  The  ascetics  therefore  created  opportunity  in  order 
to  put  themselves  in  the  midst  of  the  war  of  sense  and  duty.* 

690.  Mediaeval  asceticism.  In  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  cen- 
turies the  ascetic  temper  underwent  a  revival  which  was  like 
an  intellectual  storm.  It  was  nourished  by  reading  the  church 
fathers  of  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries.  It  entered  into  medi- 
aeval mores.  It  was  in  the  popular  taste,  and  the  church  encour- 
aged and  developed  it.  It  was  connected  with  demonism  and 
fetichism  which  had  taken  possession  of  the  Christian  church  in 
the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries.  Relics  were  fetiches.  The  Holy 
Sepulcher  and  the  Holy  Land  were  fetiches  ;  that  is,  they  were 

^  Such  perversions  have  been  very  frequent.  See  Todd,  Life  of  St.  Patrick,  91, 
for  a  case;  also,  Lea,  Inquisition,  III,  109.  Sometimes  the  test  was  to  show  that 
the  temptation  was  powerless.    Lea,  Inqnis.,  H,  357  ;  Sacerd.  Celib.,  167. 

2  Wellhausen,  Skizzen  und  Vorarbeiteii,  III,  210. 

5  Hist,  of  Religio7is,  section  of  the  Amer.  Orient.  Soc,  VII,  22. 

■*  Achelis,  Virgi7ies  Snbintrodnctae.  The  author  thinks  that  the  relationship  was 
one  of  Platonic  comradeship. 


ASCETICISM  62 1 

thought  to  have  magical  power  on  account  of  the  spirits  of  the 
great  dead  in  them.  Transubstantiation  was  the  application  of 
magic  and  fetich  ideas  to  the  ceremony  of  the  mass.  All  the 
mediaeval  religiosity  ran  to  forms  of  which  asceticism  and  magic 
were  the  core.  Cathedral  building  was  a  popular  mania  of 
ascetic  religion.  Pilgrimages  had  the  same  character.  We  may 
now  regard  it  as  ascertained  fact  that  asceticism,  cruelty  to 
dissenters,  fanaticism,  and  sex  frenzy  are  so  interlaced  in  the 
depths  of  human  nature  that  they  produce  joint  or  interdependent 
phenomena.  That  an  ascetic  who  despises  pain,  or  even  thinks 
it  a  good,  should  torture  others  is  not  hard  to  understand. 
That  the  same  age  should  produce  a  wild  outburst  of  sex  passion 
and  a  mania  of  sex  renunciation  is  only  another  case  of  contra- 
dictory products  of  the  same  cause  of  which  human  society 
offers  many.  That  the  same  age  should  produce  sensual  world- 
lings and  fanatical  ecclesiastics  is  no  paradox. 

691.  Asceticism  in  Christian  mores.  The  ascetic  standards 
and  doctrines  passed  into  the  mores  of  Christianity  and  so 
into  the  mores  of  Christendom,  both  religious  and  civil.  In  the 
popular  notion  it  was  the  taboos  which  constituted  Christianity, 
and  those  were  the  best  Christians  who  construed  the  taboos  on 
wealth,  luxury,  pleasure,  and  sex  most  extremely,  and  observed 
them  most  strictly.  Such  persons  were  supposed  to  be  able  to 
perform  miracles.  In  the  Middle  Ages  the  casuists  and  theolo- 
gians seemed  never  to  tire  of  multiplying  distinctions  and  antith- 
eses about  sex.^  In  fact  their  constant  preoccupation  with  it 
was  the  worst  departure  from  the  reserve  and  dignity  which  are 
the  first  requirements  in  respect  to  it.  A  document  of  the 
extremest  doctrine  is  Hali  MeidcnJiad^  of  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury. The  aim  of  the  book  is  to  persuade  women  to  renounce 
marriage.  Marriage  is  servitude.  God  did  not  institute  it. 
Adam  and  Eve  introduced  it  by  sin.  Our  flesh  is  our  foe.  Vir- 
ginity is  heaven  on  earth.  Happy  wedlock  is  rare.  Motherhood 
is  painful.  Family  life  is  full  of  trials  and  quarrels.  Virginity  is 
not  God's  command  but  his  counsel.  Marriage  is  only  a  con- 
cession  (i   Cor.  vii.).    This  was  the  orthodox  doctrine  of  the 

1  See  Peter  Lombard,  Se?itent.,  IV,  31.  ^  Early  Eng.  Text  Soc,  1866. 


62  2  FOLKWAYS 

time.  Among  the  religious  heroes  of  the  age  not  a  few  were 
irresponsible  from  lack  of  food,  lack  of  sleep,  and  the  nervous 
exaltation  which  they  forced  upon  themselves  by  ascetic  prac- 
tices.^ 

692.  Renunciation  of  property.  Beggary.  Those  who  did  not 
practice  asceticism  accepted  its  standards  and  applied  them.  A 
special  case  and  one  of  the  most  important  was  the  admiration 
which  was  rendered  in  the  thirteenth  century  to  the  renunciation 
of  property  and  the  consequent  high  merit  attributed  to  beggary 
for  the  two  following  centuries.  The  social  consequences  were 
so  great  that  this  view  of  poverty  and  beggary  is  perhaps  the 
most  important  consequence  in  the  history  of  the  mores  which 
go  with  the  ascetic  philosophy  of  life. 

693.  Ascetic  standards.  All  who  were  indifferent  or  hostile  to 
the  church  and  religion  maintained  the  ascetic  standards  for 
ecclesiastics  in  their  extremest  form.  All  the  literature  of  the 
Middle  Ages  contains  scoffing  at  priests,  monks,  and  friars.  In 
part,  they  were  scoffed  at  because  they  did  not  fulfill  that 
measure  of  asceticism  which  the  scoffers  chose  to  require,  and 
which  the  clerics  taught  and  seemed  bound  to  practice. 

694.  The  mendicant  friars.  The  notion  that  poverty  is  meri- 
torious and  a  good  in  itself  was  widely  entertained  but  unfor- 
mulated at  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century.  Jacques  de 
Vitry,  who  was  in  Italy  in  1216,  and  who  left  a  journal  of  his 
journey ,2  met  with  an  association  in  Lombardy,  the  Umiliati, 
who  held  the  doctrines  of  the  later  Franciscans.  The  ideas 
which  were  current  at  that  time  about  the  primitive  church 
were  entirely  fantastic.  They  had  no  foundation  in  fact.  They 
were  in  fact  deductions  from  ascetic  ideals.  The  church  of  the 
thirteenth  century  was  the  opposite  in  all  respects  of  what  the 
primitive  church  was  supposed  to  have  been.  Francis  of  Assisi 
and  a  few  friends  determined  (1208)  to  live  by  the  principles 
of  the  primitive  church  as  they  supposed  that  it  had  been.  It  is 
certain  that  they  were  only  one  group,  which  found  favorable 

^  Cf.  Lea,  Inqiiis.,  II,  214,  about  Peter  Martyr. 

^  Nonveanx  Metn.  de  r Acad,  des  Sciences,  lettres  et  beaux  arts  de  Belgique, 
XXIII,  30. 


ASCETICISM  623 

conditions  of  growth,  but  that  there  were  many  such  groups  at 
the  time.  De  Vitry  was  filled  with  sadness  by  what  he  saw  at 
the  papal  court.  All  were  busy  with  secular  affairs,  kings  and 
kingdoms,  quarrels  and  lawsuits,  so  that  it  was  almost  impossible 
to  speak  about  spiritual  matters.  He  greatly  admired  the 
Franciscans,  who  were  trying  to  live  like  the  early  Christians 
and  to  save  souls,  and  who  shamed  the  prelates,  who  were  "  dogs 
who  do  not  bark."  The  strongest  contrasts  between  the  gospel 
ideals  and  the  church  of  that  time  were  presented  by  wealth  and 
the  hierarchy.  Francis  renounced  all  property.  Poverty  was 
idealized  and  allegorized.  Since  he  would  not  produce  or  own 
things,  he  had  to  beg  or  borrow  them  from  others  who  were 
therefore  obliged  to  sin  for  him.  The  first  corollary  from  the 
admiration  of  poverty  was  the  glorification  of  beggary  and  its 
exaltation  above  productive  labor.^  There  is  a  rhapsody  on 
poverty  in  the  Roman  de  la  Rose.  If  it  is  base  and  corrupting 
to  admire  wealth,  it  is  insane  to  admire  poverty.  It  never  can 
be  anything  more  than  a  pose  or  affectation.  The  count  of 
Chiusi  gave  to  Francis  the  mountain  La  Verna  as  a  place  of 
retirement  and  meditation.  Armed  men  were  necessary  to  take 
possession  of  this  place  on  account  of  beasts  and  robbers.^ 
Here,  then,  we  have  all  the  crime,  selfishness,  and  violence  of 
"property."  The  legendary  story  of  Francis  is  fabulous.  It  is 
a  product  of  the  popular  notions  of  the  time.  He  was  said  to 
perform  miracles.  Crowds  flocked  to  him.  His  order  spread 
with  great  rapidity  and  without  much  effort  on  his  part.  Evi- 
dently it  just  met  the  temper,  longings,  and  ideals  of  the  time. 
Its  strength  was  that  it  suited  the  current  mores.  Unhmited 
money  and  property  were  given  to  it.  Francis  died  in  1226  and 
was  canonized  in  1228.  Dominic  (1170-1221)  aimed  to  found 
an  order  of  preachers  in  order  to  oppose  the  Albigenses  and 
other  heretics.  He  wanted  to  found  a  learned  and  scholarly 
order  which  should  be  able  to  preach  and  teach.  He  made  it  a 
mendicant  order  in  order  to  preserve  it  from  the  corruptions  to 

1  The  ideas  of  Francis  had  been  promulgated  by  the  Timotheists   in  the  fifth 
century.    They  were  then  declared  heretical  (Lea,  Sacerd.  Celib.,  377). 

2  Carmichael,  I)i  Tuscany.,  224. 


624  FOLKWAYS 

which  the  conventual  hfe  was  exposed.  The  two  orders  of 
friars  became  fierce  enemies  to  each  other  and  fought  upon  all 
occasions.^  In  their  theory  and  doctrines  they  exactly  satisfied 
the  notions  of  the  time  as  to  what  the  church  ought  to  be,  and 
"  they  restored  to  the  church  much  of  the  popular  veneration 
which  had  become  almost  hopelessly  ahenated  from  it."  ^  The 
age  cherished  ideals  and  phantasms  on  which  it  dwelt  in  thought, 
developing  them.  Suffering  was  esteemed  as  a  good,  and  self- 
denial  with  suffering  made  saintliness.  Francis  and  his  comrades 
cherished  all  these  ideals  and  had  all  these  ways  of  thinking. 
Francis  became  the  ideal  man  of  his  time.^ 

695.  The  Franciscans.  Other  mendicant  orders  prove  the  domi- 
nant ideas  of  the  time.  These  were  the  Augustinian  hermits 
(1256),  the  Carmelites  (1245),  and  the  Servites,  or  Servants 
of  Mary  (c.  1275).  The  mendicants  did  not  live  up  to  their 
doctrine  for  a  single  generation.  In  the  middle  of  the  century 
Bonaventura  had  to  reprove  the  Franciscans  for  their  greed  of 
property,  their  litigation  and  efforts  to  grasp  legacies,  and  for 
the  splendor  and  luxury  of  their  buildings.^  The  two  great 
orders  of  friars  became  an  available  power  by  virtue  of  their 
hold  on  the  tastes  and  faiths  of  the  people.  They  became  the 
militia  of  the  pope  and  helped  to  establish  papal  absolutism. 
They  "were  perfectly  adapted  to  the  world  conditions  of  the 
time."  ^  The  doctrines  of  poverty  were  at  war  with  the  character, 
aims,  and  ambitions  of  the  church.  The  Franciscans,  in  order 
to  establish  the  primitive  character  of  their  system,  asserted 
that  Christ  and  his  disciples  lived  by  beggary  in  absolute  renun- 
ciation of  property.    This  was  a  Scriptural  and  historical  doctrine 

1  Lea,  Inqnis.,  I,  302.  2  Lea,  Sacerd.  Celib.,  y]i . 

2  Little,  St.  Francis  of  Assist,  138.  Carmichael  (/«  Tuscany,  228)  is  satisfied 
that  Francis  received  the  stigmata.  He  says :  "  No  serious  person  any  longer 
seeks  to  dispute  the  fact."  The  stigmata  were  imparted  by  an  angel  and  consisted 
in  "long  nails  of  a  black,  hard,  fleshy  substance.  The  round  heads  of  the  nails 
showed  close  against  the  palms,  and  from  out  the  backs  of  the  hands  came  the 
points  of  the  nails,  bent  back  as  if  they  had  pierced  through  wood  and  then  been 
clinched."  The  wounds  caused  pain  so  great  that  Francis  could  not  walk.  Little 
does  not  reject  all  the  fabulous  details  in  the  life  of  the  saint  as  the  legends  have 
brought  it  down.  ^  Lea,  Inquis.,  Ill,  29. 

'•^  Michael,  Gesch.  des  Deutschen  Volkes,  II,  78. 


ASCETICISM  625 

and  question  of  fact,  on  which  fierce  controversy  arose.  It  divided 
the  order  into  two  schools,  the  conventuals  and  the  spirituals. 
In  1275  the  spirituals,  who  clung  to  the  original  ideals  and  rules 
of  Francis,  were  treated  as  heretics  and  persecuted.  They  rated 
Francis  as  another  Christ,  and  the  rule  as  a  new  revelation. 
They  always  were  liable  to  fall  into  sympathy  with  enthusiastic 
sects  which  were  rated  as  heretical.^  The  Franciscans  also,  in 
their  origin,  were  somewhat  independent  of  hierarchical  authority 
and  of  established  discipline.  It  was  necessary  that  the  order 
should  be  brought  into  the  existing  ecclesiastical  system.  The 
popes  of  the  thirteenth  century  until  Boniface  VIII  accepted 
the  standards  of  the  age  and  approved  of  the  mendicant  friars. 
In  1279,  in  the  bull  Exiit  qui  senimat,  the  Franciscan  rule  was 
ascribed  to  revelation  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  the  renunciation 
of  property  was  approved.  The  use  of  property  was  right,  but 
the  ownership  was  wrong. ^  Boniface  was  of  another  school. 
He  was  a  practical  man  who  meant  to  increase  the  power  of  the 
hierarchy.  Absurd  as  was  the  notion  of  non-property,  it  was  at 
least  germane  to  the  doctrine  of  Christianity  that  Christians 
ought  to  renounce  the  pomps  and  vanities  of  wealth  and  the 
struggle  for  power,  and  to  live  in  frugality,  simplicity,  and 
mutual  service.  The  papal  hierarchy  was  in  pursuit  of  pomp 
and  lu.xury  and,  above  all,  of  power  and  dominion.  Boniface 
ordered  the  spiritual  Franciscans  to  conform  to  the  rule  of  the 
conventuals.  Some  would  not  obey  and  became  heretics  and 
martyrs.  Their  zeal  for  the  ideas  and  rule  of  Francis  was  so 
great  that  they  welcomed  martyrdom  for  their  adherence.^  The 
most  distinguished  of  the  martyrs  of  the  spirituals  was  Bernard 
Delicieux,  who  found  himself  at  war  with  the  Inquisition  and  the 
pope,  and  who,  after  a  trial  in  which  all  the  arts  of  browbeating 
and  torture  were  exhausted,  died  a  prisoner,  in  chains,  on  bread 
and  water.'*  The  other  party  also  had  its  martyrs,  who  were 
willing  to  die  for  the  doctrine  that  Christ  and  his  apostles  did 
not  live  by  beggary.^  Any  doctrine  that  the  apostles  lived  in 
poverty,  by  begging,  was  a  criticism  of  the  hierarchy  as  it  then 

1  Lea,  Inqitis.,  Ill,  33.  2  /^/^/.^  30.  3  y'^/,/.^  ^i, 

■*  Il'id.,  II,  75,  99.  ^  Ibid.,  59. 


626  FOLKWAYS 

was.  John  XXII, another  non-sentimental  pope,  declared  that  the 
doctrine  that  Christ  and  his  apostles  lived  in  negation  of  property 
was  a  heresy.  Then  Francis  of  Assisi  and  all  who  had  held  the 
same  opinions  as  he  became  heretics.^  In  1368  the  strict  Fran- 
ciscans split  off  and  formed  the  order  of  the  Observantines,  and 
in  1487  the  Recollects,  another  order  of  strict  observers  of  the 
rule,  was  founded  in  Spain,  with  the  authorization  of  Innocent 
VIII.  The  stricter  orders  were  always  more  enthusiastically 
devoted  to  the  service  of  the  papacy.^ 

696.  Whether  poverty  is  a  good.  The  history  of  the  mendi- 
cant orders  is  an  almost  incomprehensible  story  of  wrongheaded- 
ness.  That  poverty  is  a  good  is  an  inversion  of  common  sense. 
That  men  do  not  want  what  they  must  have  to  live  is  a  denial 
of  all  philosophy.  The  mendicants  did  not  invent  these  dogm.as. 
They  were  in  the  mores,  and  they  made  the  mendicants.  That 
the  mendicants  at  once  became  greedy,  avaricious,  and  luxurious, 
emissaries  of  tyranny  and  executioners  of  cruelty,  was  only  an 
instance  of  the  extravagances  of  human  nature. 

697.  Clerical  celibacy.  If  according  to  Christian  standards 
virginity  was  the  sole  right  rule  and  marriage  was  only  a  conces- 
sion, it  might  justly  be  argued  that  the  clergy  ought  to  live  up 
to  the  real  standard,  not  the  conventional  concession.  This  was 
the  best  argument  for  sacerdotal  celibacy.  It  was  well  under- 
stood, and  not  disputed,  that  celibacy  was  a  rule  of  the  church, 
and  not  an  ordinance  of  Christ  or  the  Gospel.  It  was  an  ascetic 
practice  which  was  enjoined  and  enforced  on  the  clergy.  They 
never  obeyed  it.  The  rule  produced  sin  and  vice,  and  introduced 
moral  discord  and  turpitude  into  the  lives  of  thousands  of  the  best 
men  of  the  Middle  Ages.  In  the  baser  days  of  the  fourteenth 
and  fifteenth  centuries  the  current  practice  was  a  recognized  vio- 
lation of  professed  duty  and  virtue,  under  money  penalties  or 
penances.  Yet  the  notion  of  celibacy  for  the  clergy  had  been  so 
established  by  discipline  in  the  usage  of  priests  and  the  mores 
of  Christendom  that  a  married  priest  was  a  disgusting  and  intol- 
erable idea.  At  the  same  time  usage  had  famiharized  everybody 
with  the  concubinage  of  priests  and  prelates,  and  all  Christendom 

1  Lea,  Liqiiis.,  I,  541.  2  7^;^'.,  Ill,  172,  179. 


ASCETICISM  627 

knew  that  popes  had  their  bastards  living  with  them  in  the  Vati- 
can, where  they  were  married  and  dowered  by  their  fathers  as 
openly  as  might  be  done  by  princes  in  their  palaces.  The  false- 
hood and  hypocrisy  caused  deep  moral  corruption,  aside  from 
any  judgment  as  to  what  constituted  the  error  or  its  remedy. 
Pope  Pius  II  was  convinced  that  there  were  better  reasons  for 
revoking  the  celibacy  of  the  clergy  than  there  ever  had  been  for 
imposing  it,^  but  he  was  not  a  man  to  put  his  convictions  into 
effect.  The  effect  on  character  of  violation  of  an  ascetic  rule, 
acknowledged  and  professed,  was  the  same  as  that  of  the  viola- 
tion of  one  of  the  Ten  Commandments. 

698.  How  Christian  asceticism  ended.  By  the  beginning  of 
the  sixteenth  century  the  ascetic  views  and  tastes  were  all  gone, 
overwhelmed  by  the  ideas  and  tastes  of  a  period  of  commerce, 
wealth,  productive  power,  materialism,  and  enjoyment.  In  the 
new  age  the  pagan  joy  in  living  was  revived.  Objects  of  desire 
were  wealth,  luxury,  beauty,  pleasure,  —  all  of  which  the  ascetics 
scorned  and  cursed.  The  reaction  was  favorable  to  a  develop- 
ment of  sensuality  and  materialism  ;  also  of  art.  Modern  times 
have  been  made  what  they  are  by  industry  on  rational  lines  of 
effort,  with  faith  in  the  direct  relation  of  effort  to  result.  The 
aleatory  element  still  remains,  and  it  is  still  irrational,  but  the 
attitude  of  men  towards  it  is  changed.  All  the  ground  for  asceti- 
cism is  taken  away.  We  work  for  what  we  want  with  courage, 
hope,  and  faith,  and  we  enjoy  the  product  as  a  right.  If  the  luck 
goes  against  us,  we  try  again.  We  are  very  much  disinclined 
to  any  increase  of  pain  or  of  fruitless  labor.  There,  is  a  great 
change  in  the  mores  of  the  entire  modern  society  about  the 
aleatory  element.  That  change  accounts  for  a  great  deal  of  the 
modern  change  of  feeling  about  religion. 

1  Burckhardt,  Renaissafice  in  Italien,  465. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

EDUCATION,  HISTORY 

The  superstition  of  education.  —  The  loss  from  education  ;  "missionary- 
made  men."  —  Schools  make  persons  all  on  one  pattern  ;  orthodoxy.  — 
Criticism.  —  Reactions  of  the  mores  and  education  on  each  other.  —  The 
limitations  of  the  historian.  —  Overvaluation  of  history.  —  Success  and  the 
favor  of  God.  —  Philosophic  faiths  and  the  study  of  history.  —  Democracy 
and  history.  —  The  study  of  history  and  the  study  of  the  mores.  —  The 
most  essential  element  of  education.  —  The  history  of  the  mores  is  needed. 

Introduction.  The  one  thing  which  justifies  popular  education 
for  all  children  is  the  immense  value  of  men  of  genius  to  the 
society.  We  have  no  means  of  discerning  and  recognizing,  in 
their  early  childhood,  the  ones  who  have  genius.  If  we  could  do 
so  it  would  be  a  good  bargain  to  pay  great  sums  for  them,  and  to 
educate  them  at  public  expense.  Our  popular  education  may  be 
justly  regarded  as  a  system  of  selecting  them.  The  pupils  retire 
from  the  schools  when  they  think  that  "  they  do  not  want  any 
more  schooling."  Of  course  thousands  withdraw  for  one  who 
keeps  on.  It  is  a  very  expensive  system,  and  the  expense  all 
falls  on  the  taxpayers.  The  beneficiaries  are  left  entirely  free  to 
spend  their  lives  wherever  they  please.  If  the  system  is  sound 
and  just  it  must  be  so  by  virtue  of  some  common  interest  of 
all  the  people  of  the  United  States  in  the  social  services  of  men 
of  talent  and  genius  in  any  part  of  the  United  States. 

699.  The  superstition  of  education.  Popular  education  and 
certain  faiths  about  popular  education  are  in  the  mores  of  our 
time.  We  regard  illiteracy  as  an  abomination.  We  ascribe  to 
elementary  book  learning  power  to  form  character,  make  good 
citizens,  keep  family  mores  pure,  elevate  morals,  establish  indi- 
vidual character,  civilize  barbarians,  and  cure  social  vice  and 
disease.  We  apply  schooling  as  a  remedy  for  every  social  phe- 
nomenon  which    we    do   not   like.     The    information   given   by 

628 


EDUCATION,  HISTORY  629 

schools  and  colleges,  the  attendant  drill  in  manners,  the  ritual 
of  the  mores  practiced  in  schools,  and  the  mental  dexterity  pro- 
duced by  school  exercises  fit  individuals  to  carry  on  the  strug- 
gle for  existence  better.  A  literate  man  can  produce  wealth 
better  than  an  illiterate  man.  Avenues  are  also  opened  by  school 
work  through  which  influences  may  be  brought  to  bear  on  the 
reason  and  conscience  which  will  mold  character.  Not  even 
the  increased  production  of  wealth,  much  less  the  improvement 
of  character,  are  assured  results.  Our  faith  in  the  power  of 
book  learning  is  excessive  and  unfounded.  It  is  a  superstition 
of  the  age.  The  education  which  forms  character  and  pro- 
duces faith  in  sound  principles  of  life  comes  through  personal 
influence  and  example.  It  is  borne  on  the  mores.  It  is  taken 
in  from  the  habits  and  atmosphere  of  a  school,  not  from  the 
school  text-books.  School  work  opens  an  opportunity  that  a 
thing  may  be,  but  the  probability  that  it  will  be  depends  on 
the  persons^  and  it  may  be  7iil  or  contrary  to  what  is  desired. 
High  attainments  in  school  enhance  the  power  obtained,  but 
the  ethical  value  of  it  all  depends  on  how  it  is  used.  These 
facts  are  often  misused  or  exaggerated  in  modern  educational 
controversies,  but  their  reality  cannot  be  denied.  Book  learning 
is  addressed  to  the  intellect,  not  to  the  feelings,  but  the  feelings 
are  the  spring  of  action. 

700.  The  loss  from  education.  Missionary-made  men.  Educa- 
tion has  always  been  recognized  as  a  means  of  individual  success 
and  group  strength.  In  barbarism  the  children  are  educated  by 
their  elders,  especially  the  little  boys  by  the  big  ones,  but  the  whole 
mental  outfit  possessed  by  the  group  is  transmitted  to  the  chil- 
dren, and  all  the  mores  pass  by  this  tradition.  It  is  to  be  noticed, 
therefore,  that  in  our  modern  education  the  sense  of  the  term 
has  been  much  narrowed,  since  we  mean  by  it  book  learning  or 
schooling.  Teachers  are  not  wanting  who  teach  manners  and 
mores  out  of  zeal  and  ambition,  and  families  and  churches  can 
be  found  which  duly  supplement  the  work  of  schools,  but  the 
institutions  follow  no  set  plan  of  cooperation,  and  one  or  another 
of  them  fails  in  its  part.  The  modern  superstition  of  education 
contains  a  great  error.    It  is  forgotten  that  there  is  always  a  loss 


630  FOLKWAYS 

and  offset  from  education  in  its  narrow  sense.  Petrie,  speaking 
from  observation  and  experience  of  Egyptian  peasants,  says  : 
"  The  harm  is  that  you  manufacture  idiots.  Some  of  the  peas- 
antry are  taught  to  read  and  write,  and  the  result  of  this  burden, 
which  their  fathers  bore  not,  is  that  they  become  fools.  I  cannot 
say  this  too  plainly  :  An  Egyptian  who  has  had  reading  and 
writing  thrust  on  him  is,  in  every  case  that  I  have  met  with, 
half-witted,  silly,  or  incapable  of  taking  care  of  himself.  His 
intellect  and  his  health  have  been  undermined  by  the  forcing  of 
education."  ^  Petrie's  doctrine  is  that  each  generation  of  men 
of  low  civilization  can  be  advanced  beyond  the  preceding  one 
only  by  a  very  small  percentage.  He  does  not  lay  stress  on  the 
stimulation  of  vanity  and  false  pride.  If  he  is  right,  his  doctrine 
explains  the  complaints  of  "  missionary-made  men  "  which  we 
hear  from  Miss  Kingsley  and  others,  and  such  social  results  as 
are  described  by  Becke.^  Amongst  ourselves  also  the  increase 
of  insanity,  nervous  diseases,  crime,  and  suicide  must  be  as- 
cribed in  part  to  the  constant  and  more  intense  brain  strain, 
especially  in  youth.  Women  also,  as  they  participate  more  in 
the  competition  of  life,  have  to  get  more  education,  and  they 
fall  under  the  diseases  also.  The  cases  of  child  suicide  are  the 
most  startling  product  of  our  ways  of  education.  These  personal 
and  social  diseases  are  a  part  of  the  price  we  pay  for  "  higher 
civilization."  They  are  an  offset  to  education  and  they  go  with 
it.  It  would  be  great  ignorance  of  the  course  of  effort  in  societal 
matters  not  to  know  that  such  diseased  reactions  must  always 
be  expected. 

701.  Schools  make  persons  all  on  one  pattern.  Orthodoxy. 
School  education,  unless  it  is  regulated  by  the  best  knowledge 
and  good  sense,  will  produce  men  and  women  who  are  all  of  one 
pattern,  as  if  turned  in  a  lathe.  When  priests  managed  schools 
it  was  their  intention  to  reach  just  this  result.  They  carried  in 
their  heads  ideals  of  the  Christian  man  and  woman,  and  they 
wanted  to  educate  all  to  this  model.  Public  schools  in  a  democ- 
racy may  work  in  the  same  way.  Any  institution  which  runs  for 
years  in  the  same  hands  will  produce  a  type.    The  examination 

1  Sinithson.  Rep.,  1895,  596.  ^  Pacific  Tales. 


EDUCATION,  HISTORY  63 1 

papers  show  the  pet  ideas  of  the  examiners.  It  must  not  be 
forgotten  that  the  scholars  set  about  the  making  of  folkways 
for  themselves,  just  as  members  of  a  grown  society  do.  In  time 
they  adopt  codes,  standards,  preferred  types,  and  fashions.  They 
select  their  own  leaders,  whom  they  follow  with  enthusiasm. 
They  have  their  pet  heroes  and  fashion  themselves  upon  the 
same.  Their  traditions  become  stereotyped  and  authoritative. 
The  type  of  product  becomes  fixed.  It  makes  some  kind  of 
compromise  with  the  set  purposes  of  the  teachers  and  adminis- 
trators, and  the  persons  who  issue  from  the  schools  become 
recognizable  by  the  characteristics  of  the  type.  It  is  said  that 
the  graduates  of  Jesuit  colleges  on  the  continent  of  Europe  are 
thus  recognizable.  In  England  the  graduates  of  Oxford  and 
Cambridge  are  easily  to  be  distinguished  from  other  English- 
men. In  the  continental  schools  and  barracks,  in  newspapers, 
books,  etc.,  what  is  developed  by  education  is  dynastic  sentiment, 
national  sentiment,  soldierly  sentiment ;  still  again,  under  the  same 
and  other  opportunities,  religious  and  ecclesiastical  sentiments, 
and  by  other  influences,  also  class  and  rank  sentiments.^  In 
a  democracy  there  is  always  a  tendency  towards  big  results  on 
a  pattern.  An  orthodoxy  is  produced  in  regard  to  all  the  great 
doctrines  of  life.  It  consists  of  the  most  worn  and  commonplace 
opinions  which  are  current  in  the  masses.  It  may  be  found  in 
newspapers  and  popular  literature.  It  is  intensely  provincial 
and  philistine.  It  does  not  extend  to  those  things  on  which  the 
masses  have  not  pronounced,  and  by  its  freedom  and  elasticity  in 
regard  to  these  it  often  produces  erroneous  judgments  as  to  its 
general  character.  The  popular  opinions  always  contain  broad 
fallacies,  half-truths,  and  glib  generalizations  of  fifty  years  before. 
If  a  teacher  is  to  be  displaced  by  a  board  of  trustees  because  he 
is  a  free-trader,  or  a  gold  man,  or  a  silver  man,  or  disapproves 
of  a  war  in  which  the  ruling  clique  has  involved  the  country,  or 
because  he  thinks  that  Hamilton  was  a  great  statesman  and 
Jefferson  an  insignificant  one,  or  because  he  says  that  he  has 
found  some  proof  that  alcohol  is  not  always  bad  for  the  system, 
we  might  as  well  go  back  to  the  dominion  in  education  of  the 

-  Schallmeyer,  Vererbung  iDid  Auslese,  265. 


632  FOLKWAYS 

theologians.  They  were  strenuous  about  theology,  but  they  let 
other  things  alone.  The  boards  of  trustees  are  almost  always 
made  up  of  "  practical  men,"  and  if  their  faiths,  ideas,  and 
prejudices  are  to  make  the  norm  of  education,  the  schools  will 
turn  out  boys  and  girls  compressed  to  that  pattern.  There  is 
no  wickedness  in  any  disinterested  and  sincere  opinion.  That  is 
what  we  all  pretend  to  admit,  but  there  are  very  few  of  us  who 
really  act  by  it.  We  seem  likely  to  have  orthodox  history  (espe- 
cially of  our  own  country),  political  science,  political  econ- 
omy, and  sociology  before  long.^  It  will  be  defined  by  school 
boards  who  are  party  politicians.  As  fast  as  physics,  chemistry, 
geology,  biology,  bookkeeping,  and  the  rest  come  into  conflict 
with  interests,  and  put  forth  results  which  have  a  pecuniary 
effect  (which  is  sure  to  happen  in  the  not  remote  future),  then 
the  popular  orthodoxy  will  be  extended  to  them,  and  it  will  be 
enforced  as  "  democratic."  The  reason  is  because  there  will  be 
a  desire  that  children  shall  be  taught  just  that  one  thing  which 
is  "right "  in  the  view  and  interest  of  those  in  control,  and  noth- 
ing else.  That  is  exactly  the  view  which  the  ecclesiastics 
formerly  took  when  they  had  control.  Mathematics  is  the  only 
discipline  which  could  be  taught  under  that  rule.  As  to  other 
subjects  we  do  not  know  the  "  right  answers,"  speaking  univer- 
sally and  for  all  time.  We  only  know  how  things  look  now  on 
our  best  study,  and  that  is  all  we  can  teach.  In  fact,  this  is  the 
reason  why  the  orthodox  answers  of  the  school  boards  and  trus- 
tees are  mischievous.  They  teach  that  there  are  absolute  and 
universal  facts  of  knowledge,  whereas  we  ought  to  teach  that  all 
our  knowledge  is  subject  to  unlimited  verification  and  revision. 
The  men  turned  out  under  the  former  system,  and  the  latter, 
will  be  very  different  agents  in  the  face  of  all  questions  of  phi- 
losophy, citizenship,  finance,  and  industry. 

702.  Criticism.  Criticism  is  the  examination  and  test  of  prop- 
ositions of  any  kind  which  are  offered  for  acceptance,  in  order 
to  find  out  whether  they  correspond  to  reality  or  not.     Tne 

^  According  to  a  German  newspaper  the  parliament  of  Bavaria,  in  1S97,  ex- 
pressed a  wish  that  the  government  of  that  state  would  not  appoint  any  more 
Darwinians  to  chairs  in  the  universities  of  the  kingdom. 


EDUCATION,  HISTORY  633 

critical  faculty  is  a  product  of  education  and  training.  It  is  a 
mental  habit  and  power.  It  is  a  prime  condition  of  human  wel- 
fare that  men  and  women  should  be  trained  in  it.  It  is  our 
only  guarantee  against  delusion,  deception,  superstition,  and 
misapprehension  of  ourselves  and  our  earthly  circumstances.  It 
is  a  faculty  which  will  protect  us  against  all  harmful  suggestion. 
"  We  are  all  critical  against  the  results  reached  by  others  and 
uncritical  against  our  own  results."  ^  To  act  by  suggestion  or 
autosuggestion  is  to  act  by  impulse.  Education  teaches  us  to 
act  by  judgment.  Our  education  is  good  just  so  far  as  it  pro- 
duces well-developed  critical  faculty.  The  thirteenth  century 
had  no  critical  faculty.  It  wandered  in  the  dark,  multiplying 
errors,  and  starting  movements  which  produced  loss  and  misery 
for  centuries,  because  it  dealt  with  fantasies,  and  did  not  know 
the  truth  about  men  or  their  position  in  the  world.  The  nine- 
teenth century  was  characterized  by  the  acquisition  and  use  of 
the  critical  faculty.  A  religious  catechism  never  can  train  chil- 
dren to  criticism.  "  Patriotic "  history  and  dithyrambic  liter- 
ature never  can  do  it.  A  teacher  of  any  subject  who  insists 
on  accuracy  and  a  rational  control  of  all  processes  and  methods, 
and  who  holds  everything  open  to  unlimited  verification  and 
revision  is  cultivating  that  method  as  a  habit  in  the  pupils.  In 
current  language  this  method  is  called  "  science,"  or  "  scientific." 
The  critical  habit  of  thought,  if  usual  in  a  society,  will  pervade 
all  its  mores,  because  it  is  a  way  of  taking  up  the  problems  of 
life.  Men  educated  in  it  cannot  be  stampeded  by  stump  orators 
and  are  never  deceived  by  dithyrambic  oratory.  They  are  slow 
to  believe.  They  can  hold  things  as  possible  or  probable  in  all 
degrees,  without  certainty  and  without  pain.  They  can  wait  for 
evidence  and  weigh  evidence,  uninfluenced  by  the  emphasis  or 
confidence  with  which  assertions  are  made  on  one  side  or  the 
other.  They  can  resist  appeals  to  their  dearest  prejudices  and  all 
kinds  of  cajolery.  Education  in  the  critical  faculty  is  the  only 
education  of  which  it  can  be  truly  said  that  it  makes  good  citi- 
zens. The  operation  of  the  governmental  system  and  existing 
laws  is  always   "educating"  the  citizens,  and  very  often  it  is 

1  Friedmann,  Wahnideeii  im   Volkerlebeti,  219. 


634  FOLKWAYS 

making  bad  ones.  The  existing  system  may  teach  the  citizens  to 
war  with  the  government,  or  to  use  it  in  order  to  get  advantages 
over  each  other.  The  laws  may  organize  a  big  "steal  "  of  the 
few  from  the  many,  and  they  may  educate  the  people  to  believe 
that  the  way  to  get  rich  is  to  "  get  into  the  steal."  "  Graft"  is 
a  reaction  of  the  mores  on  the  burdens  and  opportunities  offered 
by  the  laws,  and  graft  is  a  great  education.  It  educates  faster 
and  deeper  than  all  the  schools.  The  people  who  believe  that 
there  is  a  big  steal,  and  that  they  must  either  get  into  it  or  be 
plundered  by  it,  have  nothing  to  learn  from  political  economy  or 
political  science. 

703.  Reactions  of  the  mores  and  education  on  each  other. 
Every  one  admits  that  education  properly  means  much  more 
than  schooling  or  book  learning.  It  means  a  development  and 
training  of  all  useful  powers  which  the  pupil  possesses,  and 
repression  of  all  bad  prepossessions  which  he  has  inherited. 
The  terms  "useful"  and  "bad"  in  this  proposition  never  can 
mean  anything  but  the  currently  approved  and  disapproved 
traits  and  powers  ;  that  is,  what  is  encouraged  or  discouraged 
by  the  mores.  The  good  citizen,  good  husband  and  father,  good 
business  man,  etc.,  are  only  types  which  are  in  fashion  at  the 
time.  In  New  England  they  are  not  the  same  now  as  fifty 
years  ago.  The  mores  and  the  education  react  on  each  other. 
They  are  not  as  likely  to  settle  into  grooves  in  a  new  country 
as  in  old  countries.  In.  Spain  and  Portugal,  and  to  a  less  extent 
in  Italy  and  Russia,  the  mores  have  taken  rigid  form,  and  they 
control  schools  and  universities  so  that  the  types  of  educated 
men  vary  little  from  generation  to  generation.  When  the  schools 
are  not  too  rigidly  stereotyped  they  become  seats  of  new  thought, 
of  criticism  of  what  is  traditional,  and  of  new  ideas  which 
remold  the  mores.  The  young  men  are  only  too  ready  to  find 
fault  with  what  they  find  existing  and  traditional,  and  the 
students  of  all  countries  have  been  eager  revolutionists.  Of 
course  they  make  mistakes  and  do  harm,  but  the  alternative  is 
the  reign  of  old  abuse  and  consecrated  error.  The  folkways 
need  constant  rejuvenation  and  refreshment  if  they  are  to  be 
well  fitted  to  present  cases,  and  it  is  far  better  that  they  be 


EDUCATION,  HISTORY  635 

revolutionized  than  that  they  be  subjected  to  traditional  change- 
lessness.  In  the  organization  of  modern  society  the  schools  are 
the  institutional  apparatus  by  which  the  inheritance  of  experience 
and  knowledge,  —  the  whole  mental  outfit  of  the  race,  —  is  trans- 
mitted to  the  young.  Through  these  institutions,  therefore,  the 
mores  and  morality  which  men  have  accepted  and  approved  are 
handed  down.  The  transmission  ought  to  be  faithful,  but  not 
without  criticism.  The  reaction  of  free  judgment  and  taste  will 
keep  the  mores  fresh  and  active,  and  the  schools  are  undoubtedly 
the  place  where  they  should  be  renewed  through  an  intelligent 
study  of  their  operation  in  the  past. 

704.  The  limitations  on  the  historian.  If  the  schools  are  to 
prosecute  this  study,  history  is  the  chief  field  for  it.  No  historian 
ever  gets  out  of  the  mores  of  his  own  society  of  origin.  He  may 
adopt  a  party  in  church,  politics,  or  social  philosophy.  If  he  does, 
his  standpoint  will  be  set  for  him,  and  it  is  sure  to  be  sectarian. 
Even  if  he  rises  above  the  limitations  of  party,  he  does  not  get 
outside  of  the  patriotic  and  ethical  horizon  in  which  he  has  been 
educated,  especially  when  he  deals  with  the  history  of  other 
countries  and  other  times  than  his  own.  Each  historian  regards 
his  own  nation  as  the  torchbearer  of  civilization ;  its  mores 
give  him  his  ethical  standards  by  which  he  estimates  whatever 
he  learns  of  other  peoples.  All  our  histories  of  antiquity  or 
the  classical  nations  show  that  they  are  written  by  modern 
scholars.  In  modern  Russian  literature  may  be  found  passages 
about  the  "  civilizing  mission  "  of  Russia  which  might  be  trans- 
lated, mutatis  viiitandis,  from  passages  in  English,  French,  or 
German  literature  about  the  civilizing  mission  of  England, 
France,  or  Germany.  Probably  the  same  is  true  of  Turkish, 
Hindoo,  or  Chinese  literature.  The  patriotism  of  the  historian 
rules  his  judgment,  especially  as  to  excuses  and  apologies  for 
things  done  in  the  past,  and  most  of  all  as  to  the  edifying 
omissions,  —  a  very  important  part  of  the  task  of  the  historian. 
A  modern  Protestant  and  a  Roman  Catholic,  or  an  American 
and  a  European,  cannot  reach  the  same  view  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
no  matter  how  unbiased  and  objective  each  may  aim  to  be. 
There  is  a  compulsion  on  the  historian  to  act  in  this  way,  for  if 


636  ,  FOLKWAYS 

he  wrote  otherwise,  his  fellow-countrymen  would  ignore  his 
work.  It  follows  that  a  complete  and  unbiased  history  hardly 
exists.  It  may  be  a  moral  impossibility.  Every  student  during 
his  academic  period  ought  to  get  up  one  bit  of  history  thoroughly 
from  the  ultimate  sources,  in  order  to  convince  himself  what 
history  is  not.  Any  one  who  ever  lived  through  a  crisis  in  the 
history  of  a  university  must  have  learned  how  impossible  it  is  to 
establish  in  memory  and  record  a  correct  literary  narrative  of 
what  took  place,  the  forces  at  work,  the  participation  of  indi- 
viduals, etc.  Monuments,  festivals,  mottoes,  oratory,  and  poetry 
may  enter  largely  into  the  mores.  They  never  help  history ; 
they  obscure  it.  They  protect  errors  and  sanctify  prejudices. 
The  same  is  true  of  literary  commonplaces  which  gain  currency. 
It  is  commonly  believed  in  the  United  States  that  at  some  time 
in  the  past  Russia  showed  sympathy  and  extended  aid  to  the 
United  States  when  sympathy  and  aid  were  sorely  needed. 
This  is  entirely  untrue.  No  specification  of  the  time  and  cir- 
cumstances can  be  made  which  will  stand  examination.  Never- 
theless the  popular  belief  cannot  be  corrected. 

705.  Overvaluation  of  history.  Never  was  history  studied  as 
it  is  now.  Amongst  scholars  there  is  a  disposition  to  overvalue 
it,  and  to  develop  out  of  it  something  which  must  be  called 
"  historyism."  Jurisprudence  has  passed  through  the  dominion 
of  this  tendency.  Political  economy  is  now  lost  in  it.  When  has 
anybody  ever  been  governed  by  "the  teachings  of  history" 
when  he  was  philosophizing  or  legislating  .?  The  teachings  of 
history  can  always  be  set  aside,  if  they  are  a  hindrance,  by 
alleging  that  the  times  have  changed  and  that  new  conditions 
exist.  This  allegation  may  be  true,  and  the  possibility  that  it 
is  true  must  always  be  taken  into  account.  No  two  cases  in 
history  ever  are  alike. 

706.  Success  and  the  favor  of  God.  Sects  and  parties  have 
claimed  God's  favor  and  power.  They  have  boldly  declared 
that  they  would  accept  success  or  failure  as  proof  of  his  approval 
on  their  doctrines  and  programme.  No  one  of  them  ever  stood 
by  the  test.  There  were  some  in  the  crusades  who  argued  that 
the  Moslems  must  be  riffht  on  account  of  their  successes.    The 


EDUCATION,  HISTORY  637 

Templars  were  charged  with  making  this  deduction  when  grounds 
for  burning  them  were  sought.  It  was  a  heresy.  If  the  Christians 
had  any  success,  the  deduction  might  be  made  against  the  Mos- 
lems, but  not  contrariwise.  All  nations  have  treated  in  this  way 
the  deductions  about  the  approval  of  the  superior  powers.  If 
there  are  any  superior  powers  which  meddle  with  history,  it  is 
certain  that  men  have  never  yet  found  out  how  their  ways  and 
human  ways  react  on  each  other,  nor  any  means  of  interpreting 
their  ways. 

707.  Philosophic  faiths  and  the  study  of  history.  In  a  simi- 
lar manner  other  philosophic  faiths  interfere  with  the  study  of 
history.  The  mores  impose  the  faiths  on  the  historian,  and  the 
faiths  spoil  his  work.  "It  is  not  difficult  to  understand  how  a 
people  imbued  with  the  idea  that  the  world  is  an  illusion  should 
have  neglected  all  historical  investigations.  No  such  thing  as 
genuine  history  or  biography  exists  in  Sanskrit  literature.  His- 
torical researches  are,  to  a  Hindoo,  simple  foolishness."  ^ 

708.  Democracy  and  history.  Democracy  is  almost  equally 
indifferent  to  history,  and  the  dogmas  of  democracy  make  history 
unimportant.  If  "the  people"  always  know  what  is  right  and 
wise,  then  we  have  the  supreme  oracle  always  with  us  and 
always  up  to  date.  In  the  report  of  a  civil-service  examination 
which  got  into  the  newspapers,  it  was  said  that  one  candidate 
for  a  position  on  the  police  answered  the  question,  Who  was 
Abraham  Lincoln  ?  by  saying  that  he  was  a  distinguished  general 
on  the  Southern  side  in  the  Civil  War.  Nevertheless,  if  appointed, 
he  might  have  made  an  excellent  policeman.  His  ludicrous 
ignorance  of  American  biography  proved  nothing  to  the  con- 
trary. The  question  brought  into  doubt  the  intelligence  of  the 
examiners.  If  all  policemen  were  examined  on  American  history, 
it  is  fair  to  believe  that  incredible  ignorance  and  errors  would  be 
displayed.  No  amount  of  study  of  American  history  would 
make  them  better  policemen.  The  same  may  be  said  of  the 
masses  as  a  whole.  A  knowledge  of  history  is  a  fine  accomplish- 
ment, but  ignorance  of  it  does  not  hinder  the  success  of  men  in 
their  own  lines  of  industry.    They  do  not,  therefore,  care  about 

1  Monier-Williams,  Brahmanism  and  Hinduism,  39. 


638  FOLKWAYS 

history  or  appreciate  it.  Its  rank  in  school  studies  is  an  inherit- 
ance of  European  tradition.  Popular  opinion  does  not  recognize 
its  position  as  fit  and  just.  Its  effect  on  the  minds  and  mores 
of  the  pupils  is  almost  nil,  unless  the  history  deals  directly 
with  the  mores. 

709.  The  study  of  history  and  the  study  of  the  mores.  There 
is,  therefore,  great  need  for  a  clearer  understanding  of  the  rela- 
tion between  the  study  of  history  and  the  study  of  the  mores. 
Abraham  Lincoln's  career  illustrated  in  many  ways  the  mores 
of  his  time,  and  the  knowledge  of  some  of  the  facts  about  the 
mores  would  have  been  by  no  means  idle  or  irrelevant  for  a 
policeman.  In  like  manner  it  may  well  be  that  other  branches 
of  study  pursued  in  our  schools  contain  valuable  instruction  or 
discipline,  but  it  does  not  lie  on  the  surface,  and  it  is  an  art  to 
get  it  out  and  bring  it  to  the  attention  of  the  scholar. 

710.  The  most  essential  element  in  education.  A  man's  edu- 
cation never  stops  as  long  as  he  lives.  All  the  experience  of 
life  is  educating  him.  In  school  days  he  is  undergoing  education 
by  the  contact  of  life,  and  by  what  he  does  or  suffers.  This 
education  is  transferring  to  him  the  mores.  He  learns  what 
conduct  is  approved  or  disapproved ;  what  kind  of  man  is 
admired  most ;  how  he  ought  to  behave  in  all  kinds  of  cases  ; 
and  what  he  ought  to  believe  or  reject.  This  education  goes  on 
by  minute  steps,  often  repeated.  The  influences  make  the  m.an. 
All  this  constitutes  evidently  the  most  essential  and  important 
education.  If  we  understand  what  the  mores  are,  and  that  the 
contact  with  one's  fellows  is  all  the  time  transmitting  them,  we 
can  better  understand,  and  perhaps  regulate  to  some  extent, 
this  education. 

711.  The  history  of  the  mores  is  needed.  The  modern  histori- 
ans turn  with  some  disdain  away  from  the  wars,  intrigues,  and 
royal  marriages  which  the  old-fashioned  historians  considered 
their  chief  interest,  and  many  of  them  have  undertaken  to  write 
the  history  of  the  "people."  Evidently  they  have  perceived 
that  what  is  wanted  is  a  history  of  the  mores.  If  they  can  get 
that  they  can  extract  from  the  history  what  is  most  universal 
and  permanent  in  its  interest. 


CHAPTER   XX 

LIFE  POLICY.    VIRTUE  vs.  SUCCESS 

Life  policy.  —  Oaths;  truthfulness  vs.  success.  —  The  clever  Hero. — 
Odysseus,  Rother,  Njal.  —  Clever  heroes  in  German  epics.  —  Lack  of  historic 
sense  amongst  Christians.  —  Success  policy  in  the  Italian  Renaissance. — 
Divergence  between  convictions  and  conduct.  —  Classical  learning  a  fad.  — 
The  humanists.  —  Individualism.  —  Perverted  use  of  words. —  Extravagance 
of  passions  and  acts.  —  The  sex  relation  and  the  position  of  women.  —  The 
cult  of  success.  —  Literature  on  the  mores.  —  Moral  anarchy. 

712.  Life  policy.  Some  primitive  or  savage  groups  are  very 
truthful,  both  in  narrative  and  in  regard  to  their  promises  or 
pledged  word.  Other  groups  are  marked  by  complete  neglect 
of  truthfulness.  Falsehood  and  deceit  are  regarded  as  devices 
by  which  to  attain  success  in  regard  to  interests.  The  North 
American  Indians  generally  regarded  deceit  by  which  an  enemy 
was  outwitted  as  praiseworthy ;  in  fact  it  was  a  part  of  the  art 
of  war.  It  is  still  so  regarded  in  modern  civilized  warfare.  It 
is,  however,  limited  by  rules  of  morality.  There  was  question 
whether  the  deception  by  which  Aguinaldo  was  captured  was 
within  the  limit.  In  sport  also,  which  is  a  sort  of  mimic  warfare, 
deception  and  "  jockeying  "  are  more  or  less  recognized  as  legiti- 
mate. Samoan  children  are  taught  that  it  is  "  unsamoan  "  to 
tell  the  truth.  It  is  stupid,  because  it  sacrifices  one's  interest.^ 
It  does  not  appear  that  the  experience  of  life  teaches  truthful- 
ness on  any  of  the  lower  stages.  The  truthful  peoples  are  gen- 
erally the  isolated,  unwarlike,  and  simple.  Warfare  and  strength 
produce  cunning  and  craft.  It  is  only  at  the  highest  stage  of 
civilization  that  deceit  is  regarded  with  contempt,  and  is  thought 
not  to  pay.  That  honesty  is  the  best  policy  is  current  doctrine, 
but  not  established  practice  now.  It  is  a  part  of  a  virtue  policy, 
which  is  inculcated  as  right  and  necessary,  but  whether  it  is  a 
success  policy  is  not  a  closed  question. 

1  Globus,  LXXXIII,  374. 

639 


640  FOLKWAYS 

713.  Oaths.  Truthfulness  vs.  success.  It  is  evident  that 
truthfulness  or  untruthfuhicss,  when  either  is  a  group  character- 
istic, is  due  to  a  conviction  that  societal  welfare  is  served  by 
one  or  the  other  Truthfulness  is,  therefore,  primary  in  the 
mores.  It  does  not  proceed  from  the  religion,  but  the  religion 
furnishes  a  sanction  for  the  view  which  prevails  in  the  mores. 
Oaths  and  imprecations  are  primitive  means  of  invoking  the 
religious  sanction  in  promises  and  contracts.  They  always 
implied  that  the  superior  powers  would  act  in  the  affairs  of  men 
in  a  proposed  way,  if  the  oath  maker  should  break  his  word. 
This  implication  failed  so  regularly  that  faith  in  oaths  never 
could  be  maintained.  Since  they  have  fallen  into  partial  disuse 
the  expediency  of  truthfulness  has  been  perceived,  and  the 
value  of  a  reputation  for  it  has  been  recognized.  Thus  it  has 
become  a  question  whether  a  true  success  policy  is  to  be  based 
on  truth  or  falsehood.  The  mores  of  groups  contain  their 
answer,  which  they  inculcate  on  the  young. 

714.  The  clever  hero.  Krishna.  The  wily  and  clever  hero,  who 
knows  what  to  do  to  get  out  of  a  difficulty,  or  to  accomplish  a 
purpose,  is  a  very  popular  character  in  the  great  epics.  In  the 
Mdiabharata  Krishna  is  such  a  hero,  who  invents  stratagems 
and  policies  for  the  Panduings  in  their  strife  with  the  Kuruings. 
The  king  of  the  latter,  when  dying,  declares  that  the  Panduings 
have  always  been  dishonorable  and  tricky,  while  he  and  his  party 
have  always  adhered  to  honorable  methods.  However,  he  is  dying 
and  his  party  is  almost  annihilated.  The  victors  are  somewhat 
affected  by  his  taunts,  which  refer  to  Krishna's  inventions  and 
suggestions,  but  Krishna  shows  them  the  booty  and  says  :  "  But 
for  my  stratagems  you  would  have  had  none  of  these  fine 
things.  What  do  you  care  that  you  got  them  by  tricks  1  Do 
you  not  want  them  }  "  They  applaud  and  praise  him.  Then  the 
surviving  Kuruings,  weary  of  virtue  and  defeat,  surprise  and 
murder  the  Panduings  in  the  night,  an  act  which  was  contrary 
to  the  code  of  honorable  war.  The  antagonism  of  a  virtue  policy 
and  a  success  policy  could  not  be  more  strongly  presented.^    In 

1  Holtzmann,  Iiidische  Sagen,  I,  170. 


LIFE  POLICY.     VIRTUE  VS.  SUCCESS  641 

the  same  poem  Samarishta  says  that  five  Hes  are  allowed  when 
one's  life  or  property  is  in  danger.  The  wicked  lie  is  one  uttered 
before  witnesses  in  reply  to  a  serious  question,  and  the  only 
real  lie  is  one  uttered  of  set  purpose  for  selfish  gain.  Yayati, 
however,  says,  "  I  may  not  be  false,  even  though  I  should  be  in 
direst  peril."  ^  The  heroes  fear  to  falsify,  and  the  Vedas  are 
quoted  that  a  lie  is  the  greatest  sin.^  The  clever  hero  has 
remained  the  popular  hero.  At  the  present  day  we  are  told 
that  Ganesa,  or  Gana-pati,  son  of  Siva,  really  represents  "  a  com- 
plex personification  of  sagacity,  shrewdness,  patience,  and  self- 
reliance, —  of  all  those  qualities,  in  short,  which  overcome 
hindrances  and  difficulties,  whether  in  performing  religious  acts, 
writing  books,  building  houses,  making  journeys,  or  undertaking 
anything.  He  is  before  all  things  the  typical  embodiment  of 
success  in  life,  with  its  usual  accompaniments  of  good  living, 
plenteousness,  prosperity,  and  peace."  ^  The  Persians,  from  the 
most  ancient  times,  have  been  noted  liars.  They  used  truth 
and  falsehood  as  instruments  of  success.  The  relation  of  king 
and  subject  and  of  husband  and  wife  amongst  them  were  false. 
They  were  invented  and  maintained  for  a  purpose.^ 

715.  Odysseus.  The  Greeks  admired  cunning  and  successful 
stratagem.  Odysseus  was  wily.  He  was  a  clever  hero.  His 
maternal  grandfather  Autolykos  was,  by  endowment  of  Hermes 
(a  god  of  lying  and  stealing),  a  liar  and  thief  beyond  all  men.^ 

716.  Clever  hero  in  German  epics.  In  the  German  poems 
of  the  twelfth  century  Rother  is  a  king  who  accomplishes  his 
ends  by  craft.  In  the  Nibehingen,  Hagen  is  the  efficient  man, 
who,  in  any  crisis,  knows  what  to  do  and  can  accomplish  it 
by  craft  and  strength  combined.  The  heroes  are  noteworthy 
for  tricks,  stratagems,  ruses,  and  perfidy.^  In  all  the  epic  poems 
the  princes  have  by  their  side  mentors  who  are  crafty,  fertile 
in  resource,  and  clever   in   action."    In   the    Icelandic    saga  of 

1  Holtzmann,  Indische  Sagen,  I,  105.  *  Hartmann.Z/j/?. </.  V.f.  ''^olkskimde, 

2 /^/V/.,  23,  37,  119.  XI,  247. 

^  M.on\er-\\^i\\\z.ras, Bra/tmanis?n  and  ^  Od.,  XIX,  394. 

Hinduism,  216.  ^  Lichtenberger,A'zi5^/z/«^if«,  334,354. 

''  Uhland,  Dichtuiig  ttnd  Sage,  232. 


642  FOLKWAYS 

Burnt  Njal,  Njal  is  the  knowing  man,  peaceful  and  friendly. 
His  crafty  devices  are  chiefly  due  to  his  knowledge  of  the 
law,  which  was  full  of  chicane  and  known  to  few.  These  clever 
heroes,  developed  out  of  the  mores  of  one  period  and  fixed  in 
the  epics,  became  standards  and  guides  for  the  mores  of  later 
times,  in  which  they  were  admired  as  types  of  what  every  one 
would  like  to  be. 

717.  Lack  of  historic  sense  amongst  Christians.  In  the  first 
centuries  of  the  Christian  era  no  school  of  religion  or  philosophy 
thought  that  it  was  an  inadmissible  proceeding  to  concoct  edify- 
ing writings  and  attribute  them  to  some  great  authority  of 
earlier  centuries,  or  to  invent  historical  documents  to  advance  a 
cause  or  support  the  claims  of  a  sect.  This  view  came  down  to 
the  Middle  Ages.  The  lack  of  historic  feeling  is  well  shown  by 
the  crusaders  who,  after  Antioch  was  taken,  in  the  next  few  days 
and  on  the  spot,  began  to  w^ite  narratives  of  the  deeds  of 
their  respective  commanders  which  were  not  true,  but  were 
exaggerated,  romantic,  and  imaginary.  They  were  not  derived 
from  observation  of  facts,  but  were  fashioned  upon  the  romances 
of  chivalry.^  This  was  not  myth  making.  It  was  conscious 
reveling  in  poetic  creation  according  to  the  prevailing  literary 
type.  It  was  not  falsehood,  but  it  showed  an  entire  absence  of 
the  sense  of  historic  truth.  In  the  case  of  the  canon  law,  "  the 
decretals  were  intended  to  furnish  a  documentary  title,  running 
back  to  apostolic  times,  for  the  divine  institution  of  the  primacy 
of  the  pope,  and  for  the  teaching  office  of  bishops ;  a  title  which 
in  truth  did  not  exist."  ^  There  was  probably  lacking  in  the 
minds  of  the  men  who  invented  the  decretals  all  consciousness 
of  antagonism  between  fact  and  their  literary  work.  If  they 
could  have  been  confronted  with  the  ethical  question,  they  would 
probably  have  said  that  they  knew  that  the  doctrines  in  question 
were  true,  and  that  if  the  fathers  had  had  occasion  to  speak  of 
them  they  would  have  said  such  things  as  were  put  in  their 
mouths.  Mediaeval  history  writing  was  not  subject  to  canons  of 
truth  or  taste.    It  included  what  was  edifying,  to  the  glory  of 

^  Kugler,  Kreuzzilge,  52. 

2  Eicken,  Mittelalterl.  Weltansckauu7ig,  656. 


LIFE  POLICY.     VIRTUE  VS.  SUCCESS  643 

God  and  the  church.  Legends  and  history  were  of  equal  value, 
since  both  were  used  for  edification.  The  truth  of  either  was 
unimportant. 

718.  Success  policy  in  the  Italian  Renaissance.  The  historical 
period  in  which  the  success  policy  was  pursued  most  openly 
and  unreservedly  was  the  Italian  Renaissance.  The  effect  on 
all  virtue,  especially  on  truthfulness  of  speech  and  character, 
was  destructive,  and  all  the  mores  of  the  period  were  marked 
by  the  choice  of  the  code  of  conduct  which  disregards  truth. 
The  most  deep-lying  and  far-reaching  cause  of  societal  change 
was  the  accumulation  of  capital  and  the  development  of  a  capi- 
talistic class.  New  developments  in  the  arts  awakened  hope 
and  enterprise,  and  produced  a  "  boundless  passion  for  discovery  " 
in  every  direction.^  The  mediaeval  church  system  did  not  con- 
tain as  much  obscurantism  in  Italy  as  in  some  other  countries, 
and  the  interests  of  the  Italians  were  intertwined  with  the  hier- 
archical interests  of  Rome  in  many  ways.  It  flattered  Italian 
pride  and  served  Italian  interests  that  Rome  should  be  the 
center  of  the  Christian  world.  Every  person  had  ties  with  the 
church  establishment  either  directly  or  by  relatives.  In  spite  of 
philosophic  freedom  of  thought  or  moral  contempt  for  the 
clergy,  "it  was  a  point  of  good  society  and  refined  taste  to 
support  the  church."  "  It  was  easy  for  Germans  and  English- 
men to  reason  calmly  about  dethroning  the  papal  hierarchy. 
Italians,  however  they  might  loathe  the  temporal  power,  could 
not  willingly  forego  the  spiritual  primacy  of  the  civilized  world." 
Thus  the  Renaissance  pursued  its  aims,  which  were  distinctly 
worldly,  with  a  superficial  good-fellowship  towards  the  church 
institution.^  "  The  attitude  of  the  upper  and  middle  classes  of 
Italy  towards  the  church,  at  the  height  of  the  Renaissance,  is  a 
combination  of  deep  and  contemptuous  dislike  with  accommoda- 
tion towards  the  hierarchy  as  a  body  deeply  interwoven  with 
actual  life,  and  with  a  feeling  of  dependence  on  sacraments  and 
ritual.  All  this  was  crossed,  too,  by  the  influence  of  great  and 
holy  preachers."  ^ 

^  Symonds,  Renaissance,  III,  320.  ^  Ibid.,  I,  390-405. 

^  Burckhardt,  Renaissance,  458. 


644  FOLKWAYS 

719.  Divergence  between  convictions  and  conduct.  This  means 
that  faith  in  Christian  doctrine  was  gone,  but  that  the  ecclesias- 
tical system  was  a  tolerated  humbug  which  served  many  interests. 
Burckhardt  quotes  ^  a  passage  from  Guicciardini  in  which  the 
latter  says  that  he  had  held  positions  under  many  popes,  which 
compelled  him  to  wish  for  their  greatness,  on  account  of  his 
own  advantage.  Otherwise  he  would  have  loved  Martin  Luther, 
not  in  order  to  escape  the  restraints  of  the  current  church  doc- 
trine, but  in  order  to  see  the  corrupt  crew  brought  to  order,  so 
that  they  must  have  learned  to  live  either  without  power  or 
without  vices.  Thus  the  conduct  of  men  was  separated  from 
their  most  serious  convictions  by  considerations  of  interest  and 
expediency,  and  a  moral  inconsistency  was  developed  in  charac- 
ter. Churches  were  built  and  foundations  were  multiplied,  so 
that  the  masses  seemed  more  zealous  than  the  popes,  but  at  the 
beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century  there  were  bitter  complaints 
of  the  decline  of  worship  and  the  neglect  of  the  churches. ^  We 
have  all  the  phenomena  of  a  grand  breaking  up  of  old  mores 
and  the  beginning  of  new  ones.  "  It  required  the  unbelief  of 
the  fifteenth  century  to  give  free  rein  to  the  rising  commercial 
energies,  and  the  craving  for  material  improvement,  that  paved 
the  way  for  the  overthrow  of  ascetic  sacerdotalism."  "^  The  new 
class  of  burghers  with  capital  produced  a  new  idea  of  liberty  to  be 
set  against  the  feudal  idea  of  liberty  of  nobles  and  ecclesiastics, 
and  that  new  class  became  the  founders  of  the  modern  state. 

720.  Classical  learning  a  fad.  Whatever  may  have  been  the 
origin  of  the  zeal  for  classical  study  of  the  late  Middle  Ages,  it 
was  a  remarkable  example  of  a  fad  which  became  the  fashion 
and  very  strongly  influenced  the  mores.  It  was  strengthened 
by  the  revolt  against  the  authority  of  the  church,  and  the 
humanism  which  it  produced  took  the  place  of  the  mental  stock 
which  the  church  had  offered.  "  Humanism  effected  the  eman- 
cipation of  intellect  by  culture.  It  called  attention  to  the  beauty 
and  delightfulness  of  nature,  restored  man  to  a  sense  of  his 
dignity,  and  freed  him  from  theological  authority.     But  in  Italy, 

1  Burckhardt,  Renaissance,  465. 
2  Ibid.,  490.  2  Lea,  Sacei-d.  Celibacy,  364. 


LIFE   POLICY.     VIRTUE  VS.  SUCCESS  645 

at  any  rate,  it  left  his  conscience,  his  religion,  his  sociological 
ideas,  the  deeper  problems  which  concern  his  relation  to  the 
universe,  the  subtler  secrets  of  the  world  in  which  he  lives, 
untouched."  ^  That  means  that  it  was  a  fad  and  was  insincere. 
There  were  men  who  were  great  scholars  within  the  standards 
of  humanism,  but  the  enthusiasm  for  art,  the  zeal  for  Latin 
and  Greek  literature,  the  cooperative  struggle  for  exhumations 
and  specimens,  were  features  of  a  reigning  fad.  The  Renaissance 
was  an  affair  of  the  upper  and  middle  classes.  It  never  could 
spread  to  the  masses.  Classical  learning  came  to  be  valued  as  a 
caste  mark.  Then  it  became  still  more  truly  an  affectation,  and 
was  tainted  with  untruth.  The  masses  were  superior  in  the  sin- 
cerity and  truthfulness  of  their  mores  by  the  contrast.  The 
humanists  were  pagan  and  profane,  but  did  not  follow  their  doc- 
trines into  a  reformation  of  the  church.  They  exaggerated  the 
knowledge  of  the  ancients  and  the  prestige  of  classical  opinion 
until  it  seemed  to  them  that  anything  ancient  must  be  true  and 
authoritative.  They  transferred  to  what  was  ancient  the  irra- 
tional reverence  which  had  been  paid  to  the  doctrines  of  the 
church,  and  paid  to  the  great  classical  authors  the  respect 
which  had  been  paid  to  saints.^  In  the  sixteenth  century  they 
fell  into  discredit  for  their  haughtiness,  their  shameful  dissipa- 
tion, and  for  their  unbelief.^ 

721.  The  humanists.  The  humanists  of  Italy  are  a  class  by 
themselves,  without  historical  relations.  They  had  no  trade  or 
profession  and  could  make  no  recognized  career.  Their  con- 
troversies had  a  large  personal  element.  They  sought  to  exter- 
minate each  other.  Three  excuses  have  been  suggested  for 
them.  The  excessive  petting  and  spoiling  they  met  with  when 
luck  favored  them  ;  the  lack  of  a  guarantee  for  their  physical 
circumstances,  which  depended  on  the  caprice  of  patrons  and  the 
malice  of  rivals  ;  and  the  delusive  influence  of  antiquity,  or  of 
their  notions  about  it.  The  last  destroyed  their  Christian 
morality  without  giving  them  a  substitute.  Their  careers  were 
such   generally   that   only   the   strongest    moral    natures    could 

1  Symonds,  Catholic  Reaction,  II,  137. 
2  Burckhardt,  1S4.  3  /^/^.^  267. 


646  FOLKWAYS 

endure  them  without  harm.  They  plunged  into  changeful  and 
wearing  life,  in  which  exhaustive  study,  the  duties  of  a  house- 
hold tutor,  a  secretary,  or  a  professor,  service  near  a  prince, 
deadly  hostility  and  danger,  enthusiastic  admiration  and  extrava- 
gant scorn,  excess  and  poverty,  followed  each  other  in  confusion. 
The  humanist  needed  to  know  how  to  carry  a  great  erudition 
and  to  endure  a  succession  of  various  positions  and  occupations. 
To  these  were  added  on  occasion  stupefying  and  disorderly 
enjoyment,  and  when  the  basest  demands  were  made  on  him  he 
had  to  be  indifferent  to  all  morals.  Haughtiness  was  a  certain 
consequence  in  character.  The  humanists  needed  it  to  sustain 
themselves,  and  the  alternation  of  flattery  and  hatred  strength- 
ened them  in  it.  They  were  victims  of  subjectiveness.  The 
admiration  of  classical  antiquity  was  so  extravagant  and  mis- 
taken that  all  the  humanists  were  subject  to  excessive  suggestion 
which  destroyed  their  judgment.^ 

722.  "  Individualism."  Recent  writers  on  the  period  have 
emphasized  the  individualism  which  was  produced.  By  this 
is  meant  the  emancipation  of  men  of  talent  from  traditional 
morality,  and  the  notion  that  any  man  might  do  anything  which 
would  win  success  for  his  purposes.  There  was  no  grinding  of 
men  down  to  an  average.^  This  code  was  very  widely  applied 
in  statecraft  and  social  struggles.  A  smattering  knowledge  of 
Plutarch,  Plato,  and  Virgil  furnished  heroic  examples  which 
could  justify  anything.^  Machiavelli's  Prince  was  only  a  text- 
book of  this  school  of  action  for  statesmen.  Given  the  existing 
conditions  in  Italy,  he  assumed  a  man  of  ability  and  asked  how 
he  should  best  act.  "  He  said  that,  to  such  a  man,  undertaking 
such  a  task,  moral  considerations  were  of  subsidiary  importance, 
and  success  was  the  one  criterion  by  which  he  was  to  be  judged. 
The  conception  was  one  forced  on  him  by  the  actual  facts  of 
Italian  history  in  his  own  time.  The  methods  which  he  codified 
were  those  which  he  saw  being  actually  employed."  *    Gobineau  ^ 

1  Burckhardt,  Renaissance,  268-271. 

^  Symonds,  Renaissaiice,  I,  423. 

^  Gauthiez,  Lorenzaccio,  71. 

■*  Creighton,  Hist.  Essays  and  Reviews,  336. 

^  La  Renaissance,  377. 


LIFE  POLICY.     VIRTUE  VS.  SUCCESS  647 

supposes  a  dialogue  between  Michael  Angelo,  Machiavelli,  and 
Granacci  about  Francis  I,  Henry  VIII,  Charles  V,  and  Leo  X, 
in  which  the  speakers  attempt  to  foresee  the  development  of 
events.  They  do  not  rightly  estimate  the  royal  personages,  do 
not  foresee  the  Reformation,  and  do  not  at  all  correctly  judge  the 
future.  It  was  impossible  that  any  one  could  do  the  last  at  a  time 
when  great  historical  movements  and  efforts  of  personal  vanity 
and  desire  were  mixing  in  gigantic  struggles  to  conti'ol  the 
world's  history.  Italy  offered  a  narrower  arena  for  personal 
ambition.  Creighton  ^  describes  Gismondo  Malatesta  of  Rimini. 
He  "  thoroughly  mastered  the  lesson  that  to  man  all  things  are 
possible.  He  trusted  to  himself,  and  to  himself  only.  He  pur- 
sued his  desires,  whatever  they  might  be.  His  appetites,  his 
ambition,  his  love  of  culture,  swayed  his  mind  in  turns,  and  each 
was  allowed  full  scope.  He  was  at  once  a  ferocious  scoundrel, 
a  clear-headed  general,  an  adventurous  politician,  a  careful 
administrator,  a  man  of  letters  and  of  refined  taste.  No  one 
could  be  more  entirely  emancipated,  more  free  from  prejudice, 
than  he.  He  was  a  typical  Italian  of  the  Renaissance,  combin- 
ing the  brutality  of  the  Middle  Ages,  the  political  capacity 
which  Italy  early  developed,  and  the  emancipation  brought  by 
the  new  learning."  This  might  serve  as  a  description  of  any  one 
of  the  great  secular  men  of  the  period.  "  Capacity  might  raise 
the  meanest  monk  to  the  chair  of  St.  Peter,  the  meanest  soldier 
to  the  duchy  of  Milan.  Audacity,  vigor,  unscrupulous  crime, 
were  the  chief  requisites  of  success."  ^  "  In  Italy  itself,  where 
there  existed  no  time-honored  hierarchy  of  classes  and  no  foun- 
tain of  nobility  in  the  person  of  a  sovereign,  one  man  was  a 
match  for  another,  provided  he  knew  how  to  assert  himself.  .  .  . 
In  the  contest  for  power,  and  in  the  maintenance  of  an  illegal 
authority,  the  picked  athletes  came  to  the  front."  ^ 

723.  Perverted  use  of  words.  Many  words  were  given  a  pecul- 
iar and  technical  meaning  in  the  use  of  the  period.  Tristez::a 
often  meant  wickedness.  It  was  a  duty  to  be  cheerful  and  gay."* 
"  Terribleness  was  a  word  which  came  into  vogue  to  describe 

^  FTist.  Essays  and  Reviews,  138.  ^  //'/(/.,  53. 

2  Symonds,  Renaissatice,  I,  52.  *  Gauthiez,  Lorenzaccto,  92. 


648  FOLKWAYS 

Michael  Angelo's  grand  manner.  It  implied  audacity  of  imagina- 
tion, dashing  draughtsmanship,  colossal  scale,  something  demonic 
and  decisive  in  execution."  ^  Virtu  meant  the  abihty  to  win 
success.  Machiavelli  used  it  for  force,  cunning,  courage,  ability, 
and  virility.  "  It  was  not  incompatible  with  craft  and  dis- 
simulation, or  with  the  indulgence  of  sensual  vices."  ^  Cellini 
used  virtuoso  to  denote  genius,  artistic  ability,  and  masculine 
force. ^  "  The  Italian  onore  consisted  partly  of  the  credit  attach- 
ing to  public  distinction  and  partly  of  a  reputation  for  virtic" 
in  the  above  sense.^  It  was  objective,  —  "an  addition  con- 
ferred from  without,  in  the  shape  of  reputation,  glory,  titles 
of  distinction,  or  offices  of  trust."  ^  "The  onesta  of  a  married 
woman  is  compatible  with  secret  infidelity,  provided  she  does  not 
expose  herself  to  ridicule  and  censure  by  letting  her  amour  be 
known."  "^  A  virago  meant  a  bluestocking,  but  was  a  term 
of  respect  for  a  learned  woman.  Modesty  was  "  the  natural 
grace  of  a  gifted  woman  increased  by  education  and  association."  " 
The  tendency  of  words  to  special  uses  is  an  index  of  the  charac- 
ter of  the  mores  of  a  period.  The  development  of  equality, 
when  the  restraints  of  traditional  morality  are  removed,  ought 
not  to  be  passed  without  notice. 

724.  Extravagance  of  passions  and  acts.  It  followed  from  the 
"ways"  of  the  period  that  the  human  race  "was  bastardized'.' 
"  by  the  physical  calamities,  the  perpetual  pestilences,  the  con- 
stant wars,  the  moral  miseries,  the  religious  conflicts,  and  the 
invasion  of  ancient  ideas  only  half  understood."  The  men  died 
young  in  years,  old  in  vice,  decrepit  and  falling  to  pieces  when 
not  beyond  the  years  of  youth. ^  The  emancipation  of  men  with 
inordinate  ambition  and  lust  meant  a  grand  chance  of  crime. 
Pope  Paul  III  (Farnese)  said  that  men  like  Cellini,  "  unique  in 
their  profession,  are  not  bound  by  the  laws."  Cellini  had  com- 
mitted a  murder.  He  committed  several  others,  to  say  nothing 
of  minor  crimes.    After  he  escaped  from  St.  Angelo,  he  was  in 

1  Symonds,  Catholic  Reaction,  II,  392.  ^  Ibid.,  420. 

2  Symonds,  Renaissance,  I,  416.  ^  Ibid..  420. 

3  Symonds,  Antobiog.,  I,  74.  ^  Gregorovius,  Lucretia  Borgia,  28. 
*  Symonds,  Renaissance,  I,  416.  ^  Gauthiez,  Lorenzaccio,  230. 


LIFE  POLICY.     VIRTUE  VS.  SUCCESS  649 

the  hands  and  under  the  protection  of  Cardinal  Cornaro.  The 
pope,  Clement  VII,  wanted  to  get  possession  of  him  and  Cor- 
naro wanted  a  bishopric  for  a  friend,  so  the  pope  and  cardinal 
made  a  bargain  and  Cellini  was  surrendered.^  "  Italian  society 
admired  the  bravo  almost  as  much  as  imperial  Rome  admired 
the  gladiator.  It  also  assumed  that  genius  combined  with 
force  of  character  released  men  from  the  shackles  of  ordinary 
morality."  ^  Cellini  was  a  specimen  man  of  his  age.  He  kept 
religion  and  morality  far  separated  from  each  other.^  Varchi 
wrote  a  sonnet  on  him  which  is  false  in  fact  and  in  form,  and 
displays  the  technical  and  conventional  insincerity  of  the  age.* 
The  augmentative  form  of  the  name  Lorenzaccio  expresses  the 
notion  that  he  was  great,  awful,  and  wicked.^  His  biographer 
says  that  he  was  a  "  mattoid."  ^  He  missed  success  because  his 
antagonists  were  stronger  than  he,  but  his  career  was  typical 
of  the  age.  He  was  in  part  a  victim  of  the  classical  suggestion. 
He  expected  to  be  glorified  as  a  tyrannicide.  This  taste  for  the 
imaginative  element  was  an  important  feature  in  the  Italian 
Renaissance  and  helped  to  make  it  theatrical  and  untrue.  "  In 
gratifying  his  thirst  for  vengeance  [the  Italian]  was  never  con- 
tented with  mere  murder.  To  obtain  a  personal  triumph  at  the 
expense  of  his  enemy  by  the  display  of  superior  cunning,  by 
rendering  him  ridiculous,  by  exposing  him  to  mental  as  well  as 
physical  anguish,  by  wounding  him  through  his  affections  or  his 
sense  of  honor,  was  the  end  which  he  pursued."  "  "  However 
profligate  the  people  might  have  been,  they  were  not  contented 
with  grossness  unless  seasoned  with  wit.  The  same  excitement 
of  the  fancy  rendered  the  exercise  of  ingenuity,  or  the  avoidance 
of  peril,  an  enhancement  of  pleasure  to  the  Italians.  This  is 
perhaps  the  reason  why  all  the  imaginative  compositions  of  the 
Renaissance,  especially  the  Jiovellae,  turn  upon  adultery."  ^  The 
false  standards,  aims,  codes,  and  doctrines  required  this  play  of 
the  fantasy  to  make   them  seem  worth  while.    The  fantastic 

1  Symonds,  Renaissattce,  III,  467.  ^  Gauthiez,  Lo?-enzacdo,  104. 

2  Symonds,  Autobiog.  of  Cellini,  I,  xi,  196.     ^  Ibid.,  79. 

^  Ibid.,  XIV.  ■'  Symonds,  Renaissance,  I,  413. 

*  Ibid.,  227.  ^  Ibid.,  410. 


650  FOLKWAYS 

element  gave  all  the  zest.  When  the  mediaeval  imaginative 
element  failed  the  classical  learning  furnished  a  new  one  with 
suggestions,  examples  for  imitation,  and  vmlimited  maxims  and 
doctrines.  Hence  the  passions  become  violent  and  upon  occasion 
criminal,^  that  is  to  say,  they  violated  the  code  recognized  by  all 
men  in  all  ages.  "  Force,  which  had  been  substituted  for  Law 
in  government,  became,  as  it  were,  the  mainspring  of  society. 
Murders,  poisoning,  rapes,  and  treasons  were  common  incidents 
of  private  as  of  public  life.  In  cities  like  Naples  blood  guilt 
could  be  atoned  for  at  an  inconceivably  low  rate.  A  man's  life 
was  worth  scarcely  more  than  that  of  a  horse.  The  palaces  of 
the  nobles  swarmed  with  professional  cutthroats,  and  the  great 
ecclesiastics  claimed  for  their  abodes  the  right  of  sanctuary. 
Popes  sold  absolution  for  the  most  horrible  excesses,  and  granted 
indulgences  beforehand  for  the  commission  of  crimes  of  lust  and 
violence.  Success  was  the  standard  by  which  acts  were  judged  ; 
and  the  man  who  could  help  his  friends,  intimidate  his  enemies, 
and  carve  a  way  to  fortune  for  himself  by  any  means  he  chose 
was  regarded  as  a  hero."^  If  we  should  follow  the  manners 
and  morals  of  the  age  into  detail  we  should  find  that  they  were 
all  characterized  by  the  same  fiction  and  conventional  affectation, 
and  by  the  same  unrestrainedness  of  passion.  Caterina  Sforza 
avenged  the  murder  of  her  lover  with  such  atrocities  that  she 
shocked  the  Borgia  pope.^  The  artists  of  the  late  Renaissance 
were  absorbed  in  admiration  of  carnal  beauty.  There  was  vul- 
garity and  coarseness  on  their  finest  work.  Cellini's  work  is 
marked  by  "  blank  animalism."  *  There  was  a  great  lack  of  all 
sentiment.  "  Parents  and  children  made  a  virtue  of  repressing 
their  emotions."  "  No  period  ever  exhibited  a  more  marked 
aversion  from  the  emotional  or  the  pathetic."  ^  There  was  no 
shame  at  perfidy  or  inconsistency,  and  very  little  notion  of 
loyalty.  It  shocks  modern  taste  that  Isabella  d'Este  should 
have  bought  eagerly  the  art  treasures  of  her  dearest  friend  when 
they  had  been  stolen  and  put  on  the  market,  and  that  after 

1  Burckhardt,  175,  432,  445.  3  Creighton,  Essays,  344. 

^  Symonds,  Renaissance,  I,  loi.  *  Symonds,  Renaissance,  III,  453-455. 

^  Miintz,  Leonardo  da  Vi)ici,  I,  12. 


LIFE   POLICY.     VIRTUE  VS.  SUCCESS  65 1 

warm  adherence  to  her  brother-in-law,  Ludovico  il  Moro,  until 
he  was  ruined,  she  should  have  turned  to  court  the  victor.^ 
It  is  not  strange  that  the  age  became  marked  by  complete 
depravity  of  public  and  private  morals,  that  the  great  men  are 
enigmas  as  to  character  and  purpose,  and  that  they  are  demonic 
in  action.  The  sack  of  Rome  put  an  end  to  the  epoch  by  a 
catastrophe  which  was  great  enough  to  strike  any  soul  with 
horror,  however  hardened  it  might  be.^  That  event  seems  to 
show  how  the  ways  of  the  time  would  be  when  practiced  by 
brutal  soldiers. 

725.  The  sex  relation  and  position  of  women.  In  such  a 
period  the  sex  relation  is  sure  to  be  degraded  and  the  position 
of  woman  is  sure  to  be  compromised.  They  can  only  be  defined 
by  the  restraints  which  are  observed  or  enforced.  When  all 
restraints  are  set  aside  sensuality  is  set  free.  Women  were 
not  suppressed.  They  took  their  place  by  the  men  and  only 
demanded  for  themselves  a  liberty  equal  to  that  assumed  by  the 
men.  The  opinion  has  been  expressed  that  Isabella  d'Este 
"  may  be  regarded  as  the  most  splendid  realization  of  the  Re- 
naissance ideal  of  woman."  ^  Vittoria  Colonna  has  been  more 
generally  accorded  that  position.  She  is  doubly  interesting  for 
her  Platonic  relation  to  Michael  Angelo,  who  was  fifteen  years  her 
senior,*  and  for  her  personal  character.  The  title  "  bastard  "  was 
often  worn  with  pride.  In  royal  houses  it  happened  often  that 
the  illegitimate  branch  took  the  throne  on  the  failure  of  the  other, 
so  that  the  existence  of  the  former  was  a  recognized  and  useful 
fact,  not  a  shameful  one.^  Although  it  was  true  that  woman 
"  occupied  a  place  by  the  side  of  man,  contended  with  him  for 
intellectual  prizes,  and  took  part  in  every  spirited  movement," 
although  many  of  them  became  celebrated  for  humanistic  attain- 
ments, and  were  intrusted  with  the  government  of  states,^  yet  it 
was  not  possible  that  they  could  maintain  womanly  honor  and 

1  Cartwright,  Isabella  (fEste,  I,  145. 

2  Geiger,  Renaissance,  318. 

3  Opdyke,  trans,  of  Castiglione,  Courtier,  39S. 

*  Lannau-Rolland,  Michel  Attge  ei  J^ittoria  Colontia,  Chap.  VI. 
^  Heyck,  Die  Mediceer,  70 ;   Symonds,  Renaissance,  I,  37. 
®  Gregorovious,  Lucreiia  Borgia,  27. 


652  FOLKWAYS 

dignity  side  by  side  with  the  concubines  and  bastards  of  their 
husbands.  The  love  of  men  for  men  was  a  current  vice  which 
was  hardly  concealed  and  which  degraded  the  sex  relation.^  The 
individualism  of  the  period  is  interpreted  as  a  motive  for  making 
love  to  the  wife  of  another,  that  is,  to  another  fully  developed 
individual.^  Adultery  also  appealed  to  the  love  of  intrigue  and 
the  appreciation  of  the  imaginative  element.  Lewd  stories  and 
dramas  were  produced  in  great  numbers  in  which  the  cunning 
and  deception  of  adultery  were  developed  in  all  imaginable  com- 
binations of  circumstances.  In  real  life  a  woman's  relatives 
showed  great  ferocity  in  enforcing  against  her  all  the  current 
conventions  about  her  conduct.  That  was  because  she  might 
bring  disgrace  and  ridicule  on  them  by  marrying  beneath  her, 
or  by  a  liaison  which  was  known  and  avenged  by  her  husband. 
The  assassination  of  the  husband  in  such  cases  was  only  a 
trifling  necessity  which  might  be  called  for.^  A  physician  having 
married  a  widowed  duchess,  born  a  princess  of  Aragon,  her 
brothers  murdered  her  and  her  children  and  caused  the  physi- 
cian to  be  assassinated  by  hired  bravos.^  In  the  comedies 
marriage  was  derided  and  marital  honor  treated  with  contempt. 
Downright  obscenity  was  not  rare.  Some  of  the  comedies  would 
not  now  be  tolerated  anywhere  before  an  audience  of  men  only.^ 
It  seems  trifling  that  objection  was  made  to  the  nakedness  of 
some  figures  in  Michael  Angelo's  "  Last  Judgment."  "As  society 
became  more  vicious,  it  grew  nice."  ^ 

726.  The  cult  of  success.  This  deep  depravation  of  all  social 
interests  by  the  elevation  of  success  to  a  motive  which  justified 
itself  has  the  character  of  an  experiment.  Amongst  ourselves 
now,  in  politics,  finance,  and  industry,  we  see  the  man-who-can- 
do-things  elevated  to  a  social  hero  whose  success  overrides  all 
other  considerations.  Where  that  code  is  adopted  it  calls  for 
arbitrary  definitions,  false  conventions,  and  untruthful  character. 

727.  Literature.  There  were  several  books  published  in  the 
Renaissance  period  which  aimed   to  influence  the  mores.    In  the 

1  Gauthiez,  Lorenzaccio,  65.  *  Ibid.,  442. 

-  Burckhardt,  Renaissance,  455.  5  Gregorovius,  Lucretia  Borgia,  96. 

•^  Ibid.,  441.  6  Symonds,  Reiiaissaitce,  III,  425. 


LIFE  POLICY.     VIRTUE  VS.  SUCCESS  653 

middle  of  the  fifteenth  century  was  written  Pandolfini's  Govertio 
dclla  Famiglia.  An  old  man  advises  his  two  sons  and  three 
grandsons  on  the  philosophy  and  policy  of  life.  He  urges  thrift 
and  advises  to  stay  far  removed  from  public  life.  It  is,  he  says, 
a  "life  of  insults,  hatreds,  misrepresentations,  and  suspicions." 
He  advises  not  to  come  into  the  intimacy  of  great  nobles  and 
not  to  lend  them  money.  He  has  a  low  opinion  of  all  women 
and  would  not  trust  a  wife  with  secrets.  Delia  Casa,  in  the 
first  half  of  the  sixteenth  century,  wrote  //  Galatco,  a  treatise 
on  manners  and  etiquette.  He  lays  great  stress  on  cleanliness  of 
person  and  house,  and  he  forbids  all  impropriety,  for  which  he 
has  a  very  positive  code.  Castiglione's  Courtier  inculcates  what 
the  age  considered  sound  ideas  on  all  social  relations,  rights,  and 
duties.  In  the  dialogue  different  views  are  put  forward  and  dis- 
cussed, from  which  it  results  that  the  views  to  be  regarded  as 
correct  often  lack  point  and  definiteness.  Symonds  thinks  that 
the  type  presented  with  approval  differs  little  from  the  modern 
gentleman.^  Cornaro  wrote  at  the  age  of  eighty-three  a  book 
called  Discorsi  della  Vita  sobria,  which  is  said  to  set  forth 
especially  the  diet  by  which  the  writer  overcame  physical 
weakness  and  reached  a  hale  old  age.  WhQn  ninety-five  he 
wrote  another  book  to  boast  of  the  success  of  the  first.  He 
died  in  1565,  over  a  hundred  years  old.^ 

728.  Moral  anarchy.  The  antagonism  between  a  virtue  policy 
and  a  success  policy  is  a  constant  ethical  problem.  The  Renais- 
sance in  Italy  shows  that  although  moral  traditions  may  be 
narrow  and  mistaken,  any  morality  is  better  than  moral  anarchy. 
Moral  traditions  are  guides  which  no  one  can  afford  to  neglect. 
They  are  in  the  mores  and  they  are  lost  in  every  great  revolu- 
tion of  the  mores.  Then  the  men  are  morally  lost.  Their 
notions,  desires,  purposes,  and  means  become  false,  and  even 
the  notion  of  crime  is  arbitrary  and  untrue.  If  all  try  the  policy 
of  dishonesty,  the  result  will  be  the  firmest  conviction  that 
honesty  is  the  best  policy.  The  mores  aim  always  to  arrive  at 
correct  notions  of  virtue.  In  so  far  as  they  reach  correct 
results  the  virtue  policy  proves  to  be  the  only  success  policy. 

1  Renaissance,  I,  ii8.  ^  Burckhardt,  335,  338. 


LIST    OF    BOOKS    CITED 


Full  titles  of  all  books  cited  are  given  below  in  tlie  alphabetical  order  of  the  authors' 
names  or  of  the  leading  word  of  the  title.  Numbers  after  the  title  are  the  pages  in  the  present 
volume  on  which  the  book  is  cited  or  used  as  an  authority. 


Aarboger  for   Nordisk  Oldkyndighed, 

130 
Abdallatif,  Relation  de  1'  Egypte  (trad. 

de  Sacy)  (Paris,  1810),  336 
Abel,  C.  W.,  Savage  Life  in  New  Guinea 

(London,  1902),  317 
Abercromby,  J.,  The  Pre-  and  Proto-his- 

toric    Finns,    Eastern   and    Western, 

with  Magic  Songs  of  the  West  Finns 

(2  vols.    London,  1898),  4S5 
Achelis,    H.,    Virgines    Subintroductae 

(i   Cor.  vii)  (Leipzig,  1902),  295,  525, 

526,  620 
Achelis,  T.,  Die  Ekstase  in  ihrer  kul- 

turellen  Bedeutung  (Berlin,  1902),  210 
Aelian,  Variae  Historiae,  318 
Aeneas  Silvias.    See  Piccolomini 
Alanus  ab  Insulis,  De  Planctu  Naturae 

(Migne,  Patrol.  Lat.,  V,  210),  369 
Alberi,E.,  Relazione  degli  Ambasciatori 

Veneti    al    Senaco    (Firenze,    1S40)  : 

Letter  of  D.  Barbaro,  sent  to  England 

for    the    Accession    of    Edward    VI 

(Series  I,  Tome  II,  230),  257 
Alec-Tweedie,  Mrs.,  Sunny  Sicily  (New 

York,  no  date),  45S,  5S9 
Am  Urquell,  137 
Ameer  Ali,   The  Influence  of  Woman 

in  Islam  (Nineteenth  Century,  XLV, 

755) 
American  Anthropologist,  17,  121,  142, 

149,  305,  315,  326,  339,  460,  485,  533 
American    Journal     of     Semitic     Lan- 
guages and  Literature,  536 
American  Journal  of  Sociology,  112 
Ammianus   Marcellinus,  Rerum  Gesta- 

rum  (libri  18,  out  of  31),  418,  586 
Ammon,  O.,  Die   Gesellschaftsordnung 

und    ihre     natiirlichen      Grundlagen 

(Jena,  1896),  39,  475,  541 
d'Ancona,  A.,  Le  Origini  del  Teatro  in 

Italia  (2  tomes.  Firenze,  1877  e  1891), 

227,  445,  580-5S2,  591-595 


Andree,  R.,  Die  Anthropophagie  (Leip- 
zig, 1887),  329,  332 

Andree,  R.,  Ethnographische  Parallele 
und  Vergleiche  (2  Folgen.  Leipzig, 
1889),  326 

Angerstein,  W.,  Volkstanze  im  Deut- 
schen  Mittelalter  (2te  Aufl.  Berlin, 
1874),  599_ 

I'Annee  Sociologique,  482.  See  Durk- 
heim 

I'Anthropologie,  130,  146.  See  Bulle- 
tins 

Apostolic  Constitutions.  Die  Syrischen 
Didaskalia  iibersetzt  und  erklart  von 
A.  Achelis  und  J.  Fleming  (Leipzig, 
1904)  contains  the  "Two  Ways,"  316 

Appianus,  Historia  Romana,  281 

Apuleius,  Metamorphoses,  364,  571 

Arabian  Nights,  287,  434.    See  Lane 

Archiv  fiir  Anthropologie,  329, 447,  536- 

537.  543.  548-549'  5^3.  577-57^ 

Archiv  fiir  Kunde  der  CEsterreichischen 
Geschichtsquellen,  443 

Archiv  fiir  Religionswissenschaft,  525 

Ashton,  J.,  Social  Life  in  the  Reign  of 
Queen  Anne  (London,  1883),  523 

Athenseus,  Deipnosophistorum  libri  15, 
436,  529,  542 

Athenagoras,  Apologia  (on  the  resur- 
rection of  the  dead),  390 

Augustine,  Opera  (Paris,  1635),  290, 
348,  360-361,  390-391,  529,   542,  585 

d'Aussy.    See  Legrand 

Australian  Association  for  the  Advance- 
ment of  Science  :  Fourth  Meeting, 
at  Hobart,  Tasmania,  January,  1892 
(Sydney,  1892),  1S7,  204,  264,  314, 
317.  33O'  334,  382.  459,  461 

d'Avenel,  G.,  Histoire  Economiquedela 
Propriete,  des  Salaires,  des  Denrees, 
et  de  tous  les  Prix  en  general,  depuis 
Tan  1200  jusqu'en  Fan  1800  (2  tomes. 
Paris,  1S94-189S),  165-166,  29S 


655 


656 


FOLKWAYS 


Babelon,  E.  C.  F.,  Les   Origines  de  la 

Monnaie  (Paris,  1897),  154 
Bancroft,  N.  H.,  The  Native  Races  of 

the  Pacific  States  of  North  America 

(New  York,  1875-1876),  271, 324,  337, 

422,  543,  548,  553,  5S6 
Barthold,  F.  W.,  Die   Geschichte   der 

Hansa  (Leipzig,  1862),  370,  524 
Barthold,  F.  W.,  Jiirgen  Wiillenweber 

von    Liibeck   (Raumer,    Histor.    Ta- 

schenbuch,  VI),  524 
Barton,  G.   A.,  Semitic   Origins   (New 

York,  1902),  535,  557,  563 
Bastian,  A.,  Die  Deutsche  Expedition 

an  der  Loango-Kiiste  (Jena,   1874), 

459 
Bebel,  A.,  Die  Frau  (Zurich,  1883),  346 
Becke,  L.,  Pacific  Tales  (New  York), 

441,  460,  630 
Becker,  W.  A.,  und  Hermann,  K.  F., 

Charikles  (3  Bande.    Leipzig,  1854), 

204,  390,  488 
Beloch,  J.,  DiejBevolkerung  der  Grie- 

chisch-Romischen     Welt      (Leipzig, 

1886),  105,  279 
Beloch,  J.,  Griechische  Geschichte  (4 

Bande.     Strassburg,   1904),   106-107, 

199,  279,  468,  565 
Bender,  H.,  Rom  und  Romisches  Leben 

im  Alterthum  geschildert  (Tubingen, 

1880),  280 
Bent,  J.  T.,  The   Sacred    City  of  the 

Ethiopians  (London,  1893),  459 
Bergel,    J.,    Die    Eheverhaltnisse    der 

alten  Juden  im  Vergleiche  mit  den 

Griechischen  und  Romischen  (Leip- 
zig, 1 881),  398,409 
Berlin  Museum,  427,  43^-433,  435-  43S, 

446,  459 
Bernardin,  N-M.,  La  Comedie  Italienne 

en  France,   1570-1791   (Paris,  1902), 

602 
Bethe,  E.,  Die  Geschichte  des  Theaters 

im  Alterthume  (Leipzig,  1896),  447 
de  Bethencourt,  J.,  Le  Canarien  livre 

de   la  Conquete   et   Conversion  des 

Canaries    (1402-1422)   (ed.    G.   Gra- 

vier  Rouen,  1874),  121,  339 
Bijdragen  tot  de  Taal-Land-en  Volken- 

kunde  van  Nederlandsch  Indie,  187, 

273'  298-300,  314,  335,  358,383,  484 
Binet,    A.,    La    Suggestibilite     (Paris, 

1900),  21 
Biot,  E.  C,  De  I'AboUtion  de  I'Escla- 

vage  ancien  en  Occident  (Paris,  1840), 

298-299 


Bishop,  Mrs.  (Isabella  Bird),  Among 
the    Thibetans    (New    York,    1894), 

.353.  441 
Bishop,  Mrs.,  Korea  and  her  Neighbors 

(New  York,  1898),  453 
Blair,  W.,  Slavery  amongst  the  Romans 

(Edinburgh,  1833),  284,  319 
Bock,  C,  Reis  in  Oost-en  Zuid-Bomeo 

(s'Gravenhage,  1887),  274 
Bodin,  J.,  De    Republica  libri  sex  (7a 

ed.     Frankfort,  1641),  291,  301 
Boggiani,  G.,  I  Caduvei  (Roma,  1895), 

272 
Boissier,  G.,  La  Religion  Romaine  d'Au- 

guste  aux  Antonins  (2  tomes.    Paris, 

1874),  loi,  199,  566 
Bourquelot,    Foires     de     Champagne 

(Acad,    de    Belles    Lettres    et    d'ln- 

scriptions,  1865),  298 
Bousset,    D.    W.,    Die    Religion    des 

Judenthums   im   neutestamentlichen 

Zeitalter    (Berlin,    1903),    295,    340, 

515 

Bridges,  T.,  Manners  and  Customs  of 
the  Firelanders  (A  Voice  for  South 
America,  XIII,  201-214),  272 

Brinton,  G.,  Nagualism  (Philadelphia, 
1894),  271,  338 

Brunache,  P.,  Le  Centre  de  FAfrique 
(Paris,  1894),  268,  334,  339,  433, 
437-438 

Biicher,  K.  W.,  Die  Aufstande  der  Un- 
freien  Arbeiter  (Frankfurt,  1874), 
280-281,  283 

Buchholtz,  E.  A.  W.,  Homerische  Rea- 
Hen  (3  Bande.  Leipzig,  1871-1885), 
278 

Budge,  E.  A.  W.,.The  Gods  of  the  Egyp- 
tians (Chicago,  1904),  433 

Buhl,  F.  P.  W.,  Die  Socialen  Verhiilt- 
nisse  der  Israeliten  (Berlin,  1899), 
154.  277 

Biihler,  G.,  The  Laws  of  Manu  (trans.) 
(Oxford,  1886),  356,  384,  388,  544 

B[ulletins]  et  M[emoires]  de  la  Soci- 
ete  d'Anthropologie  de  Paris  (Paris, 
1901) :  Art.byGuyot  on  Les  Indigenes 
de  I'Afrique  du  Sud, based  on  the  Re- 
port of  the  South  African  Committee 
(Pres.  J.  Macdonell)  on  the  Natives 
of  South  Africa  (Series  V,  Tome  II, 
362),  112,  36S 

Burchard,  J.,  Diarium  sive  verum  ur- 
banarum  commentarii,  1483-1506  (ed. 
Thusane)  (3  tomes.  Paris,  1885), 
256 


LIST  OF  BOOKS  CITED 


657 


Burckhardt,  J.,  Griechische  Kulturge- 
schichte  (3  Bande.  2te  Aufl.  Stutt- 
gart, 1S98),  105-107,  109-110,  468, 
487 

Burckhardt,  J.,  Die  Kultur  der  Renais- 
sance in  Italien  (Basel,  i860),  22, 
249,  592,  598,  601,  627,  643-645,  650, 

652-653 

Burckhardt,  J.  L.,  Arabic  Proverbs  (Lon- 
don, 1830),  448,  455,  544 

Bureau  of  Ethnology,  Washington, 
Annual  Reports,  14,  17,  25,  125,  127, 
129-130,  139,  152,  186,  270-271,  317, 

3-5'  337.  383.  442,  453'  485.  497.  501. 
512,  515,  518,  533 

Buvnaby,  A.,  Travels  through  the  Mid- 
dle Settlements  of  North  America  in 
1759  ^"'i  1760  (London,  1775),  528 

Burrows,  G.,  The  Land  of  the  Pigmies 
(London,  1898),  453 

Blittner,  C.  G.,  Das  Hinterland  von 
Walfischbai  und  Angra  Pequena 
(Heidelberg,  1884),  188 

Cambridge  History  of  Modem  Europe, 
(ed.  by  A.  W.  Ward  and  G.  W. 
Prothero)  (New  York,  1902,  etc.),  531 

Cameron,  V.  L.,  Across  Africa  (2  vols. 
London,  1877),  145 

Campbell,  PL,  Differences  in  the 
Nervous  Organization  of  Man  and 
Woman  (London,  1891),  343-344 

Cantacuzene,  J.,  Romana  Historia 
(Bonn,  1832),  264 

Carey,  B.  S.,  and  Tuck,  H.  N.,  The 
Chin  Hills  (Rangoon,  1896),  1S6,  273 

Carmichael,  M.,  In  Tuscany  (3d  ed. 
New  York,  1902),  216,  623-624 

Cartwright,  J.,  Isabella  d'Este,  Mar- 
chioness of  Mantua,  1474-1539  (2 
vols.    New  York,    1903),    598,  650- 

Castiglione,     B.,    The    Book    of     the 

Courtier    [1528]     (trans,    by    L.    E. 

Opdyke)  (New  York,  1903),  651,  653 
Cato  Major,  De  Agri  Cultura,  280-281, 

289 
Cator,  Dorothy,  Everyday  .Life  among 

the  Head-hunters  (New  York,  1905), 

305 
Cayley- Webster,     H.,     Through     New 

Guinea  and  the  Cannibal  Countries 

(London,  1898),  T50 
Cellini.  See  Symonds 
Celestina.  See  Mabbe 
Century  Magazine,  193,  441,  462 


Ch.  Br.  R.  A.  S.  =  China  Branch,  Royal 
Asiatic  Society 

Chandler,  F.  W.,  Romance  of  Roguery  : 
I.  The  Picaresque  Novel  in  Spain 
(New  York,  1899),  320,  597 

Charles,  R.  H.,  The  Book  of  Enoch 
(trans.)  (Oxford,  1893),  43 1 

Charles,  R.  H.,  The  Book  of  Jubilees 
or  the  Little  Genesis  (trans.)  (Lon- 
don, 1902),  431 

Christian,  F.  W.,  The  Caroline  Islands 
(London,  1899),  139,  151,  423 

Chrysostom,  Opera  (Migne,  Patrol. 
Graeca,  XLVII-LXIV.  Homily  on 
Matthew  in  LVIII,  591),  294 

Churchman,  The,  456 

Cibrario,  G.  A.  L.,  Delia  Politica  Eco- 
nomia  del  Medio  Evo  (z'^ed.  3  tomes) 
(Torino,  184X-1842),  300 

Cicero,  Orations,  405  ;  Tusculan  Dispu- 
tations, 570 

Clement,  K.  J-,  Das  Recht  der  Salischen 
Franken  (Berlin,  1876),  495 

Clement,  P.,  Jacques  Coeur  et  Charles 
VII,  France  au  XV  siecle  (Paris, 
1853),  443 

Cockayne,  O.,  Hali  Maidenhad  (Early 
English  Text  Society,  London,  1S66), 
621 

Codrington,  R.  H.,  The  Melanesians 
(Oxford,    1891),    149,   272,  314,   317. 

325-  334.  339.  438,  533 
Cook,  K.  R.,  The  Fathers  of  Jesus  :  a 

Study  of  the  Lineage  of  the  Christian 

Doctrines    and    Traditions    (2    vols. 

London,  18S6),  294-295,379,615-616 
Corpus  Juris  Canonici  (Colon.  Munat., 

1 71 7).  34S,  404.  406,  410 
Corpus  Juris  Civilis  (Lipsiae,  1858),  403 
Corpus  Poeticum  Boreale,   the  Poetry 

of  the  Old  Northern  Tongue  (Oxford, 

1883),  296-297 
Coryate,    T.,    Crudities     (New    York, 

1905),  444   _        _ 
Cranz,  D.,  Historic  von  Gronfend  bis 

1779  (Leipzig,  1780),  323 
Crawford,    J.,    History    of    the    Indian 

Archipelago  (2  vols.    London,  1S20) 

149 
Crawley,   A.   E.,    Sexual   Taboo    (JAI, 

XXIV,  116,  219),  116,  219,  430,  452, 

459 
Creighton,  M.,  Historical   Essays    and 

Reviews  (New  York,  1902),  647,  650 
Cunningham,      A.,     Ladak     (London, 

1S54).  352 


658 


FOLKWAYS 


Cunow,    H.,  Verwandtschaftsorganiza- 

tion    der     Australneger     (Stuttgart, 

1894),  497 
Curr,   E.     M.,     The    Australian    Race 

(Melbourne,  1886),  316,  421,  436 
Curtius    Rufus,    Quintus,    De    Rebus 

Gestis  Alexandri,  236 
Cyprian,  Epistolae,  525 

Daniel,  H.  A.,  Codex  Liturgicus  Eccle- 
siae  Universae  in  Epitomen  Redac- 
tus  (Lipsiae,  1S51),  226 

Darmsteter,  J.,  Translation  of  the  Zend 
Avesta  (Oxford,  1S80),  418,  486,  512- 

513'  55S 

Darinsky  (Zeitschrift  fiir  vergleichende 
Rechtswissenschaft,  XIV),  368,  454 

Darwin,  Charles,  Descent  of  Man 
(New  York,  1886),  138,  357-358 

Dasent,  Sir  G.  W.,  The  Story  of  Burnt 
Njal  (New  York,  1900),  642 

Dawson,  J.,  Australian  Aborigines  in 
the  Western  District  of  Victoria 
(Melbourne,  1881),  316,  325,  332 

Degroot,  J.  J.  M.,  The  Religious  Sys- 
tem of  China  (Leyden,  1892),  318 

Denecke,  A.,  Entwickelungsgeschichte 
des  gesellschaftlichen  Anstandsge- 
fiihls  in  Deutschland(Dresden,  1891), 
460,  462,  469 

Deutsch,  S.  M.,  Peter  Abiilard  (Leip- 
zig, 1883),  228 

Dezobry,  C.  L.,  Rome  au  Siecle  d'Au- 
guste (4""^  ed.  4tomes.)  (Paris,  1875), 
283 

Dialogue  of  the  Exchequer.  See  Hen- 
derson 

Dill,  S.,  Roman  Society  from  Nero  to 
Marcus  Aurelius  (London,  1904),  55, 
284-289,  379,  571 

Dill,  S.,  Roman  Society  in  the  Last 
Century  of  the  Western  Empire  (2 
ed.    London,  1899),  290 

Dio  Cassius  Coccejanus,  Historia  Ro- 
mana,  208 

Dio  Chrysostom,  Orations,  199,  287,290 

Diodorus  Siculus,  Bibliotheca  Historica, 
281,  286-289,  336,  390 

Dionysus  Halicarnessensis,  Antiquita- 
tum  Romanorum  quae  supersunt,  281 

Dozy,  R.,  Musulmans  d'  Espagne,  71  I'- 
ll 10  (4  tomes.     Leyde,   1861),  301- 

302.  335 
Drumann,  W.  K.  A.,  Die  Arbeiter  und 
Communisten   in    Griechenland   und 
Rom  (Konigsberg.  t86o),  280 


Dubois,  J.   A.,  Moeurs   Institutions  et 

Ceremonies  des   Peuples    de   I'lnde 

(2  tomes.    Paris,  1825),  457,  545,  548, 

558,  586 
Du  Camp,  M.,  Paris  dans  la  Seconde 

Moitie      du      dixneuvieme       Siecle 

(Paris,  1873-1875),  190 
Du  Cange,  C.  du  Fresne,  Glossarium 

mediae  et  infimae  Latinitatis  (Paris, 

1S40-1850),  590 
Dulaure,  J.  A.,  Paris  et  ses  Monuments 

(Paris,  1S65),  370,  444 
Durkheim,  E.,  La  Prohibition  de  ITn- 

ceste     et     ses     Origines     (I'Annee 

Sociologique,  Tome  I.    Paris,  1898), 

482 
Duveyrier,  H.,  Les  Touaregs  du  Nord 

(Paris,  1864),  339,  423,  427,  456 
van  Duyl,  C.  F.,    Beschavingsgeschie- 

denis  van  het   Nederlandsche   Volk 

(Groningen,  1895),  97 

I'Ecole  d' Anthropologie  de  Paris,  Revue 
de,  36S 

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Economicus  of  Xenophon,  360 

Edda,  the,  175,  488 

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von  Eicken,  H.,  Geschichte  und  Sys- 
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Ellis,  A.  B.,  The  Ewe-speaking  Peoples 
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Ellis,  A.  B.,  The  Tshi-speaking  Peoples 
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von  Elsberg,  R.  A.,  Elizabeth  Bathory 
(die  Blutgrafin)  (Breslau,  1904),  235 

Endemann,  W.,  Studien  in  der  Roma- 
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Erasmus,  D.,  Colloquy  of  the  Beggars 
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Erman,  A.,  Aegypten  und  Aegyptisches 
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143 

Evarnitzky,  D.  I.,  The  Zaporoge  Kos- 
sacks  (in  Russian)  (2  vols.  St.  Peters- 
burg,  1888),  335 

Eyre,  E.  J.,  Expeditions  into  Central 
Australia  in  1840-1841  (2  vols.  Lon- 
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Farnell,   L.  R.   (Archiv  fUr  Religions- 

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States  (2  vols.  Oxford,  1896),  358,  542 
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1S85),  534 
Fauriel,  C.  C,  The  Last  Days  of  the 

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Finsch,    O.,     Samoafahrten     (Leipzig, 

1S88),  188,  272 
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18S2),  216 
von  Fircks  A.,   Bevolkerungslehre  und 

Bevolkerungspolitik  (Leipzig,  1898) 
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America,  The  (Arber.    Birmingham, 

1885),  315 
Flade,  P.,  Das  Romische  Inquisitions- 

verfahren  in  Deutschland  bis  zu  den 

Hexenprocessen  (Leipzig,  1902),  241, 

250-251 
Forbes,  H.  O.,  The  Kubus  of  Sumatra 

(JAI,  XIV,  121),  329,  435 
Foureau,  F.,  D'Alger  au  Congo  par  le 

Tchad  (Paris,  1902),  147 
Freeman,  E.  A.,  Western  Europe  in  the 

Eighth    Century    (New  York,   1904), 

298 
Freeman,  E.  A.,  Western  Europe  in  the 

Fifth    Century    (New    York,    1904), 

103,  290 
Freie  Wort,  Das,  204 
Freisen,  J-,  Geschichte  des  kanonischen 

Eherechts  (Tiibingen,  1888),  399,  400, 

402,  406,  409 
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sung  (Leipzig,  iS6s),  82,  405,  407-413 
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Friedlander,  L.,  Sittengeschichte  (3 
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390,  408-409,  41 1-4 1 3 

Friedmann,  M.,  Ueber  Wahnideen  im 
Volkerleben  (Wiesbaden,  1901),  21, 
211,  219,  633 

Fries,  T.  M.,  Gronland  dess  Natur  och 
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Fritsch,  G.,  Die  Eingeborenen  Siid- 
Afrikas  (Breslau,  1872),  29,  260,  269, 
315'  326,  339,  422,  434.  437.  512,  526 

Funck-Brentano,  T.,  La  Science  Sociale ; 
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Furnival,  F.  J.,  Child-marriages,  Di- 
vorces, etc.,  I  561-1 566  (Early  English 
Text  Society,  No.  108)  (London, 
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Gaii,  Institutiones  (Berlin,  1884),  488 
Galton,  F.,    Hereditary    Genius    (New 

York,  1870),  39,  42-43,  486,  611 
Galton,  F.,  Human  Faculty  (New  York, 

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Gamier,  R.  M.,  The  English  Landed  In- 
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Gauthiez,   P.,   Lorenzaccio,    1514-1548 

(Paris,  1904),  93,  647-649,  652 
Gehring,    H.,    Siid-Indien    (Giitersloh, 

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Geiger,   W.,    Ostiranische    Kultur   (Er- 

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325 
Gibbon,   E.,   Decline   and    Fall   of   the 

Roman  Empire,  219,  237,  358,  572 
Gjessing,  Traeldom  i  Norge   (Annaler 

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Globus,  der,  5,  12,  23,  81,  no,  129,  131, 

135,  146-147.  154.  267-268,  271,  273, 

3°3'  315.  317.  325-326,  329.  331-333. 

335-337.  345.  351.  367-368,  432.  437- 

439,  442,  453-454.  460-462,  512,  516- 

518,  526-527,  538,  543,  549.  554-555. 

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Goetz,  W.,  Ideale  des  Heiligen  Francis 

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von  Goetzen,  G.  A.,  Durch  Afrika  von 

Ost   nach  West   (Berlin,   1895),    148, 

262-264 
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by  J.  L.   Garner)  (New  York,   1903), 

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406,  413 
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Gubernatis,  A.,  Usi  Nuziali  in  Italia  e 
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Guhl  und  Koner,  Das  Leben  der  Grie- 
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Hansen,  J.,  Zauberwahn  Inquisition 
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Harper,  R.  F.,  The  Code  of  Ham- 
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Haureau,  B.,  Bernard  Delicieux  at 
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Hauri,  J.,  Der  Islam  in  seinem  Einfluss 
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333'  355-  yr^-^  430.  445.  468,  4S6,  535, 

538.  55I'  557 
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Heyck,    E.,    Die    Mediceer    (Leipzig, 

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Heyd,  W.,  Levanthandel  im  Mittelalter 

(2  Bande.     Stuttgart,  1S79),  299 
Heydemann,        Phlyakendarstellungen 

(Jahrbuch    des    k.    Deutschen  Arch- 

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Heyer,  F.,  Priesterschaft  und  Inquisi- 
tion (Berlin,  1877),  237,  257 
Hiekisch,  C,  Die  Tungusen  (St.  Peters- 
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Hildebrands     Zeitsclirift.      See     Jahr- 

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Hildreth,   R.,    History    of    the    United 

States  (New  York,  1849),  49'  3°4 
Hoensbruch,  Graf  von.  Das  Pabstthum 

(Band  L     Leipzig,  1901) 
Holm,   G.,    Angmagslikerne    (Kj0ben- 

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Holub,  E.,  Sieben  Jahre  in  Siid-Afrika, 

1S72-1879   (2    Bande.     Wien,    iSSi), 

139,  269,  325,438 
Holub,  E.,  Von  der  Capstadt  ins  Land 

der    Maschukalumbe,    1S83-18S7    (2 

Bande.    Wien,  1S90),  264,  269 
Holzmann,     A.,    Indische     Sagen     (2 

Bande.    Stuttgart,    1854),    204,    365, 

388,  457,  640-641 
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HopTcins,  E.  W.,  The  Religions  of  India 

(Boston,    1895),    224,   318,   393,  484, 

4S6,  546,  553 
Horn,  F.  W.,  Mennesket  i  den  forhisto- 

riske  Tid  (Kj0benha\'n,  1874),  130 
Hostmann,  F.  W.,  De   Beschaving  van 

Negers     in     Amerika     (Amsterdam, 

1S50),  270 
Howitt,  A.  W.,  Native  Tribes  of  South 

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131 
Hubbard,  G.  G.,  The  Japanese  Nation 

(Smithsonian  Report,  1S95),  110,667 
Humbert,  A.,  Japan  and  the  Japanese 

(New  York,  1874),  90,  31S,  440 
Hutchinson,  H.  N.,  The  Living  Races 

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Ibn  Batuta.    See  Batuta 

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von  Ihering,  R.,  The  Evolution  of  the 
Aryan  (trans.)  (London,  1897),  326 

Inderwyck,  F.  A.,  The  King's  Peace 
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335 

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Iphigenia  among  the  Taurians,  467 

Iphigenia  in  Aulis,  14 

Isidore  of  Seville,  Sententiae  (in  Part 
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Jackson,  A.  V.  W.,  Zoroaster  (London, 

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Jaeger,  C,  Ulms  Leben  im  Mittelalter 

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Jahrbiicher  des    Deutschen    Archaolo- 

gischen  Instituts,  432,  447 
Jahrbiicher  fiir  Nationalokonomie  und 

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JAI  =  Journal  of  the  Anthropological 

Institute    of    Great    Britain,    4,    122, 

125-127,  130,  138-151,  157,  182,  187, 

264-268,  272-275,  3i4-3'7>  322-335. 

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422-423,  433-442,  452-461,  484,  497. 

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Klugmann,  N.,  Die  Frau  im  Talmud 
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Lane,  E.  W.,  Manners  and  Customs  of 
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Prutz,  H.,  Kulturgeschichte  der  Kreuz- 

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von  Raumer,  F.  L.  G.,  Historisches 
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631 

Scheltema,  J.,  Volksgebruiken  der  Ne- 
derlanders  bij  het  Vrijen  en  Trouwen 
(Utrecht,  1832),  527 

Scherillo,  M.,  La  Commedia  dell' Arte 
in  Italia  (Torino,  1884),  598,  601,  603 

Scherr,  J.,  Deutsche  Frauenwelt  (Leip- 
zig,   1898),    196,   369,   442,    530,    590, 

595 
Scherr,  J.,  Deutsche  Kultur-  und  Sitten- 

geschichte    (Leipzig,   1S79),   82,   184, 

222,  255,  522,  530-531,  571 
Schmidt,  C,  La  Societe  Civile  dans  le 

Monde  Romain  et  sa  Transformation 

par    le    Christianisme    (Strassbourg, 

1853),  280,  289,  290,  572,  581,  5S3-584 
Schmidt,  E.,  Ceylon  (Berlin,  1897),  273, 

357.  440 
Schoemann,  G.  F.,  Griechische  Alter- 

thiimer  (Berlin,  1897),  356 
Schomburgk,    R.,    Britisch    Guiana    in 

1840-1844  (Leipzig,  1847),  131,  139, 

182,  382,  501 


Schotel,  G.  D.  J.,  Het  Oud-Hollandsch 
Huisgezin  der  Zeventiende  Eeuw 
(Haarlem,  1867),  527 

Schotmiiller,  K.,  Untergang  des  Temp- 
ler-Ordens  (Berlin,  1S87),  23,  241, 
257,  470 

Schrader,  E.,  The  Prehistoric  Antiqui- 
ties of  the  Aryan  Peoples  (trans.) 
(London,  1890),  326,  553 

Schultz,  A.,  Das  Hofische  Leben  zur 
Zeit  der  Minnesinger  (Leipzig,  1879- 
1880),  369,  442,  469,  522-523,  531 

Schultz,  A.,  Deutsches  Leben  in  XI  Vten 
und  XVten  Jahrhundert  (Cited  D.  L.) 
(Leipzig,   1892),    184,    369-370,    422, 

444,  599 

Schultze,  Psychologic  der  Naturvolker, 
136,  140 

Schurz,  H.,  Entstehungsgeschichte  des 
Geldes  (Deutsche  Geographische 
Blatter,  XX,  Bremen,  1897),  142, 
144-154 

Schwaner,  C.  A.  L.  M.,  Borneo  (Amster- 
dam, 1853),  188,  274,  383-  459 

Schweinfurth,  G.,  The  Heart  of  Africa 
(trans.)  (New  York,  1874),  147,  188, 
302,  305,  439,.  441,  462,  516 

Scientific  American,  130 

Scribner's  Magazine,  142,  441,  461 

Scripta  Historica  Islandorum  :  II.  His- 
toriae  Olavi  Trygvii  (Hafniae,  1827), 

543 
Seeck,  G.,  Untergang  der  antiquen  Welt 

(Berlin,  1895),  103-107 
Selenka,  E.,   Der   Schmuck   des   Men- 

schen  (Berlin,  1900) 
Semon,    R.,    In    the    Australian    Bush 

(New  York,  1899),  435-43^ 
Semper,  K.,  Die  Palau  Inseln  (Leipzig, 

1873).  143'  i5>-i5-,  422-423,  436 
Seneca,  De  Ira,  283,  319;   Letters,  360, 

379;  Opera,  319 
Serpa  Pinto,  Como  eu  atravassei  Africa 

(London,  18S1),  269,  337,  533 
Seuberlich.     See  Nekrassow 
Sibree,  J.,  jr.,  The  Great  African  Island 

(London,  18S0),  484,  512,  516 
Sieroshevski,  V.  L.,  Jakuty   (in   Russ.) 

(St.  Petersburg,  1896),  326,  434,  461, 

4S5 
Sieroshevski,  V.   L.,  Twelve  Years   in 

the   Country  of   the  Yakuts   (Polish 

version  of  the  last  with  revision  and 

additions)  (Warsaw,   1900),  422,  495 
Simkhovitsch,  W.  G.,  Die  Feldgemein- 

schaft  in  Russland  (Jena,  1898),  89 


668 


FOLKWAYS 


Simrock,    K.,    Das    Nibelungen    Lied 

(Stuttgart,  1890),  370 
Smith,  A.  H.,  Chinese  Characteristics 

(New  York,  1894),- 73 
Smith,     W.    Robertson,    Kinship    and 

Marriage  in  early  Arabia  (Cambridge, 

1885),  488 
Smith,  W.  Robertson,  Religion  of  the 

Semites  (London,  1894),  10,  26,  107, 

333.  336,  340.  438,  449-450,  455-456, 

459,  495,  505,  512,  517,  537,  540,  542, 

551,  554-555'  567-568 
Smithsonian  Institute,  Reports  of  the, 

126-130,  152,  1S9,  270,  317,  324,  364, 

■     442,  453,  485,  498 

Smithsonian  Contributions  to  Knowl- 
edge, 122 

Smyth,  R.  B.,  The  Aborigines  of  Vic- 
toria (Melbourne,  1878),  121,124,  128, 
316,  330,  333,  339,  501 

Snouck-Hurgronje,  C,  De  Atjehers 
(Leyden,  1894-1895),  314,  533 

Snouck-Hurgronje,  C,  Mekka  (Haag, 

1889),  353,  364 
Snyder,  W.  L.,  The  Geography  of  Mar- 
riage (New  York,  1S89),  479 
Sohm,    R.,    Trauung    und    Verlobung 

(Weimar,  1876),  412 
Southey,  R.,  History  of  Brazil  (London, 

1S22),  120,  332 
Spencer,  B.,  and  Gillen,  F.  J.,  Native 

Tribes    of    Central   Australia    (New 

York,  1899),  316,  323,  436,  497 
Spencer,    H.,   Principles    of   Sociology 

(New  York,  1905),  8 
Spiegel,  F.,  Eranische  Alterthumskunde 

(Leipzig,  1871-187S),  326 
Spix,    J.    B,    und    Martins,    C.    F.    P., 

Reise  in  Brasilien,  18 17-1820  (Miin- 

chen,  1831),  139,  271,  315,  331,  439, 

608 
Sprenger,    A.,    Die    Alte    Geographic 

Arabiens  (Berlin,  1875),  424 
Sprenger,   F.    J.,  Malleus    Maleficarum 

(Venici,  1576) 
Stammler,  C,  Stellung  der  Frauen  (Ber- 
lin, 1877),  81,  83,  392,  407 
Starcke,  C.  N.,  The   Primitive   Family 

(New  York,  1889),  482,  489 
von  den  Steinen,  K.,  Naturvolker  Zen- 

tral    Brasiliens    (BerUn,    1894),    120, 

122,131,427,432^ 
von    den    Steinen,  K.,    Shingu    Tribes 

(Berlin  Mus.,  1888),  120,  131 
Stengel,   P.,  Die  Griechischen  Kultus- 

alterthiimer  (Aliinchen,  189S),  613 


Stevens,  H.  V.,  Frauenleben  der  Orang 
Belendas,  etc.  (Zeitschrift  fUr  Eth- 
nologie,  XXVIII,  163),  435 

Stieda,  L.,  Die  Infibulation  (Wies- 
baden, 1902),  448 

Stiles,  H.  M.,  Bundling  in  America 
(Albany,    1869),    528 

Stoll,  O.,  Suggestion  und  Hypnotismus 
in  der  Volkerpsychologie  (Leipzig, 
1904),  20,  1 18 

Strabo,  Geographica,  318 

Strange,  Sir  W.  T.,  Hindu  Law  (Lon- 
don, 1830),  384 

Strauss,  A.,  Die  Bulgaren  (Leipzig, 
1898),  367 

Strong,  J.  C,  Wakeenah  and  her  Peo- 
ple (New  York,  1S93),  271 

Stubbs,  W.,  Constitutional  History  of 
England  (Oxford,  1874),  83 

Stubbs,  W.,  Select  Charters  (Oxford, 
1874),  83 

Stuhlmann,  F.,  Mit  Emin  Pascha  ins 
Hertz  von  Afrika  (Berlin,  1894),  226, 
268,  318,  329 

Suetonius,  De  XII  Caesaribus,  234,  292 

Surtees  Society  (Vols.  LIX  and  LX), 
Manuale  et  Processionale  ad  usam 
insignis  Ecclesiae  Eboracensis  (Edin- 
burgh, 1875),  411 

Susemihl,  F.  K.  E.,  Geschichte  der 
Griechischen  Literatur  in  der  Ale- 
xandrlner  Zeit  (Leipzig,  1S91-1892), 
450 

Symonds,  J.  A.    See  Gozzi 

Symonds,  J.  A.,  The  Catholic  Reaction 
(London,  1S86),  47,  118,  258-259, 
601,  645,  648 

Symonds,  J.  A.,  The  Renaissance  in 
Italy  (London,  1875),  217,  231,  643, 
647-653 

Symonds,  J.  A.,  trans,  of  the  Life  of  B. 
Cellini  (New  York,  1888),  648-649 

Tacitus,  Germania,  319;  Annals,   283, 

319-  378,  577 
Temesvary,     R.,     Volksbrauche     und 

Aberglaube      in      der     GeburtshiLfe 

(Leipzig,   1900),  316,   518 
Tertullian,  de  Anima,   100;    Apologia, 

378 ;    de    Spectaculis,    570 ;   ad    Na- 

tiones,  570 
Thayer,  W.  M.,  Marvels  of  the  New 

West  (Noi-wich,  Conn.,  188S),  327 
Thomae  Aquinatis  Opera  Omnia  jussu 

impensaque     Leonis     XIII,     P.    M. 

(Rome,  1S92),  160,  193,  226,  243,  247, 


LIST  OF   BOOKS   CITED 


669 


595 ;    also    Opuscula   Omnia    (Paris, 

1534).  299 

Thomson,  J.,  Illustrations  of  China 
(London,    1S73),    434 

Tiele,  C.  P.,  Geschichte  der  Religion 
im  Alterthume  (Gotha,  1896),  81,  486, 
550,  555,  563 

Times,  The  New  York,  20S,  218,  235, 
326 

Todd,  J.  H.,  Life  of  St.  Patrick  (Dub- 
lin, 1864),  526,  620 

Tornauw,  Das  Moslimische  Recht 
(Leipzig,  1855),  455 

Trevelyan,  G.  M.,  England  in  the  Age 
of  Wycliffe  (New  York,  1S99),  531 

Two  Ways,  The,  316.  See  Apostolic 
Constitutions 

Tylor,  E.  B.,  Anthropology  (New  York, 
1881),  120,  187 

Tylor,  E.  B.,  Early  History  of  Man- 
kind (London,  1865),  125 

Ueberweg,  F.,  History  of  Philosophy 
(trans.)  (New  York,  1873),  613 

Uhland,  Geschichte  der  Dichtung  und 
Sage  (Stuttgart,  1865),  204,  370,  641 

Umschau,  Die, 91, 189,358, 425, 4S3,  531 

Valerius  Maximus,  Factorum  et  Dic- 
torum  Memorabilium  libri  novem, 
364,  378,  541,  569 

Vambery,  PL,  Sittenbilder  aus  dem 
Morgenlande  (Berlin,  1877),  303,  426, 

455 

Vanutelli,  L.,  e  Citemi,  C,  L'Omo 
(Milano,  1899),  145,  303,  322,  437 

de  Varnhagen,  F.  A.,  Historia  Geral  do 
Brazil  (Riode  Janeiro,  1854-1857),  272 

Venetian  Ambassadors.    See  Alberi 

Veth,  P.  T-,  Borneo's  Wester-Afdeeling 
(Zaltbommel,  1856),  421,  501 

Vinogradoff,  P.  G.,  Villainage  in  Eng- 
land (Oxford,  1892),  298 

Vissering,  W.,  On  Chinese  Currency 
(Leiden,  1877),  153 

Vitry.    See  Saint  Genois 

Volkens,  G.,  Der  Kilimandscharo  (Ber- 
lin, 1897),  148,  317,  339 

Wachsmuth,    Bauernkriege     (Raumer, 

Hist.  Taschenbuch,  V),  83,  297 
Waitz,    F.    T.,    Anthropologie    (1859- 

1872),  139.  sn,  432 

Wallon,  H.  A.,  L'Esclavage  dans 
I'Antiquite  (Paris,  1847),  282-283, 
2S9,  292 


Weinhold,  K.,  Die  Deutschen  Frauen 
in  dem  Mittelalter  (Wien,  1882),  154, 
204,  295,  319-320,  327,  370,  409-410, 
412-413,  434,  442-443.  469,  4S8,  526, 

529 
Wellhausen,  J.,  Die  Ehe  bei  den  Ara- 

bern  (Gottingen,  1893),  320,  358,  363, 

391,  488 
Wellhausen,    J.,    Skizzen     und    Vorar- 

beiten   (Berlin,    1887),  429,  504-506, 

562,  620 
Wellsted,    J.    R.,    Travels    in    Arabia 

(London,  1837),  535 
Westerhout,  R.  A.,  Het  Geslachtsleven 

onzer  Vorouders  in  de  Middeleeuwen 

(Amsterdam,  no  date),  530 
Westermarck,    E.,    Human     Marriage 

(London,  1891),  357,  4S1 
Whitmarsh,  H.  P.,  The  World's  Rough 

Hand  (New  York,  1898),  333 
Whitney,    W.    D.,    Language    and    the 

Study    of     Language     (New    York, 

1867),  134-136,  139 
Wiklund,  K.  B.,  Om  Lapparna  i  Sverige 

(Stockholm,  1899),  14 
Wilken,  G.  A.,  Huwelijks- en  Erfrecht 

bei    de    Volken    van    Zuid    Sumatra 

(Bijdragen  tot  T.  L.  en  V.-kunde  van 

Indie,  XL),  273 
Wilken,    G.     A.,     Volkenkunde     van 

Nederl.  Indie  (Leiden,  1893),  25,  273, 

275.  318'  334,  3^3^  484,  535 

Wilkins,  D.,  Concilia  Magnae  Britan- 
niae  et  Hibemiae,  446-1717  (Lon- 
don, 1737),  299,  401,  40S,  411- 
412 

Wilkins,  W.  J.,  Modern  Hinduism 
(London,  1887),  27,  62,  69,  224,  318, 
340,  388,  442,  545,  588 

Williams,  S.  W.,  The  Middle  Kingdom 
(New  York,  1883),  275,  51S 

Wilson,  C.  T.,  and  Felkin,  R.  W., 
Uganda  and  the  Egyptian  Sudan 
(London,   1882),  424,  436,  438-439 

Wilutsky,  P.,  Mann  und  Weib  (Breslau, 
1903),  3S2,  498 

Winckler,  H.,  Die  Gesetze  Hammura- 
bis  (Leipzig,  1902),  234,  277,  385 

Winter,  E.     See  Jastrow,  J. 

W^isen,  T.,  Om  Qvinnan  i  Nordens 
Forntid  (Lund,  1870),  402 

Wissowa,  G.,  Religion  und  Kultus  der 
Romer  (Miinchen,  1892),  568 

Wobbermin,  G.,  Beeinflussung  des 
Urchristenthums  durch  das  Myste- 
rienwesen  (Berlin,  1896),  567 


670 


FOLKWAYS 


Woodford,  C.  M.,  A  Naturalist  among 

the    Headhunters    (London,    1890), 

150,  187,  325 
Wiillestorff    und     Urbair,     Reise    der 

Novara    um    die     Erde,    1857-1859 

(Wien,  1861-1865),  316 
Wundt,  W.,Ethik  (Stuttgart,  1892),  424 

Xenophon,  Economicus,  360 ;  Sympo- 
sium, 587 

Xiphilin,  The  History  of  Dio  Cassias 
abridged  (trans,  by  Dr.  Manning) 
(London,  1704),  208 

Yriarte,  C,  La  Vie  d'un  Patricien  de 
Venise  (Paris,  1874),  149,  189,  259 

Yule,  H.,  Mission  to  Ava  in  1855  (Lon- 
don, 185S),  488 


Yule,  H.,  The  Book  of  Ser  Marco  Polo 
(London,  1903),  149 

Zappert,  G.,  Das  Badewesen  (Archiv 
fiir  Kunde  oesterreichischer  Ge- 
schichtsquellen,  XXI),  443 

de  Zarate,  A.  Gil,  Literatura  Espanola 
(Madrid,  1874),  596 

Zay,  E.,  Histoire  Monetaire  des  Colo- 
nies Frangaises  (Paris,  1892),  145 

Zeitschrift  fiir  Ethnologie,  25,  269,  314, 

332,  435.  440 
Zeitschrift  fiir   Vergleichende   Rechts- 

wissenschaft,  368,  454 
Zeitschrift  fiir  Volkerpsychologie,  4 
Zeitschrift  fiir  Volkskunde,  82 
Zimmer,  H.,  Altindisches  Leben  (Ber- 
lin, 1879),  315,  326,  353,  388,  428,  486 


r 


INDEX 


A  poste7-iori,  519 

Abandonment,  of  infants,   320 ;  of  old 

things,  324,  326 ;  of  the  weak,  327 
Abduction,  365,  3S4 
Abelard,  228 
Aberrations,   100,    102,    115,    149,    219, 

220,  260,  534,  547.579.  611 
Abolition,  89-90,   92-93,  99,   iii,    114, 

165,  168,  178,  211,  478 
Abomination,   109,   230,   233,   235,  23S, 

240,  314,  329,  336,  339,  357,  373,  430, 

451,  473,  480,  487,  490,  530,  539,  556, 

567,  628 
Aborigines,  109,  112,  121,  126,  128,  139, 

140.  314.  433.440,  445.  501 
Abortion,  io6,  308-320,  327-328 
Abuse,  58,  77,  92,  99,  102,  105-106,  1 14, 
167,  170-171,  209,  218,  223,  238,  252, 
259-260,  355,  367,  388,  471,  521-524, 

634 
Accident,  9,24,68,  135,441,445,489,573 
Accursed  man,  245 
Accused,  the,  250,  254,  523 
Achievement,   99,    loi,   106,    118,   132, 

162,  478 
Adaptation,  58,  73,  90,  95,  100,  1 20-1 21, 

127 
Adjustment,  5S-59,  78-79,  81,  83,  100, 

113,  312, 396,  419,  539 ;  of  inbreeding 

and  outbreeding,  350 
Admired,  desire  to  be,  426 ;  not  to  be,  428 
Adoption,  12,  no,  118,  122,  615 
Adultery,  69, 190,  334,  358,  360,  369,  378, 

380-381,  390,  403,  424,  467,  501,  529, 

574.  581-58-.  652;  of  man,  ^78,  403, 

413 
Advance,  100-102,  604,  630  ;  or  decline, 

99,  102 
Affectation,  57,  93,  175,   194,  197,  199- 

200,  220 
Affection,  182,  219,  268,  2S4,  320,  331, 

358,422,523;  conjugal,  361-366,371, 

403,  461 
Affinity,  397,  480,  488 
Aged,  the,  308-309,  322-327,  460 ;  two 

mores   as    to,    321-323;    respect  for, 

321,326;   beg  for  death,  325  ;  beg  for 

delay,  325-326;  are  spared,  328 


Agency,  25,  432,  501,  519,  537 
Agitation,  51-52,  76,  11 3-1 14,  178 
Aleatory  element,  the,  6,  11,  144,  313, 

321-322,  396,  509,  519 
Alexander  of  Macedon,  236,  504,  577 
Alexander  Severus,  288,  443 
Alexander  II,  89-90 
Alexander  IV,  254 
Alexander  VI,  11,  255,  598,  650 
Ambassador,  189.   See  Alberi  in  List  of 

Books  Cited 
America,  in,  113,   126,  167,  271,  275, 

382,  434,  454,  460,  52S,  549 
Amulets,  142,  146,  148,  155,  429,  437- 

438, 446,  449,  512, 516-517,  546 
Amusement,  35,  84,   100,  116,  193,  195, 

470,  533.  545.  560,  57--573'  577.  583- 
586,  599,  600,  603-605  ;  a  pitfall,  603  ; 
and  religion,  607 ;  renounced,  609 ; 
vicious,  583 
Ancestors,  13,  35,  55,  79,  85,  88,  loi, 
116,  134,  235,  382,  385,  430,  476,  561- 

563 
Andamanese,   149,  316,  322,  421,  453, 

459.  461 
Anglo-American  colonies,  304,  393 
"Animalism,  blank,"  650 
Animals,    1S1-1S2,    190,    357;     sacred, 

336;  trained  for  the  chase,  120 
Antagonistic  cooperation,  16-18,  49,  346 
Antidivorce,  115 
Anti-hero,  597 
Antiochus  Epiphanes,  615 
Antipolygamy,  1 1 5 
Antisensuality,  538 
Antisocietal,  500 

Apostles,  215,221,224,  243,469,  524,626 
Appetite,  21,  31,  99,  329-330,  346,  545, 

550.  552.  607-608,  612,  647 
Arabs,  14,  188,  264-265,  334,  340,  350, 

358,  363.  386,  391.  398,  423.  428,  455, 

459.  462,  488,  495,  505,  507,  512,  517, 

555-  557.  562  ^ 

Arbitrariness,  92,  94,  107,  113,  115,  426, 
Arguments,  fashion  in,  193 
Aristocracy,  45,  77,  94-95,  163-164,  16S, 

176,  183-184,  18S,  286,  302,  376,  387, 

505.  564 


671 


672 


FOLKWAYS 


Aristotle,  51,  278-279,  299,  315,  359, 
424,  602 

Ai-mengol,  152,  422-423 

Arms  swinging,  192 

Art,  5,  24,  39,  41,  70,  93,  97,  101-104, 
117-118,  124-128,  131-132,  201,  206, 
232,  266,  638,  645  ;  aesthetic,  426,  447, 
450,  474,  516;  of  living,  45,  81,  418, 
451-452;  of  criticism,  47  ;  of  the 
theater,  565 

Artifacts,  119,  123-124,   126-127,  132- 

^33^  450 

Artisans,  35,  47,  73,  83,  95,  100,  168, 
276,  283,  285,  288-289,  291,  294 

Arts,  III,  121,  131-133,  160,  175-176, 
193-194,  224,  589,  598,  609,  643  ;  lost, 
126;  mechanic,  112,  604;  fine,  135, 
604,  627;  of  fishing,  123;  the  stage 
of  the,  31 1-3 1 2  ;  advance  in  the,  321, 
327;  ecclesiastical,  617 

Asceticism  and  Ascetics,  loi,  116,  160, 
204-205,  212,  219-220,  224-225,  242, 
294-295,  340,  378,  380,  390,  401,  604, 
606,  608,  610-622,  626-627 

Association,  57,  60-62,  no,  171,  288, 
435.  493.  499.  526,  566,  593,  613, 
648 

Atellan,  234,  447,  569,  578,  581 

Augustinian  Hermits,  216,  624 

Augustus,  loi,  199,  280,  283,  288,  378, 

543 
Australia  and  Australian,  109,  119,  121, 

124,  131,  187,  316,  322,  330,  332,  339, 
346,  421,  436,  483,  497 

Autocracy,  77,  88-89,  ^9^^  244 

Autos-de-fe,  252 

Auto-suggestion,  19,  24,  201,  219,  633 

Babylon,  465,  538,  541,  551,  575 

Bagdad,  249,  430 

Baluchistan,  499 

Banishment,    209,    232,    333,   482,    486, 

502,  507 
Banking,  54,  169,  178,  193,  195 
Barbarian,    14,    54,    loo-ioi,    rii,    116, 

125.  397.  425-426,  445,  460,  467-468, 
474,  487.  534>  562,  576,  586,  629 

Barbaro,    186,  211,    257,    264-265,   276, 
292,    295.     See    Alberi    in    List    of 
Books  Cited 
Barbers  of  Bombay,  172 
Bareheaded,  improper  for  women,  456 
Barter,  142-144,  147,  149,  155 
Basivis.    See  Fawcett  in  List  of  Books 

Cited 
Basochiens,  594 


Bastardizing,  648 

Bath,  Bathing,  70, 100, 1 85, 420,  430,  436, 

440,  442-445'  451-452,  454,  511,  5H 

"  Beasts,"  546 

Beat  wives,  364,  370 

Beauty,  159,  187-189,  191-192,  343, 
365,  394,  446,  455,  518,  627,  644, 
650;  attracts  evil  eye,  517 

Beget,  compelled  to,  399 

Beghards,  217 

"  Benefit  of  marriage,"  390 

Bernard  Delicieux,  217 

Berry  jam,  140 

Betrothal,  358,  360,  382-383,  389,  398- 
399,  406,  410-412,  454 

Bible,  68-69,  81,  94,  109-110,  117,  154, 
175-176,  234,  236,  277,  313,  335,  340, 
356,  363-364,  377,  391,  398-399,  401, 
414,  430-431,455-456,487,  499,  502- 
503,  513,  515,  518,  526,  540,  542-543, 
.55f,  553-555,  565,  567,  614-616 

Bigamy,  414 

Biologs,  578-580,  582,  588,  596 

Birth,  67,  196,  317,  320,  354,  383,  389, 
432,  434 

Bishops,  226,  237,  242,  249,  460,  616, 
642 

Black  Death,  213 

Blood,  218,  235,  243,  254,  337-338,  353- 
354,  451,  469,  472,  479-480,  484,  491, 
496,  502,  505,  511,  541,  555,  570,  575, 
583,  607,  650;  lust  of,  247,  250;  seat 
of  the  soul  or  life,  336 ;  avenger  of, 
502;  nuptial,  511,  541;  atonement. 
506;  feud,  499,  501-502,  504-508; 
guilt,  333,  502,  505,  650;  money,  502; 
revenge,  334,  467,  496,  498-500,  501- 
502,  504-50S 

Bloodthirst,  182,  464,  570 

Body,  the,  103-104,  189,  315,424,  428- 
429,  431-434,  440,  443-  445-446,  45I' 
455,  515,  582,612-613 

Bombaria,  599 

Bonaventura,  217,  247,  624 

Bond,  352,  357 

Boniface  VIII,  259,  625 

Book  of  Covenants,  277 

Book  of  Henoch,  431 

Book  of  Jubilees,  431 

Books  of  beggars,  598 

Borgia  (see  Alexander  VI,  586) ;  Cesare, 
64,  519,  598;   Lucrezia,  598 

Borneo,  150,  269,  274,  304,  439,  442, 
446 

Boss,  48,  180 

Boys,  354,  367  ;  vs.  girls,  456,  518 


INDEX 


673 


Brazil,  122,  138-139,  271,  323,  325,  332 

446,  501 
Breed  in  and  out,  1 16,  492 
Breeding,  17,60,  106-108,192,316,350 

421,  43I'  454,  461,  472,  481,  490 
Bride,  18S-189,  366,  367,  397-398,  408 

410,  413,  456,  484-486,  516,  51S  ;  must 

weep,    367-36S ;    attendants    of    th 

366;    blows  on   a,    516;    her  mother 

killed  and  eaten,  338 
Bridegroom,    366,    370,    397-398,    4 

410,  51S;  is  ashamed,  367 
Bride-price,  154,  311-312,  317 
Brothels,  20S,  256,  370,  529-530 
Brothers  of  the  Free  Spirit,  218 
Buckley,  128 
Buddhism,  73,  iii,  117,   149,  159,  318, 

510 
Bull-baiting,  560,  586 
Bulls  of  popes,  248-249,  259,  590 
Bundling,  525-529 
Burlesque,  572-573,  578,  582,  590,  594; 

opera,  185 
Burning,  as  penalty,   59,  212,   233-234, 

237-239.  243-247,  254,  290,  336,  470- 

471,  486,   524,   555,   637;   the   dead, 

332  ;  widows,  388 
Bushmen,    24-26,    137,    264,    268-269, 

326,  346,  422 
Bustle,  190,  428 
Byzantine  empire,  99-100,  239,  449,  571, 

587 

Cacare,  445 

Caesar,  Julius,  286,  288,  519 

Calamity,  100,  210-21 1,  213,  235,  239, 

300,  313,  482,  4S6,  515,  519,  552,  555, 

608,  610,  617,  648 
Ca/aiidra,  596 
Caligula,  234,  286 
Caliphs,  430,  504-505 
Calisio  e  Jllelibwa,  596 
Cannibalism,     13,    316,    325-326,    329, 

336-341,  418,  451,  480,  546 
Cantelupe,  Walter  de,  411 
Cantica,  586 
Capital,  8,  9,  26,  83,  89,    162-163,  169, 

184,    2S5,    310,    352,    376-377,    439, 

643-644 
Carolina,  the,  254 

Caroline  Archipelago,  123,  340,  516,  533 
Carthage,  62,  81,   148,    183,   282,   541- 

543,  556,  559,  586 
Cat  knight,  599 
Catholicity,  15,  221-222,  244,  258,  503, 

531 


Cato  the  younger,  378,  569 

Cavalier  servente,  200 

Cellini,  650 

Centuries  (before  Christ) :  twenty-third, 
504,  552  ;  twelfth,  446  ;  tenth,  557  ; 
ninth,  615;  eighth,  554;  seventh,  234, 
555  ;  sixth,  566,  613;  fifth,  108,  467- 
468,  510,  565,  576,  612;  fourth,  104, 
107,  109,  180,  468,  510,  566,  578,  612  ; 
third,  409,  568,  580,  583,  612  ;  second, 
105,  281,  468,  557,  568,  580,  612  ;  first, 
281,  288,  294,  468,  569,  580,  612,  615  ; 
time  of  Christ,  565-566,  614,  617; 
(after  Christ) :  first,  104,  284,  287, 
289,  365,  569,  588,  617,  642;  second, 
loi,  104,  239,  285,  287-289,  339,  550, 
556,  569-570,  605,  617,  642;  third, 
224,  239,  293,  399,  525,  550,  577,  581, 
586,  618,  642;  fourth,  82,  96,  199, 
204,  219,  225,  237-239,  243,  289,  292- 

294,  319,  390,  404,  525,  550,  572,  577, 
581-582,  618-620;  fifth,  82,  108,  199, 
204,  215,  225-226,  238,  294,  447,  529, 
578,  582-583,  620,  623 ;  sixth,  204, 
211,  405,  526,  586-5S7,  590;  seventh, 
204,  211,  239,  276,  443,  587,  589; 
eighth,  211,  239,  298,  301,  408,  443, 
586,  590;  ninth,  211,  239,  298,  334- 
335,  406-408,  530,  586,  590-591,620; 
tenth,  211,  221,  430,  543,  591,  620; 
eleventh,  180,  221-222,  225,  229,  238, 
240,  244,  392,  407,  409-410,  462,  5S1, 

591,  620;  twelfth,  iSo,  223,  238,  240, 
244,  247,  253,  258,  298,  335,  370,  407, 
410-41 1,  412-413,  423,  488,  526,  591- 

592,  620,  641;  thirteenth,  88,  180, 
214-216,  222,  226-227,  231,  241,  243- 
246,  248-249,  257,  298-300,  332,  336, 
369-370,  413,  442-444,  460,  462,  471, 
524,  531,  593,  595,  597,  621-625; 
fourteenth,    165,    180-181,   227,   251- 

253,  257,  264,  299-300,  369,  413,  442, 
530-531,  586,  593-597,  599,  626,  633; 
fifteenth,  118,  i6r,  184,  189,  199,  230, 
250,  252-253,  255-256,  298-300,  369- 
370,  413,  442,  469,  472,  531,  586,  589, 
593-597, 599,  626,  644,  653  ;  sixteenth, 
86,  96,  118,  180,  189,  196-197,  199, 
229-231,  254,  257,  271,  290,  299-300, 
304,  320,  335,  371,  397,  400,413-415, 
442-444,  450,  460,  469-470,  524,  530- 

':}7,^^  540, 595-598,  600-602,  603,  627, 

644-645,  653;  seventeenth,  21,  79, 
86-87,  94,  96,  165,  190,  200,  230,  235, 

254,  263,  299-300,  367,  385,  388,  392, 
416,    442,    444,    448,    470,    488,    521, 


674 


FOLKWAYS 


527-52S,  601-603  ;  eighteenth,  21, 48, 
148,  165,  168,  190,  197,  207-208,  254, 
272,  299,  306,  367,  392,  407,  409,  416, 

478,  523,  527-528,  602;  nineteenth, 
44,  59,  89,  153,  166,  169-170,  191,  229- 
230,  270,  272,  304,  306,  33S,  353,  358, 
Z^l^  371.  388-389,  416,  448,  462,  485, 
505,  529,  531,  544,  557, 586-587,  632- 
633;  twentieth,  455 

Centuries,  221,  230;  the  fourth  to  the 
twelfth,  243;  the  thirteenth  to  the 
seventeenth,  247 ;  the  last  three  be- 
fore Christ,  105;  the  early  Christian, 
100,  103 ;  the  fourth  to  the  sixteenth, 
407 

Ceylon,  143,  273,  439 

Chaldea,  36,   349,  378,  388,  397,   550, 

55^-553'  562 
Charles  II,  257,  561 
Charles  V,  249,  647 
Charles  VII,  443 
Charms,  150,  393-394-  466,  517 
Chastity,  231,    356,  360-361,   418-421, 

473'   613-614;    pre-nuptial,  359;  for 

men,  359,  361 
Chauvinism,  15,  74 
Chevaliers  traiisis,  199  ' 

Child,  315,  317,  366,  384,  394,  441,  454, 

479.  5"'  513.  544 

Child  bearing,  269,  313,  315-316,  331, 

366,  399,  441,  458.  473-493.  497-  5"- 
513 
Children,  11-12,  30,  60,  84,  105-106, 
108,  112,  T16,  136,  183,  187,  205,  210- 
211,  214, 268-270,  273,  308-319,  345- 
354-  378,  383-  390-  396-  406,  424-  428, 
440-441,  447-449-  451-452,  473-476, 
492-497,  506-518,  534,  551-556,  559, 
562,  583,  589-590,  615-616,  628-629, 
632  ;  of  priests,  229;  of  popes,  256; 
of  slaves,  273,  301-302 ;  the  owner 
of  one's  own,  355,  428,  440-441,  447, 

449-  451-452 

China,  14,  71,  73,  108,  122,  132,  151, 
153,  218,  273,  275,  318,334-335,  375, 
451-453-  459-461,  51S,  549 

Chiusi,  the  Count  of,  216,  623 

Chosen  people,  14 

Chrysostom,  John,  191,  290,  294,  361, 
582 

Church,  69,  71,  82-83,  87-88,  94,  103, 
116-117,  160,  180-181,  183, 191,  204- 
230,  237-238,  242-260,  290,  297,  319, 
370,  375.  380,  382,  385-  391-  400,402, 
404,  406,  411-416,  449,  460,  567,  582, 
585-  590-592-  595-  598-599-  617-620, 


622-624,  626,  629,  635,  643-644; 
plays  in,  593,  595 ;  said  to  allow 
harlots,  529  ;  teachings  of  the,  240, 
246,  248,  260 ;  what  it  accomplished, 
230 ;  the  Spanish,  258 ;  character 
and  corruption  of  the,  256  ;  fathers 
of  the,  208,  240,  530;  policy  of  the, 
222  ;  at  the  church  door,  326 

Cicisbeo,  200 

Cistellaria,  543 

Civilization,  6,  14,  26,  31,  35,  48,  54-55, 
66,  78,  81,  86,  89,  99,  106-108,  no- 
il I,  123,  156,  158,  164,  183,  192,  206, 
211,  229-232,  236,  244,  264-266,  272, 
294,  307,  310,  314,  322-327,  347-352, 
355-358,  375-  387,  394-396-  413-  470, 
480,  494,  498,  506-507,  519,  525,  536, 
550-  563-  590,  592,  609,630-632,  635- 
639 

Clan,  354,  498 

Class,  and  classes,  39-53,  65-78,  86,  95- 
99,  107,  116,  163-179,  194-207,  223, 
229,  266-288,  294-295,  361-385,  403- 
425,  440,  451,461-479,  51S-52S,  559- 
579-  592-  644;  ruling,  165,  175-179. 
246-250  ;  upper  and  lower,  360,  376, 
386,  389,  404,  409-413,  526-527,  645  ; 
middle,  166,  169,  371,  376,  415,  452; 
envy,  595  ;  the  lowest  has  the  evil 
eye,  517;  the  cultured  and  leading, 
45-49,  62-65,  71,  88-100,  572-573, 
582,  592,  594,  603 ;  the  lowest  free, 
371,  3S5,  404-405,  422,  543 

Clay-waggon,  588 

Clean  and  unclean,  509,  511-513,  515, 
611,  653 

Clement  V,  212,  257,  299,  524 

Clement  VII,  649 

Cloistering  women,  386,  515 

Cluny,  222-223 

Code,  59-78,  85-86,  95-109,  163-175, 
19S-207,  234-249,  313,  322,  360-375, 
381-386,  408-422,  451-463,  471-475, 
541,  565,  574,  631-653 

Colonies,  78,  86,  108,  162,  167,523,  528, 

571 
Colonna,  Vittoria,  651 
Combination,  17-20,  in,  132-134,200, 

354,489-  611 
Comedy,  38,  227,  238,  448-45I'  574-575- 

591-602,  652;  classical,  594,  599,  603 
Co !?i media  del  arte,  600—602 
Commensality,  456,  495 
Commerce,    49,   63,   74,    163-164,   216, 

224,  228,  270,  278,  284-285,  474,  615, 

627 


INDEX 


675 


Common  man,  the,  170 
Competition,   17,   29,   92,   193;  of  life, 
16,  29,  39,  85,  163-164,  197,265-266, 

327 
Composition,  356;  of  quarrel,  150;  by 

payments,  499,  501,  507 
Concubinage,    116,   227,  256,  318,  376, 

404-406,  414,  626 
Concubines,    227-228,    277,    297,    301- 

303.  367.  374-375.  390-399.  403.  551. 

652;  clerical,  227,  230,  256 
Conditions,  38-55,  63-68,  72-80,84-90, 

95-102,  109-118,   131,   158-166,   178, 

258,  267,  292,  319-327.  348-359.  373- 

382,  396-399,  419,  424.. 543.  552.  624, 

636,  646 ;    of  human   life,   464,    499, 

540 
Congo,  145,  187,  268,  330-331 
Congo,  the  French,  334,  339 
Conjugal  love,  364 
Conjuncture,    51,    53,   75,   85,  99,    loi, 

124,  163,  312,  319,  395,  552,  5S0 
Conrad,  Bishop  of  Hildesheim,  242 
Conrad  of  Marburg,  611 
Conservatism,  45,  80,  107,  163,  250,  534 
Constantine,    234,    290-291,    319,    443, 

541,  572,  584,  618 
Constantinople,  589;  Council  of,  225 
Constitutio  de  lYnptiis,  408 
Constitution,  50,  65,  166,  222,  525 
Consummation  of  marriage,  389,  397- 

399,  401,  409,  412-414,  458  ;  deferred, 

366 
Contagion,  50,  116,  131,  152,  196,  210, 

219,  509-510 
Conventionalization,  22,68-70,  185,348, 

538.  545.  547-548,  551-552 
Conventions,   143,  193,  363,   419,  421, 

445-447.  493.  565.  570,  574.  597.  652 
Conventuals,  216,  625 
Convictions,   29,   32,   59,  98,    105-106, 

114-118,  170,  200,  219,  250,  361,475, 

494.  559.  606-607,  627,  644 
Cooperation,  15-20,  28,  35,  47,  53,  61, 

79.  90.    132-134.    140-141.   205,   219, 

231.  305-306,  347.  349.  396,  415.  548, 

629 
Corporation,  96,  375,  468,  502 
Correlation,  9-12,  403;    of   dress  and 

chastity,  419;  of  goodness  and  hap- 
piness, 593 
Corruption,  69,  88,  102,   170,  181,  318, 

360,  370,  375,  420,  552-557,  570,  581, 

584,  609,  623,  627 
Council  of  Trent,  407,  414-415 
Council  of  Trullanum,  443 


Counter  suggestion,  92 

Country,  new,  80,  162,  164,  376,  634 

Courtesan,  100,  256,  426,  457,  541,  545, 

548-549,  568,  588 
Cranmer,  Thomas,  229 
Credit,  36,  54,  144,  161,  224,  263,  267, 

276,  296,  304,  456 
Criticism,  22-24,  55.  73-74.  76,  95.  102, 

108,  118,  171,  179-180,  185,  195,205, 

222-223,  230,  449.  465-467.  476,  508, 

524,  530,  547,  568,  603,  625,  632-635 
Crosses,  yellow,  251-252 
Crowd,  15-21,  24,  47,  214-215,  220,  242, 

368,  370, 570, 572-574,  581-582,  587- 

588,  592-593,  609,  623 
Crucifix,  23,  176,  450-451,  472 
Cruelty,  72,  182,  239-240,  250,  256-257, 

269,  271,  324,  471,  522-523,  539,  569- 

571,  583,  618,  621,  626 
Crusades,  10,  58,  87,  205-214,  223-224, 

370,  443,  469-470,  474.  636,  642 
Cidlagiiim^  227 
Custom,  4-12,  25,30,35,  45,  54-58,76- 

82,90-91,  109,  116,  131,  135,  143,  184- 

185,  190,  197,  202,  238,  242,  247 
Cutting  with  stone  ax,  130 
Cynicism,  198,  227,  569,  618 


211 

457 
548, 
■599 


213, 

-458. 
561- 


Dance,  in,  135,  152,  191.  195, 

425-426,  436-438,  446,  449. 

469,  526-527,  533-534,  545. 

564,  568-569,  575.  583.  588- 
Dandy,  188-189,  573.  579 
Dar\vin,  Charles,  47 
Darwinians,  632 
Daughter-in-law,  367 
Daughters,  27,  145,  202,  234, 

363.  397.  418,  421-423.  483- 

497.  542,  546,  555;  love  for, 

wealth,  273,  317;  are  sold, 

312,  355  ;  many  are  a  curse, 
Dead,  the,  26,  29,   108,  146, 

393,  469,  506,  512,  514,  613, 
Debt,  89,  144,  151,  156,  178, 

272-276,  300;  slavery,  267- 
Deceased  wife's   sister,    480, 

506 
Decency,  57,  69,  171,  195,  231,  418-445, 

451-456,  469-473,  521,  544-545,  575- 

577.    595-598;  and   dress,   436,  443; 

lacking,  435-436  ;  impossible,  441 
Decent  and  indecent,  545-551,  565-572, 

585-590,  608 
Decrees  of  Trent,  415 
Decretals  of  Gratian.    See  Corpus  Juris 

Canonici  in  List  of  Books  Cited 


320, 

358, 

-489, 

491. 

356 

are 

275. 

277. 

312 

195. 

243' 

621 

263- 

269, 

-269, 

273 

501- 

-502, 

676 


FOLKWAYS 


Decretals,  the  pseudo-Isidorian,  237 
Deformation,    183,    189-192,  203,   429, 

573.  575.  597  .  . 
Degrees  of  suspicion,  253 
Deioces,  430 

Deities,  women  offensive  to,  512 
Delicieux,  Bernard,  217,  241,  625 
Delusion,  32,  57,  loi,  163,  181,  210-221, 

23I'  553.  633 
Democracy,  63,  76,  88,  98,  102-106,  163, 

176-180,  194,  206,  220,  230,  278,300, 

376,  468,  579,  630-632,  637 
Demonax,  571 
Demonism,  81,  loo-ioi,  116,  211,  237, 

397,  509-519.  520,  531-532,  562,  567, 

620 
Demons,   176,  218,  237-239,  262,  353, 

397,  446-447,  548,  564,  567,  577,  590, 

608,  612 
Density  of  population,  502,  540 
Desires,   146,   154,    178,   200,  204,  208, 

214,  230,  237,  240,  346,  355,  393,  401, 

422,  607,  617,  627,  632,  647 
Despotism,  64,  218,  249,  254,  286,  302, 

Dexterities,  2,  5,  119,  129,  132,  203,629 
Dickens,  Charles,  179 
Diego  Hurtado  de  Mendoza,  597 
Digest  in  the  Corpus  Juris  Civilis,  240, 

284-289,  293,  360 
Dionysus,  servants  of,  449 
Directorhitu  iiiqidsitoriun,  257 
Discipline,  12-13,  47-4^,  53,  60-72,  92, 

112,  121,  205,  212,  217,  220-222,  231- 

233,  242,  255-256,  390,  396,  483,  495, 

522,  532,  562,  593,  607,  617,  625-626, 

638 
Disease,   27,    50,  80-81,  102,  112,   114, 

142,  146,  152,  171,  192,  210,  219,  440, 

500,  509-511,  523,  531,  536,  628,  630 
Disillusion,  178,  380 
Disorder,  56,  90,  loo-ioi,  590 
Dissent,  75,  95-96,  107,   174,   192,   215, 

220-221,  232-233,  255-256,  530,  569 
Dissenter,  95-97,  195,  200,  222,  230,  232, 

235,  241-249,  255,  259-260,  621 
Distinction,  142,  182-183,  186,  192,  202- 

203,  219,  648 
District,  the  Fifth,  of  Maryland,  115 
Dithyrambics,  77,  163 
Divarra,  i  50 
Divorce,  84,  1 15,  117,  198,  342,  353,  360, 

377-381,  400,  413,  416,  424,  551 
Doctrines  and  mores,  46;  Jeffersonian, 

51 
Documents,  403,  405,  642 


Dogma,  59,  65,  84-86,  93-94,  97,  100, 
118,  213,  221,  227-228,  260,  266,  306, 
400,  450,  465,  469,  503,  509-510,  513, 
515,  5'9-52o,  537,  585,  591,  605,  607, 
626 

Dogmatism,  political,  59,  240 

Dominic,  216,  246-247,  623 

Dominicans,  217,  243,  249 

Dominion,  114,  116,  118;  spread  of, 
140,  261,  284,  300,  625,  631,  636;  of 
man  over  wife  and  daughters,  355, 
371  ;  of  custom,  473 

Domitian,  208,  289 

Don  Juan,  597 

Donatio  propter  miptias,  404 

Donatists,  210,  219 

Dos,  404 

Drama,  61,  68,  70,  78,  220,  227,  239, 
471,  537'  545-608,  613.  See  Mimus ; 
folk  drama,  583,  590,  595 

Dresden  Museum,  331 

Dress,  5,  69-72,  92,  96,  iii,  171,  184- 
186,  190-198,  203,  243,  419,  424-426, 
429,  432-447,  469,  521,  530,  564,  577, 
615  ;  pattern,  147,  153 ;  left  off,  424- 
425,  439  ;  relation  of,  to  decorum  and 
chastity,  437  ;  the  bride's,  409;  even- 
ing, 428,  440 

Drift  of  the  mores,  87,  99,  141 

Drink,  a,  84,  234,  267,  462,  546,  585,  61 1 

Drinking,  not  to  be  seen,  459 

Drunkenness,  454,  469,  478,  549,  560 

Du  Maurier,  193 

Duels,  153,  508 

Dundreary,  Lord,  43,  576 

Dyak,  142,  274,  314,  339,  421,  436,  439, 
442,  459,  484,  501 

Eabani,  536 

East,  the,  104,  iii,  149,  441,  443,  474, 

544,  571,  587 
Eating  and  drinking,  191,  334,  427,  458- 

459,    462-463,    469,    497,    513,    516; 

spouses      together,      409 ;      unclean 

things,  615 
Ecclesiastics,  82-92,  117,  139,  169,  184, 

222-226,  228,  237,  240,  245,  254-257, 

290,  369,  407-412,  448,  472,  489,  582- 

595,  619-622,  632,  644,  650 
Edward  II,  257 
Edward  VI,  256 
Effigies,  votive,  80 
Egoistic  reference,  21 
Egypt,  36,  74,  117,  234,  264,  299,  336, 

349,   353,    432,    434,    448,    474,    485. 

505,  510,  538,  541,  577,  5S0,  587 


INDEX 


677 


Egyptians,  26,  no,  182,  236,  31S,  336, 
339.  433.  438,  446,  458,  485>  518,  544. 
553>  630 

Elisha,  10,  277 

Elite,  the,  103,  206 

Elizabeth  of  England,  257 

Elizabeth  of  Thuringia,  205 

Embryology,  481,  496 

Emigration,  36,  96,  105,  108,  209,  310, 
528 

Empire,  82-83,  92-93,    loi,    103,    106, 

116,  208-218,  222,234-237,242,  254- 
256,  282-295,  318-319,  360,  365,  371, 
390,  406,  447,  503,  525,  559,  580-587, 
590 

Endogamy,  31S,  343,  350,  482-485 

Enfans  sans  Sotict,  594 

England,  45,  82,  114,  126,  143,  166, 
177,  190,  197,  209,  229,  256-257,  273, 
306,  382,  385,  392,  411,414,  455,470, 
490,  522-524,  527,  561,  597,  631,  635 

Englishman,  73,  82,  87,  92,  in,   116- 

H7,  383-389.  435-444.  450.  454,  474, 

478,  643 
Enslavement,  226,  279,  283,  297,  300, 

468 
Environment,    17,    19,  63,  68,   73,    113, 

159,  376,  463-464,  507 
Envy,  105,  117,  158,  165,  184,  373,  466, 

515-519,  574,  595 
Epic  poems,  174-175,  536,  640,  642 
Epidemics,  23,  210,  215,  219,  443 
Epiphanius,  542 
Epithet  names,  296 
Epithets,  13,  176,  179,  484,  573 
Equal,  all  are,  164,   284;  all  members 

are,  288-289;  ^-'^  Moslems  are,  301- 

302 
EquaUty,    39,   43-44,    48,    59,   92,    162, 

290-291,    366,    372,    376,    379,     542, 

575,  648 
Error,  9,  32-33,  49,  58,  95,  99,  102,  114, 

117,  126,  128,  140,  162,  359,  471,  476, 
478, 483, 627, 633-634, 636-637 ; curve 
of  probable,  40 

Eskimo,  14,  25,  109,  I21-122,  142,  152, 
323,  3-5,  382,  422,  433,  441,  4S5, 
501,  512,  514 

Essenes,  430,  445,  615 

d'Este,  Alphonso,  601 

Ethics,  33-38,  78,91,  114,  137,  158-164, 
174,  201,  228,  232,  243,  310,  320-321, 

347-353,  464,  477,  547,  618 
Ethnocentrism,  13-15 
Ethology,  36-37,  70-74,  561,  597 
Ethos,  36-37,  59 


Euphrates   valley,    236,   386,   504,    536, 

555-556 
Eve,  193,  414,  444 
Evil,  58,  76,  99,  loi,  227,  259,  307,  359, 

420,  444,  469,  481,  488,  491-492,  525, 

529-530,  550,  552,  606 
Evil   eye,  the,   25,  386,    429,  433,  459, 

509-510,  515-519 
Eveans,  263,  268 
Exaggeration,   184,  192,   197,  203,  231, 

485,  575-578,  599.  642,  645 
Excess,    102,    197,   204,    212,    225,   256, 

359.  419-420,  428,  468-470,  521,  531, 

536-537.  544,  560,  562,  575,  605-606, 

646,  650 
Excluded,  the,  from  a  monopoly,  t,J2 
Execution,  195,  209,  234,  240,  242-246, 

250-260,  295,  464-465,  470,  522,  530, 

Exiit  qui  seminat,  625 

Exogamy,  12,  350,  397,  482,  485 

Exorcism,  123,  446 

Expediency,  19,  56,  60-61,  68,  76,  So, 
92,  99,  119,  192,  309-310,  321,  40c- 
401,  418-419,  490,  546,  606,  610,  640, 

644 
Experiment,  2,  3,  70,  121,  125,  130,  155, 

192,  261,  419,  424,  463,  495,  606,  652 
Exposure  of  infants,  313,  318-320,  322, 

420-421,  425,  427,  430,  434,  441,  451- 

452,  458 

Extermination,  17,  212,  241,  243,  246, 
260,  264 

Extravagances,  57,  86,  185,  192,  200, 
202,  204,  212,  248,  275,  469-470,  472, 
506,  530,  561,  602,  610-61 1,  626 

Eymerich,  257 

Ezzelino  da  Romano,  247,  524,  599 

Fabulous  story  of  Francis,  624 
Factions,   18,    228,  259,   282,   524,   5S3, 

595 
Faculty,  critical,  633 
Fads,  57,  78,  93,  191,  197-198,  218,  220, 

644-645 
"  Faith,"  the,  595 
Falsehood,  i8i,  195,  199,  207,210,  371, 

627,  639-642 
Familiar,  450,  574,  611 
Familiarity,  22,  35,  61,  80,  233,  3S9,  452- 

453,  494,  531 

Family,  8,  35,  102,  112,  123,  140-141, 
151,  164-166,  172,  196,  205-206,  234, 
251,  258,  342-343,  345-356,  366-368, 
376-379,  381-382,  463,  493-496,  501 ' 
549-556,  616,  619-621,  628-629 


678 


FOLKWAYS 


Fanaticism,  52,  100,  239,  243-244,  252, 
472,  621 

Fashion,   22,  47,   57,  94,   112,   124,  130, 
146,  148,  168,  184-186,  188-191,  194- 
220,  307,  356,  386,  426-428,  444-446, ' 
522,  573.  595'  603,  631,  634,  644 

Father  family,  109,  112,  322,  332,  354- 
35^.  378,  380,  397.  467.  479.  484-485. 
494,  502,  533 

Fear,  18,  33,  210,  212,  285,  309,  320, 
333^  383.  422,  425,  428,  484,  573,  609 

Fecundity,  484 

Feet,  127,421,  427,  434,  455;  of  Chinese 
women,  450 

Female,  466,  535-536;  seeks  male, 
343  ;  characteristics,  343,  394 ;  in- 
fants killed,  363 

Ferocity,  212,  231,  233,  469,  508,  522, 
524,  557,  563.  652   ■ 

Fetich,  51,  125,  274,  337,  345,  620-621 

Fiendishness,  212 

Fig  gesture,  518 

Figures,  448-451  ;  of  speech,  468,  496; 
stereotyped,  of  comedy,  447,  577,  580, 

591 
Figure,  on  a  crucifix,  472 
Fire,  130-133,  203,  213,  346,  497,  499, 

512-513,  554 

Fiscus,  292-293,  298 

Fish,  119-T23,  429,  608 

Fit,  that  which  is,  466;  the  least,  491 

Flagellation,  23,  211,  213,  445,  593 

"  P^lesh,"  the,  567,  612 

"  Flesh,  one,"  414 

Floralia,  568-569 

Florus,  Joachim  de,  216,  253 

Folkways,  106,  119,  132-133,  157,  224, 
245,  261,  309,  312-313,  328,  343,  346- 
347,  350,  354-355,  393'  400,  417-418, 
421,  440,  445,  463-474,480-482,  493- 
494,499,  506,  509,  528,  549,  552,  562, 

573,  593.  63I'  634 
Food  quest,  3,  21,  31,  120,  123,  31 1,  347, 

351.  561 
Food  supply,  26,  30,  1 19-120,  122,  210, 

269,  305'  312-317'  33O'  333.  337-341, 
447,  450,  459,  535'  550-  563,  613,  622 

Foods,  82,  151,  191,  357,  474,  497,  513, 
530,  540,  546,  607,  611,  615 

Fool,  the  theatrical,  594 

Foreskin,  448 

Fork,  331,  462 

Formality,  454  ;  of  marriage,  67 

Formula  for  luck,   etc.,   123,   372,  389, 

397-399'  403,  566 
Formularies  of  the  Inquisition,  253 


Foundations,  pious,  644 

Foweira,  438 

France,  14,  86,  165,  190,  247,  298,  301, 

304,  310,  338,  392,  414,  416,  460,  472, 

561,  589,  593-598,  602,  635 
Francis  d'Assisi,  215-216,  246-247,  622- 

626 
Franciscans,     216-217,    242-243,     252, 

622-626 
Franks,  298  ;  the  Salic,  495 
Fraternities,  595,  598 
Frederick  II,  emperor,  87,  247-249, 254- 

256,  508 
Frederick  III,  409 
Frederick  the  Great,  93 
Free  trade,  114,  631 
Friars,  the  preaching,   299,   622,  624- 

625 
Friendship,  mystical,  610 
Frivolity,    45,   57,   186,    189,    212,    557, 

583 
Fructification  of  the  date  palm,  535,  540, 

548 
Frugality,  150,  452,  625 
Fruine7itaria,  281 
Fun,  263,  471,  521,   528,   534,   573-574, 

577-578,  583.  590,  594,  599.  600,  602 
Funny  or  shameful,  451,  574 
Fusion  of  two  lives,  372,  375,  415 
Fuss  about  nothing,  582 
Fussy  old  man,  601 
Future,  the,  59,  73,  88,  165,  368,  510 

Gambling,   195,  207,  271,  273,  275,  530, 

560,  578  ;  places,  55,  208 
Game,  25,  S4-S5,    120,    193,   207,    324, 

339,  378,  441,  468,  470,  524,  527,  561, 

569-571,  5S3,  5S5-586 
Gaiidharva  marriage,  362,  365 
Garter,  450 
Gaul,  557,  5S5 
Geelvinkbai,  314 
General  in  triumph,  518 
Genitals,  430-433 
Genius,  41-42,  44,   344,  628,  648-649; 

of  the  Romans,  5S3 
Gentiles,  14 

Gentleman,  204-207,  603 
Germ  units,  48 1 
Germans,    Si-83,    loi,    140,    154,    293, 

295'  297'  306,  318,  326,  385,  409-410, 

443,  469,  475-478,  53S,  543'  559,  586, 

632,  641,643 
Germany,  14,  63,  92,  97,  196,  214,  298, 

406,  412,  414,  434,  443,  47S,  527,  593, 

597'  599.  635 


INDEX 


679 


Gerson,  227,  370 

Gesture,  191,  420,  426,  442,  448,  455, 

564.  573.  575'  5S2,  588 
Ghost  fear,  3,  7,  28-30,  67,  79,  346 
Ghosts,  3,  9,  13,  28-32,   123,   146-147. 

195'  235.  275.  309.  3^3'  333.  336-387' 

430-43 1'  465.  496'  499'  506,  562,  566, 

569,  607-608,  610 
Gilgamesh  story,  536 
Girdle,  188,  323,  426,  43^-433'  437-439' 

448,  456,  531 
Girls,  303,  313-318,  358,  382-3S4,  397, 

421,  428,  440-443.  453.  497.  513.  534. 

541,  544,  549 

Gladiators,  570-572,  584,  586,  649 

Gladness,  religious,  107 

Glass,  130,  151,  176,471 

Glory,  54,  150,  202,  266,  355,  3S6,  504, 

571,  576,  614,  648 
Go-betweens,  580 
Goblinism,  7,  26,  30,  33-34,   132,   I95. 

203,  235,  313,  333,429,  433.  435.  446, 

496,  506,  510,  608 
God,  the  highest,  103;  the  true,  159- 

160,  213,  216,  231,  238,  243,  259,275, 

291,  301,  401,  430,  445,  466-467,  469, 

496,  513,  526,  536,  540,  543,553-558, 

582,  591,  614-617,  621 
God,  the  word,  566 
Goddess,  358,  362,  451,  466,  536,  541- 

542,  543-  548,  550-552'  556'  563 
Gods,  heathen,   69,   103-108,   123,   159, 

174,  210,  237-239,  275,  295,  362,  385, 
397,  402,  405,  430,  433,  45i'465,  505, 
536-  53S,  541,  545.  549'  555.  5S1-588, 
608-609,  611-618,  643;  intervention 
of,  85  ;  teaching  of,  28 

Gods  eat  souls,  336 

Gold,  142,  147,  149,  153-157 

Good,  204;  say  naught  but,  195;  the 
highest,  161  ;  and   ill,   loi,   159,   231, 

346-347 
Good  cheer,  447  ;  fellowship,  168,  363, 

643  ;  living,  641  ;  looks,  191  ;  nature, 

363;  sense,   347,   363;  woman,  394; 

works,  255 
Goodness  and  badness,  58,  79,  102,  471 
Goodness  and  happiness,  8,  lo-ii,  204 
Gospel,  214-217,  626;  the  eternal,  253 
Government,  12,  115,  164,  167-170,  177, 

209,  280,  338,  474,  499-500,  507,  650 
Gracioso,  594 
Graft,  170,  634 
Graves,  26,  127,  512-513 
Great,  the,  252,  573 
Great  men,  152,  154 


Great  Mother,  the,  562 

Grecian  bend,  190 

Greece,  36,  159,  180,  199,  447-448,467, 

497'  56S,  571-  575-577-612 
Greek    civilization,    106-116,    203-204, 

236,  468 
Greeks,   11,    14,  62,   94,   103,   105,   160, 

174,  180,  194,  279,  282,  318,  326,362, 

375'  390,  430,  447,  449,  465-468,  471, 

474-  513,  518 
Gregory  I,  401 

Gregory  VII.    See  Hildebrand 
Gregory  IX,  212,  216,  248 
Growth  demons,  447,  449,  577-578 
Guardian,  next  male,  354,  407,  410 
Guest  friend,  12,  505,  533 
Gui,  Bernard,  252 
Guicciardini,  644 
Guycurus,  138,  271,  315,  325 
Gyges,  10 

H,  116 

Habit,  2,  3,  24,  28,  34,  46,  60-62,  77,  90, 

100,  107,  132,  136,  141,  165,  16S,  171, 

176,  196-197,  331,  363,  421,  424,435- 

439,  443'  461,  494-495'  5^3'  535-  629, 

633 
Habitat,  137,  352 
Hair,  a  woman's,  sacrificed  for  herself, 

556 
Half-civilization,  96,  iii,  362-363,  397 
Hamilton,  Alexander,  631 
Hammurabi,  233,  276-277,  486,  550 
Hand,  only  the  left  used,  457 
Hansa,  63,  183,  530 
Hanswurst,  594,  597 
Hardship,  160, 164,276,311,313,328,617 
Harem,  iii,  249,  334,  349 
Harlot,  234,  457,  529-531,  537 
"  Harlot,  the  Great,"  538 
Harlotry,  sacral,  375,418,  534-548,  551" 

552,558 
Hate,  95,  no,  212,  217^  231-232,  238- 

240,  263,  299,  302,  524,  646,  653 
Head,  20S,  210,  431,  433-434-  465.  505  ; 

woman's,  in  church,  455-456,  582 
Head-hunting,  13,  272,  274 
Heathen,   in,   117,224,  23S-239,  488, 

543.  558-559.  570,  590,  595.  616 
Heloise,  228 

Heredity,  84,  461,  493,  496 
Heresy,  209-217,225-251,253-259,626, 

637 
Heretic,   21,   23,  95-96,    210-220,   231- 
238,  240-247,  253-259,  300,  522,623, 
625-626  ;  definition  of  a,  242-253 


68o 


FOLKWAYS 


Hero,  90,  93,  95,  lOi,  105,  118,  174-175, 

180,  198,  200,  203,  217,  255-256,  297, 
324,  326,  402,  464-466,  517,  536,  543, 
573'  577-581,  597>  617,  622,631,640- 
642,  650-652 

Heroine,  430,  536,  613 

Hervis,  Romance  of,  298 

Hildebrand,  or  Gregory  VII,  225-227, 

229 
Hindoos,  27,  73,  91-92,  362,  383,  389, 

450.  457,  459,  417,  545,  588  ;  wife,  365 

Hindostan,  143,  188,  224,  332,  340,  366, 
378,  442,  448,  544,  547 

Historyism,  636 

Hohenstaufen,  370 

Holiness,  70,  213,  224-225,  255,  515, 
567,  608-619 

Holy,  340,  446,  505,  551;  fire,  123; 
Ghost,  625;  Land,  214,  592,  620; 
Office,  247,  252-259  (see  Inquisi- 
tion) ;  Scriptures,  245,  340 

Homer,  108-109,  154,  199,  278,  335, 
465-466,  487,  510,  517,  564,  641 

Honor,  82,  109,  172,  245,  258,  322-323, 
356,  364,  390,  425,  438,  451-452,  457- 
458,  463-464,  473,  502,  541,  652 

Horde,  48,  481 

Horn,  120,  127,  128-129 

Horses,  271,  425,  516-517 

Hottentots,  269,  318,  325,  433,  460 

House  of  Commons,  523 

Howard,  1 14,  523 

Hrotsvitha,  591 

Humanitarianism,  39,  78,  98,  114,  179- 

181,  195-198,  203,  239,  262,  270,  287, 
290,  306,  327,  468,  523 

Humbug,  57,  175,  256;  no,  574 

Humiliati,  216-217,  622 

Humility,  97,  215,  243,  366 

Hungary,  92,  316,  503,  518 

Hunger,  18,  32,  250,  324,  326,  331,  341, 

346,  459 
Huskisson,  Mr.,  509 
Hyksos,  264 
Hypocrisy,  217,  252,  255-256,  368,  601, 

619,  627 
Hysteria,  23,  210,  219 

Ibsen,  198 

Iceland,  320,  326,  408 

Ideal,  32,  57,  96,  99,  137,  174-175,  186- 
191,  201-207,  216,  220,  223,  286,  315, 
367,  371-37  5'  405,  415,  417,  466,  476- 
477,  491,  503,  505,  561,  610,  624-625, 
630 

Ideal  man  of  his  time,  the,  624 


Idealization,  202,  355-359,  362 

Ignatius,  407 

111,  how  to  avert,  517 

Ills  of  life,  6-8,  211,  218,  553 

Illuminati,  197 

Imagination,  32-33,93,98,176,201-202, 

233, 250,  zz(>-zzi 

Imaginative  element,  32,  649-650,  652 
Imitation  of  the  rich  and  great,  386 
Immigrants,  86,  116,  209,  310 
Immodesty,  379,  434,  437,  445 
Immoral,   no,  217,  227,  418,  432,440, 

549'  585'  598 
ImpaUng,  182,  236 
Imperialism,  98,  579 
Implicita  fides,  255 
Impostors,  the  three  great,  249,  253 
Improper  to  be  seen  and  known,  450, 492 
Impropriety,  331,    368,   418,   427,   434, 

442,  451,  453-455'  458'  545'  594,  653 
Inbreeding,  350,  481-482,  485-486,  492 
Inca,  337,  480,  486 
Incest,  109,  233-234,  318,  334,  418,  479, 

483-487  ;  what  is  not,  479-480,  488- 

489,  490-492,  551 
Incestuous  sects,  546 
Indecent,  366,  421,  425,  428,  430,  439- 

440,  444,  448,  458.     See  Decent 
India,  22,  27,  36,  71-75,  109,   113,  125, 

153,  309,  315'  318,  322,  331,  352,  367, 

383-385,  388,  393'  409,  428,  450,  457, 

500,  516-517,  545-546,  5S6,  588,  611 
Indians,  American,  11,48,  84,  108,  113, 

121,  126,  129-131,  133,  152,  182,  186, 

262,  270-272,  315,  323-324,  339,  433, 

438-439,  442,  446,  454,  459'  461,  474, 

483,  497-498,  549,  639 
Indians  of  Central  America,  81 
Indians  of  Hindostan,  26,  84 
Indianizing,  84 
Individual,  73,   100,  107,   141,  159,  174, 

181-185,  192,  194,  196,200,  208,  220, 

309,  346,  382,  463-464-  467,  469,  473 
Individualism,  98,  646,  652 
Individuality,  24,  43,  73,  370 
Individualization,  70,  74 
Industriousness,  150,  465 
Inertia,  46,  75,  79 
Infamy,  258,  361 
Infanticide,  58,  109,   117,  174,  308-312, 

316-321,  327-328,  333,  484,  553 
Infibulation,  448 
Ingenuity,  120-121,  126,  131-133,  481, 

522,  546,  649;  in  torture,  465 
In-group,  12,  15,  29,  116,   148,  263,  331, 

Z2>1>^  496,  498-500,  503 


INDEX 


68 1 


Inheritance,  76,  131,  162,  165,  245,305, 
396,  414-415-  478,  481,  495'  502,  538 
Innocent  III,  240,  244,  247,  392,  595 
Innocent  IV,  249,  254 
Innocent  VIII,  227,  256 
Innocent  XI,  600 
Innovations,  87,  93,  168,  455,  609 
Inquisition,  217,  222,  236,  242,  244,  246, 

24S,  250,  252-259,  625 
Inquisitorial  process,  242 
Inquisitors,  231-232,  241,  245,  249-259, 

6.J 
nscriptions,  Roman,  284,  287,  446 
nstitution,    15,    24-25,   35,   45-56,   67, 
76-77,  82-83,  87-103,   107,   no,  118, 
135,  164-169,  171,  180,  202,  205,  217, 
229,  258,  267,  278,  290,  304,  342-363, 
393-397.  41 1>  414.  470.  472,  49--506, 
531-55-'  571.  590,  629-635 
nsult,  72,  239,  422,  453-454,  468,  542, 

58^,  653 
ntegration,  36,  230,  496,  500,  503 
ntercourse,  social,   in,   116,    140,  251, 

344,  363,  545 
nterest,  aleatory,  553,  607,  627 
nterest  and  interests,  passim 
nterest  (on  a  loan),  273 
ntergroup,  143-152,  i 54-155 
ntermarriage,  116,  162,  486-490 
Intermediate  state,"  the,  613  , 

ntermezzo,  569 
ntimacy,  conjugal,  614 
ntragroup,  143-144,  146-149,  155 
nvestigation,    54,   57,    123,    220,    235 

236,  427,  498,  506,  637 
phigenia,  14,  458,  467,  554 
ranians,  26,  84,  326 
rish,  143,  299,  332,  335 

on,  1S7-188,  471,  517 

oquois,  63,  235,  575 
saiah,  191 

shtar,  536-540,  550,  552,  562-563 
sis,  485,  585 
slam,  203,  223,  301-302,  364,  49S,  503- 

504,  557,  620 
srael,  10,  398-399,  502,  558 
taly,  63-64,   loi,   199,  215,   246,   250, 

252,  256,  258-259,  292-293,  299,  447, 

515,  518,  577-578,  586-589,  592,  596, 

599-603,  622,  634,  643-647,  653 

,  French,  139 

ahveh,  81,  398,  542,  557-55S 

AI  ^  Jojirnal  of  the    Ant/iropological 

Inst  it  lit  e  of  Great  Britain.    See  List 

of  Books  Cited 


Japan,  71-75,  90,  94,  no,  123,  151,  276, 

318,  364,  375,  419,  440-441,  446,  459, 

461,  474,  502,  549,  586,  608 
JASB  =  Journal  of  the  Anthropological 

Society    of    Bo??ibay.      See    List    of 

Books  Cited 
Java,  149,  424,  448,  484,  535,  588 
Jefferson,  T.,  51,  631 
Jerome,  290,  360-361,  378,  390,  401 
Jests,  70,  82,   113,  295,  .423,  451,  472, 

518,  521,  562,  576,  599,  601 
Jettatura,  515-518 
Jews,  14,  62,  79,  81,  93,  no,  113,  159, 

218,  234,  238,  249,  257,  294,  298,301, 

313-321,  336-340,  39S-400,  409,  445, 

448,  456,  487,  518,  554,  559,  580,  582, 

590,  595,  614-616 
Joachim,  Abbot  of  Flores,  216,  253 
Jongleurs,  370,  592 
Joseph  II,  75,  92-93 
Joy,  in  religion,   107;  in  success,    105; 

and  pain,  105 
Judas  of  Galilee,  219 
Jugganatha,  545 
Jurists,    83,    254,    302,    318,    360,    372, 

470 
Justice,  49,  66,  169,  209,  220,  241,  250, 

254,  467,  470-471,  501,  506-507,  6'i9 
Justinian,   55,   2S8,  291,  319,   404-405; 
code  of,  82.    See  Corpus  Juris  Civilis 
in  List  of  Books  Cited 

K,  139 

Kabyls,  318,  456,  489,  507,  516 

Kadiveo,  315 

Kaffirs,  no,  265,  269,  362,  422 

Kalevala,  the,  175 

Kamerun,  345,  437,  5n 

Karagoz,  44S,  587 

Kedeshim,  542-543 

A'etubah,  399 

Killing  the  old,  322-331,  506-507 

Kin  group,  68,  131 

Kingsley,  Charles,  394 

Kinship,  340,  352-358,   363,   383,    3S9, 

433,  473,  479-481,  495-502,  505-590, 

566 
Kiss,  410,  418,  459-460;  tabooed,  462 
Knife,   120,   125,   127,   132,   153;  sense, 

125,  132;  or  fingers,  463 
Koran,  301,  320,  455,  518 
Korarima,  144 
Krishna,  545,  640 
A'lilu'steteres,  564 
Kubus,  329,  435 
Kwakiutl,  512 


682 


FOLKWAYS 


Labor,  26,  35,  53,  61,  105-106,  114,  118, 
126,  135,  158-162,  168-169,  178,  215, 
261,  268,  285,  295,  533,  594,  607,  610, 
623,  627 

Laborers,  178,  180,  265,  268,  272,  280, 
292,  295,  304,  306,  367 

Labret,  271,  234 

Lamas,  224,  338 

Land,  39,  45,88,  114,  159,  161-165,  178, 
183,  281,  291,  293,  351 

Lateran  church,  226 

Lateran  council,  226,  240 

Lattfiuidia,  281,  290,  293 

Law,  Roman,  81-83,  235,  238,  240,  251  ; 
canon,  82,  226,  242,  375,  380-381  ; 
Moslem,  456 

Lazarillo  de  Tormes,  597 

La  Verna,  215,  623 

Left  hand,  the,  474 

Legends,  174,  481,  553,  561,  564,  643 

Leisure,  160,  162 

Leo  I,  584 

Leo  X,  231,  647 

Levant,  300 

Levelers,  97,  379 

Levity,  104,  137,  196,  466 

Lewdness,  69,  423,  437,  543-544>  55". 
652 

Lex  Julia  de  Majestate,  237 

Lihelbis  dotis,  410 

Libyans,  26 

License,  70,  214,  242,  346,  370,  441,  533, 
537-538,  546,  548,  550.  563-564,  587, 
.594,  619 

Lies,  five  allowed,  641  ;  are  great  sins, 
641 

Life  conditions,  16,  29,  32,  33,  36,  39,  49, 
56,  58,  68,  75,  79,  84-85,  89,  94,  100- 
103,  115,  308,  310-312,  324,  326-327, 
350-351  ;  policy,  16,  29,  33-34,  59,  67, 
79,  86,  96,  105,  324;  problems,  79 

Life,  the  seat  of,  332-336 

Li-ki,  461 

Limb  of  tree  about  to  fall,  516 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  90,  637-638 

Line,  where  drawn,  421,  425 

Lingam,  22,  450,  546-547 

Liturgies,  565-566 

Loafer,  106,  283 

Lohengrin,  412 

Loss,  58,  71,  128,  144,  423,  481,  515-516, 
552,  583,  610,  614,  629,  633,  653 

Louis  le  Hutin,  298 

Louis  IX,  247 

Louis  XIV,  II,  184 

Louis  XV,  470 


Love,  no,  135,  199,  228,  297,  358,  361- 

367,  369,  371,  373,  425,  492,  526-527, 

536,  555,  562,  588,  591,  596-597,  619, 

652 
Love  stories,  278,  362 
Lovers,  550,  562,  576,  596,  650 
Love-wife,  355 
Loyalty,   13,  15,  96,  246,  286,  296,  355, 

422,  650 
Luciferans,  218  « 

Lucius  III,  242  * 

Lucius  Verus,  286 
Luck,  6,  7,  8,  II,  41,  396,  411,  478,  484, 

485,  509,  515-516,  518-519,  583,  608, 

610, 627,  645 
Ludovico  il  Moro,  651 
Lupanar,  208,  529-531,  581 
Lust,  19S,  235,  255,  529,  536,  648-650; 

of  conquest,  464  ;  of  cruelty,  523 
Luxury,  45,  53,  151,  160,  164-165,  189, 
.  198,  208,  235,  319,  351,  362,  368-369, 

444,  451-452,  465,  558,  603,  606-607, 

609,  613-614,  616,  621,  625-627 
Lynching,  20,  24,  115,  221,234,  238,  244, 

248,  260,  470 
Lysistrata,  564 

Madagascar,  25,  317,  322,  461,484,  512 
Magic,  4,5,  7,  61,  123,   135,  419,  433, 

,  435,  446-447,  510,  519,  535,  539,  548, 

555,  563,  621 
Mahabharata,  the,  175,  203,  365,  388- 

389,  640 
Maintenbn,  Madame  de,  602 
Maiiima,  584 
Malatesta,  Gismondo,  647 
Malay,  273,  358,  442,  459 
Males,  343,  367,  370,  429,  432,436,  468, 

535,  546 
Males  and  females,  proportion  of,  107  ; 

traits  of,  344 
Man,    the  common,  50,  205-206;    and 

wife,    349,    403,    407,    410,    413;  the 

modem,  87;  of  talent,  163,  183-184, 

266;    on-the-curbstone,    14,   98,   206; 

as-he-should-be,  174,  191,  203-206 
Manias,  22-23,    57,   2x0-211,    216-221, 

337,  611,  621,  626,  638,  652 
Manichaeans,   210,  218,   237,  243,   259, 

392 
Man-woman  and  woman-man,  534 
Marcus  Aurelius,    175,    292,   390,   569, 

584 
Marduk,  486 
Marius,  282,  404,  583 
Marks  of  ownership,  276,  46S 


INDEX 


683 


Marriage,    child,    382-386,     389,    390; 

clerical,  225-229,  391  ;  pair,  359,  361, 

371-373' 377  ;  with  a  tree,  393 
Married,  duly,  374,  408,  479,  484-485, 

490 ;  not,  479-490 
Mass  phenomena,  2,  8,  16,   19-20,  23, 

34-35,  1S4,  200,  202,  210-212,  347 
Matrimony,  67,  202,  349,  369,  403 
Mawl,  the  holy,  326 
Mbayas,  13,  271 

Meaning,  578,  647;  lacking,  178,  189 
Meat  food,  329,  340,  346,  456,  546,  608, 

612-613,  616-617 
Medea,  467,  471,  581 
Medici,  Gian  Angelo,  118 
Medicine  men,  64,  123,  146,    161,   179 
Melanesia,  144,  150,  156,  188,  272,  314, 

325'  334'  339'  454'  458,  516 
Memory,  78,  80,  134,  219 
Mendicant  orders,   212,   215-217,   248, 

623-624,  626 
Menstruation,  511-512 
Merceria,  189 
Meretrices,  256,  369,  584 
Merovingians,  99-100 
Meteorology,  190,  555 
Mexicans,  127,  536-537,  543,  548,  553- 

554 
Mexico,  66,  148,  271,  337,483,  548,  555, 

563,  578,  586 
Michael  Angelo,  647-648,  651-652 
Micronesians,  339,  341 
Middle  Ages,  15-52,  82-94,   135,  160- 

161,  182,  211-235,  240-259,281,  297- 

298,  320,  337,  340-341,  371,  391,  401, 

408-428,  443,  460,  469,  503,  522-531, 

550,  564-569,  592-601,  621-647 
Allies  gloriosus,  601 
Militancy,  63,   66,  73-74,  88,  98,    104, 

113,  160,  393,  579 
Milk,  322,  339,  495,  517 
MiKe,  204 
Mimus,  447,  449,  577-578,  580,  582,  586- 

588, 595,  600-601 
Minne,  368 

Miracles,  591,  593,  621,  623 
Misery,  100,  114,  210,  214,  221,  251,  281, 

292,  313,  381,  387,  391.  523.  536,  585, 

633,  648 
Misfortune,  6,  107,  235,  251,  287,  387, 

424,  561,  572,  609 
"Missionary-made  man,"  112,  629 
Missions,  76,  108,  in-113,  317 
Mithra,  5S5 
Mob,  53,  238,  244,  571 
Mockery  of  Christianity,  582 


Mode,  mathematical,  42,  44,  50 
Modesty,   57,   195,  199,  287,  394,  418- 

427,  429-435,  44I'  443,  453-459'  575. 

648 
Mceu7-s,  37 
Mohammed,  26,  249,  301,  363,  378,  391, 

428,455,  504-505,  517,620;  uncle  of, 

335 
Mohammedanism,  61,  iii,  117, 149,  210, 

'h^l)^  383-384,  388,  435'  44I'  451,  454, 

456,  507,  510 
Mohammedans.    See  Moslems 
Mom  aria,  599 

Monks,  62,  204,  619,  622,  647 
Monogamy,  no,  112,352-353,357,368, 

374'  402-403 
Mores,  passif?i 

Moses,  85,  94,  249,  399,  430,  487 
Moslems,  1S5,  203,  249,  269,  297,  303, 

474'  503'  557,  620,  636-637 
Mother,    goddess,    545 ;     of    the   gods, 

542-543,  563  ;  becomes  a  wife,  484- 

489 
Mother  family,  109,  112,  317,  324,  343, 

354-355'  358,  377'  467,  479,  494,  55° 
Mourning,  366,  455,  512,  608 
Mungo  Park,  268 
Murder,   182,   241,  267,   269,    320,   325, 

467,  496,  498,  500,  506,  648-650;  of 

strangers,  109 
Murderer,  156,  496,  499-502 
Murner,  T.,  369 

Museum,  123-125,  126,  131,  149,338 
Mutilation,  239,  429,  465,  608 
Mystery,  7,  44,  432,  481,  536-537,  540, 

545'  564-568,  593-599. 613,617;  plays, 

580-581 
Mystics,    108,    153,  220,   253,  319,   567, 

612 
Myth,  10,  14,31,  35,  103,  105,  143,  174, 

177,  275'  44I'  464-465,  536.  550.  561, 
563-565  ;  making,  642 

Nagas,  339,  454,  500 

Nairs,    353;     polyandry    amongst    the, 

352 
Naked,    214,    429,    436-438,    441  ;      to 
sleep,  442,  445,  450  ;  until  marriage, 

438-439;  a  lady,  441 
Nakedness,  69,  429-431,  435-440,  452, 

455.  652 
Name,  14,  139,  370,  453-454'  462,  516- 

518  ;  of  Christ,  243 
Naples,  258,   409,   444,   530,   581,   586, 

600,  650 
Napoleon,  87-88,  168,  184,  519 


684 


FOLKWAYS 


Nation,  43,  68,  107,  113,  154,  196,  500, 

635 

Natit,  441 

Nature  and  nurture,  74 

Nature  peoples.    See  Primitive  man 

Nazarites,  615 

Necessity,  160,  179,  241,  522 

Needs,  2,  6,  33-35,  46,  55,  59,  73,  95, 
99,  102,  117,  132-136,  140,  142,  164, 
197,  230,  246,  261,  265-266,  311,  324, 

327>  349.  395.  445.  451.  5io>  568,  603 
Negroes,  48,  64,  78,  110-112,  132,  139, 

234,  265-269,  299,  305,  436,  441,  456, 

459,  474,  572,  578,  601 
Neighbor,  1 47-148, 308, 31 1 ,456, 498, 504 
Nero,  237,  283,  286,  289,  584 
Netherlands,  97,  526-527 
New  Britain,   140,  150,   314,  330,   382, 

436,  438 
New  countries,  42 
New  England,  85,  97,    108,   210,    304, 

310,  416,  634 
New  Guinea,  13,  122, 140,  147,  314-317, 

436,  500 
New  Hebrides,  149-15°'  3M,  334,  433, 

459 
New  South  Wales,  119 
New  Testament,  81,  236,  266,  337,  381, 

400,  402,  513,  559 
New  York,  156,  234,  498 
New  Zealand,  316,  323,  329 
Newspapers,  48,  50,  52,   176-177,  425, 

579,  631-632 
Newquay,  455 

Nibelungen,  175,  370,  412,  641 
Niccolo  de'  Lapi,  430 
Nicholas  I  of  Russia,  192 
Nicholas  I,  pope,  237 
Nicholas  II,  pope,  227 
Nicholas  V,  pope,  299 
Night  visits,  525-526,  529 
Njal,  642 
Nobles,   73,  83,  92,   94,   143,    162-166, 

184,  264.  286,  295,  300,370,  374,  376, 

442.  573,  590,  644,  650,  653 
Nomads  rule  tillers,  203,  264 
Novels,    180,    191,    198,   202,   207,  220; 

picaresque,  597-598 
Nullification,  258 
Nuns,  62,  420,  426,  462,  526,  591 

Oasis  cultivation,  535 
Oaths,  153,  196,  243,  615,  640 
Ob  river,  445 

Obscene,  434,  441,  446-45°,  472,  517, 
546,  548,  570,  584,  598-599,  602-603 


Obscenity,  250,  255,  370,  445,  449-451, 

471-472,  522,  569,  581,  590,  607,  652 
Obtrusiveness,  184,  447 
Occident,  6,  71,  91,  428,  431,  435,  499 
Offal  eaten,  339 
Offspring,    to    get  vigorous,   351,   481, 

484,  489,  496 
Olbos,  104,  204 
Old,  the,  II,  602,  653;  murder  of,  109, 

502 
Old  Testament,  69,  79,   154,  203,  372, 

397,  4S7,  513,  543,  558,  614 
Olecranon,  pierced,  191 
Omissions,  143;  edifying,  635 
Opera  bouffe,  572-573 
Opportunity,  41,  108,  iii,  118,121,132, 

163,  171,  198,  239,  284,355,  357,  397, 

421-422,  481,  620,  629,  634 
Optimism,  75,  loi,  107,  141,  163,  198 
Opulence,  104,  204 
Ordeal,  240,  519 
Orders,  Holy,  391 
Orestes,  109,  207,  467,  498,  614 
Orgiastic  religion,  107 
Orient,  6,  91,  511 
Orientals,  57,   11 1,   185,  426,  431,  435, 

44°,  455'  460 
Origins,  7,  14,  25-26,   54-55,   123,   131- 

135'  146,  176,  202,  217,  421,  463 
Ornament,  133,  142,  146-152,  186-189, 

425-429,  433,  437,  439,  446,  517 
Orthodoxy,  95,  217,  237,  239,  243,  631- 

632 
Osiris,  485 
Ossetes,  484,  502 
Ossetin,  454 
Ostracism,  72 

Other-than-expected  person,  an,  91 
Others-group,  12 

Other-worldliness,  26,  29,  loi,  212,  393 
Outbreeding,  481-482 
Out-group,  12,  116,  143,  263,  331,  334, 

498,  500 
Overconsciousness,  450 
Overpopulation,  212,  c;5o,  562 
Ox,  554 

Paganism,  116,  224,  238,  256,  361,  405, 

424,  582,  645 
Pair  marriage,  76,  357,  363 
Palau  Islands,  143,   151,  358,  422,  436, 

454 
Pantaleone,  580,  602-603 
Pafitins,  448,  588 
Papacy,  87,  222,  225,  227,  230-231,  258- 

259.  595 


INDEX 


685 


Papuans,   13,  187,  314,  358,  435,  438- 

439 
Paraguay,  138,  188,  325 
Parenthood,  373 
Parents  and  children,  11,  22,  84,  205, 

214.  322-324.  328,  332,  454-  494 
Parents-in-law,  365-366,  453-454 
Pariahs,  113 
Paris,  189,  250,  298,  427,  579,  593,  596, 

600,  602 
Parsee,  513 
Party,    18,    22-23,    53,   88,   95-96,    115, 

230,  232-233,  242,  355,  468,  470,  524, 

579,  605,  618,  635-636,  640 
Passion,    99,    no,    118,    168,   176,   198, 

212-213,  221,  235,  240,  362-364,  368, 

432,  465,  468,  522,  526,  571,  581,  595 
Paston,  Margaret,  369 
Pathos,  180-181,  223,  375,  579 
Patins,  189 

Patmore,  Coventry,  371 
Pah'ia  potesias,  289 
Paul  III,  595 

Paul  the  Apostle,  208,  400 
Pawn  slave,  269,  273-276,  305 
Peace,  12,  29,  48-49,  66,  77,  147,  150- 

151,  222,  228,  249,  280-281,  288,  328, 

346,  373'  456,  474.  496-500.  504,  572. 

577.  584  ;  the  king's,  507-508 
Peace  bond,  499,  503-504,  507 
Peace  group,  13 
Peace  pact,  63 
Peasants,  47,  83-S9,  100,  140,  168,  1S4, 

207,  218,  245,  2S1,  291,  294,  302,  328, 

2,3^,  376,  413 
Pec7iliji??i,  277 
Pederasty,  418 
Pedro  II  of  Aragon,  247 
Penance,  160,  213,  399,  414,  443,  548 
People,  the,  51,  86-89,98,  116,  161,  167, 

176-177,  189,  222,  225,  231,  245-246, 

251.  2S3,  475,  480,  492,  501,  525-526, 

534,  540,  637 
Peoples,  82,  91,  113,  362,  418-419,  425 
Persecution,  95-97,  236,  238-241,  243- 

248,  252,  260,  470 
Persia,  62,  210,  236,  398,  448,  465,  486, 

586,  641 
Persistency,  75,  79-87,  92,  107,  114,  121, 

125.  393.  538-540 
Peru,  152 

Peruvians,  337,  486 
Perversions,  620 

Pessimism,  75,  loi,  103,  198,  606 
Pestilence,  24,  32, 105,  ^35,  308,  318,  648 
Peter  and  Paul,  241 


Peter  of  Ravenna,  254 

Peter  the  Great,  74,  88-89 

Pets,  190,  424  ;  women  as,  297,  358,  466 

Phallus,  447-449.  517.  537.  547.  577 

Phantasms,  7,  22,  61,  93,  114,  137,  177, 

201-202,  205,  221,  231,  469-470,  583. 

589,  633,  649 
Pharaohs,  191,  480,  590 
Philip  of  Macedon,  143 
Philip  IV  of  France,  23,  241,  250,  257, 

298,  301,  593 
Philip  II  of  Spain,  249,  600 
Philistion,  577,  580 
Play,  197 
Powers,   superior,   240,   333,   340,   396, 

484.  509-5",  515 
Prayers,  62,  220,  337,  406,  465,  484,  609- 

610,  620 
Preaching,  95,  201,  214,  216,  225,  242, 

449,  594,  614,  618,  623,  643 
P?-ecieitses,  197 
Prejudice,   25,   50-52,  97-98,   no,  200, 

229,  492,  521,  633,  636,  647 
Prelates,  216,  256,  623,  626 
Prerogative,  99,  340,  376,  463,  508 
Priest,  226-227,  229-230,  267,  338,  397- 

398,  406-416,  534,  541,  544,  557,  565, 

592,  613,  616,  622,  626,  630 
Priestess,  harlot,  536-537,  543 
Primitive  man,  5,  6,  25-26,  29,  54,  122, 

133,  136,  224,  226,  492-493.  499,  562 
Primitive  society,  2,  12,  60,  65 
Priscillian,  237 
Prisoners,    569,    572,   575,    625;    made 

slaves,  270,  272-273 
Privileged  persons,  258,  372 
Privileges,  of  women,  466 ;  of  soldiers, 

548 
Prohendchte,  413 
Procedure,  242,  247,  508,  532  ;  Roman 

criminal,  241 
Procreation,    103,   310,   315,   345,   399- 

400 ;    notions   about,  467,   494,  496- 

497,  616 
Profanity,  196,  340,  488,  645 
Progress,  4,  21,  49,  loi,  103, 141,312,604 
Prohibitory  laws,  115 
Proletariat,  42,  284,  2S6 
Promiscuity,  345,  357 
Promise,  639-640;  marriage,  357,  409 
Property,  50,  54,  64-65,  68,  76,  82-83  ; 

85,  no,  112,   125,  131-132,   142,  215, 

239,  243,  251,  270,  299,  322,350-355, 

362,  374,  378,  381,  384-388,  396,  403, 

406-415,  441,  458,  492,  502,  506,  521- 

522,  551,  594,  615,  622-625 


686 


FOLKWAYS 


Prophet,  52,  81,  102,  397,  448,  513,  558- 

559 
Proportion,    numerical,    of    the    sexes, 

550 
Proportion  of  men  to  food,  535 
Propriety,  57,  69, 231,358,  386, 393,  4 1 8- 

421,  428,  441,  452-455,  458,  462-466, 
472-473,  480,  521,  525,  546-547,  560, 
564,  572,  584,  598,603 

Prosperity,  6,  51,84,  100-107,  117,  123, 

141,  198,  364,  386,  398,  483-484, 503, 

515-516,  519.  538,  609,  641 
Prostitutes,  100,  318,  368,  423,  529,  534, 

538,  542-543,  549,  563 
Protestant,  371,  400,  531,  598,  635 
Provence,  392 

Provision  for  children,  317,  320-321,  539 
Psetido-Qiierolics,  581,  591 
PSM  =  Popular  Science  Monthly 
Ptolemies,  480,  485-486 
Puberty,  67,  354,  383-385 
Publicity,  400,  405,  415,  573 
Pudenda,  436 
Pulchinella,  581 
Punch,  580-581,  587,  589,  597 
Punch-and-Judy  show,  577,  589 
Punishments,  56,  loS,  209-210,  212,  217, 

221,  232-235,  237-240,  251,  283,  314, 

428,  440,  456,  461,  470,  486,  506,  508, 

522-523,612 
Purchase  in  marriage,  109,  355-357 
Purificatory  ritual,  123,  503,  512-515 
Purity,  226,  371,  557,  611;  ritual,  608, 

617,  619 
Pygmies,  329 
Pythagoreans,  566,  613,  615 

Quakers,  96,  184,  210,  426,  582 
Quarrel,  150,   215,   484,   498,    500,   503, 

506-507,  517,  621 
Queen  Anne,  114,  523 
Queen  of  Heaven,  the,  558 
Queen  Joanna,  530 
Queesten,  527 
Quiet,  611 
Qvern,  297 

Rabelais,  578 

Race,  43,  74-78,  118,  139,  187,  190,  263, 

422,  473,  490,  493,  544 
Paces  mazidites^  113 
Paf?iaya?ia,  588 
Ramses  II,  4S5 

Rank,  II,  143,   151,  159,  363,  375,  406, 

40S,  414-415,  490 
RAS  =  Royal  Asiatic  Society 


Ratio  of  population  to  land,  162 
Rationalism,  193,  223,  506,  555 
Rationality,  80,  105,  473 
Raymond  of  Toulouse,  245 
Reactions,  34,  95,   131,   174,  196,  231, 

256,  309,  371.  463,  473,  553-  605,  627, 

630,  634-635 
Reality,  32,  47,  57,  114,  190,  198,  201- 

202,  463,  469,  470,  583,  632 
Reason  and  conscience,  15,  95,  118 
Rechabites,  615 
Recollects,  216,  626 
Reconstruction  of  religion,  540 
Redeemer-God,  104 
Redemption,   103,  148,  154,   554,  556- 

557 

Redistribution  of  population,  114 

Reference,  egoistic,  211 

Refinement,  45,  94,  116,  347,  452,  465, 
511,  522,  573-574 

Reform,  66,  73,  81,  86,  89,  92,  113-117, 
167,  179,  193,  198-199,  214.  217,  223, 
226,  229,  234,  389,  455,  492,  523,  540 

Reformation,  222,  543,  557,  617,  645,647 

Reinecke  Fuchs,  179,  564 

Relations,  of  the  sexes,  353,  369,  373, 
422-423,  460;  of  man  and  wife,  354- 
358,  366-368,  372-373'  381,  403,  454- 

455 
Relics,  138,  168,  620 
Religion,  folk,  104 
Religion,  the,  of  Jahveh,  81 
Religions,  160,  163,  224,  617,  620 
Remarriage,  380-381,  387,  389-393, 416 
Renaissance,  the,  22,  47,  93-101,  175, 

197,  203,  256,  375,  592,  601,  643-653 
Rent,  36,  178,  267,  293 
Reprobation  of  second  marriage,  391- 

392,  471 
Reproduction,  102,  106,  347-348,  362, 

432'  447'  450,  492,  497,  534,  539-540, 

543'  550,  552,  562 
Resentment  of  the  mother,  312 
Residue  assimilated,  113 
Responsibility,  41,  53-54,  168, 185,  239, 

24S,  2>33^  400,  410,  501,  505,  507,  519, 

594 
Restrictions,  255,    277,    310,  321,   345, 

380,  416,  480,  491-492,  573 
Revenge,   212,  309,  333-334,  464,  466, 

468,  496,  499,  500, 505-508 
Revival,  23,  81,  225,  237-238,  471,  537, 

593,  620 
Revolt,  109,  165,  182,  258,  264,  280-281, 

318-319,  370, '377,  522,  531,  558,  611, 

644 


INDEX 


687 


Revolution,  75,  86,  90,  112,  118,  167, 
169,  286,  371,  634,  653  ;  the  French, 
53,  86,  167-168,  579  ;  the  English,  87  ; 
the  American,  470,  523,  52S;  eccle- 
siastical, 86 ;  beneficence  of,  87 

Rich  and  great,  202,  3S0,  403,  409 

Rich  and  poor,  269,  452,  595 

Rich  men,  161,  164,  188,  245,  251,  515, 
573'  578,  634 

Right  and  left  sides,  71 

Right  and  wrong,  27-29,  38,  58,  65-66, 
79,85,94-95,  115,  132,  168,  170-171, 
184-185,  215,  231,  313,  353,  356,  372- 
375.  393-394,  399-420,  427,  446,  473, 
4S2,  522,  524,  531-534,  564,  570,  584, 
606,  611,  617,  632 

Rights  and  duties,  8,  28-29,  55,  65-68, 
77,  82-85,  93,  103,  159,  166,  178,  232, 
258,  346,  349,  353-356,  372,  382,  384, 
395-396,  403-404,  413-414,  431,  493- 
495,  497,  506-507,  531,  551,  574,  582, 
614,  627,  653 

Ritual,  31,  60-65,  80-S7,  92-97,  112, 
123,  160,  168,  194,  212,  219,  255-256, 

290,  313,  333,  337,  339,  372,  374,  397, 
407-411,  437,  447,  457,  460-461,  472, 
511-515,  524,  537,  539-540,  554,565- 
567,  612,  615,  617,  629,  643 

Roman  Catholics,  218,  257,  371,  400,  407 

Roman  system,  81,  100 

Romans.  81-82,  103-104,  106,  154,  160, 
182,  282-283,  288,  302, 31S,  375,  447- 

449,  543,  556,  569-571,  583 

Rome,  36,  62,  99,  loi,  107,  iSo,  184, 
208,  217,  222,  226-227,  230,  235,  246, 
256,  258,  278-279,  281,  2S3,  292,  319, 
358,  361,  390,  402,  409,  449,  471,  474, 
510,  512,  518,  529,  568-570,  578,  583, 
586,643,  649,  651 

Rope  dancers,  601 

Routine,  46,  48,  50,  62,  562 

Royalty,  350,  573,  651 

Rubbing,  127-128 

Rudolf  of  Hapsburg,  460 

Rural  population,  55,  300 

Russia,  14,  71,  74,  88-90,  113,  192,  210, 
298,  332,  367,  488,  518,  548,  634-636 

Sacerdotalism,  225,  644 

Sachsenspiegel,  82 

Sacrament,  160,  217,  226,  229,  336,  340, 

384,  406,  411,  414-415,  643 
Sacrifice,    human,    274,    336-337,    534, 

538-539,   553-555;  and  cannibalism, 

336-338  ;  sacramental  and  vicarious, 

337-338;  foundation,  270 


Sadducees,  515 

Sahara,  18,  264,  305-306,  368,  423 

Saint,  156,  205,  586,  591-592,  617,  645; 

Acheul,    125;   Albans,   592;   Angelo, 

648  ;    Catharine,    592 ;    Louis,    594 ; 

Mark,  593 
Saliva,  192,  457,  512 
Sanitation,  209,  306,  510 
Sansculottism,  169 
Satan,  218,  590 
Satire,  191-192,  200,  573-579,590,  593" 

595,  602 
Saiiirae,  568-569 
Saturnalia,  70,  545,  575,  590 
Savages,   48,   iii,    125,   1S9,   198,  241, 

309-    323,    350,    354,    382,    396,    426, 

429,  481-482,  497,  524,  535,  570 
Savitri,  203 
Scandinavians,  122,  154,  256,  295,  297, 

408,  488,  502,  526-527,  543 
Scenario,  602 
Scholar,  98,  197,  557 
Scholastiats,  580 
Science,  15,  27,  29,  41,  69,  86,  103,  136- 

137,  163,  178,  193,  201,  232,  468,474, 

490,  540 

Science  of  society,  34,  38,  118 

Scotland,  385,  527,  529 

Scriptures,  the  Holy,  380,  515,  567 

Scriptures,  Jewish  canonical,  515 

Scriptures,  Vedic,  544 

Sect,  39,  75,  87,  95-97,  104,   175,   198, 

210,  217-218,  223-224,  234,  238-239, 
288,  381-382,  416,  430,  448,  463,470, 
524,  526,  546,  566-568,604-609,613- 
620,  625,  636,  642 

Seduction,  386,  528,  582 

Seemliness,  421,  463-471 

Seger  vs.  Slingerland,  528 

Selection,  2,  6,  9,  31,  49,  94,  97,  103, 
106,  115-116,  121,  135,  173-174,  179, 
182-184,  191-192,  195-200,  205,  207- 

211,  220-223,  229-233,  238,  241,  252, 
255,  258-260,  317,  373,  464, 481,  490- 

491,  495,  610,  62S,  631 
Self-absorption,  344 
Self-confidence,  107,  163,  401,  519 
Self-control,_  197,  204,  336,  359,  390,  465 
Self-decoration,  202 

Self-defense  a  crime,  245 
Self-deformation,  1S6 
Self-denial,  171,  215,  606-608,  624 
Self-discipline,  205,  340,  359,  379,  593, 

607-610 
Self-education,  201,  206 
Self-government,  167 


6S8 


FOLKWAYS 


Self-immolation,  210,  548 
Self-indulgence,  198,  607 
Self-perpetuation,  473 
Self-realization,  7,  40,  49,  62,  68,  373, 

381-382,  396,  490 
Self-seeking,  217,  466,  574 
Sell  wife  or  child,  297,  299,  301,  317, 

320,  322 
Semites,  81,  103,  107,340,  362,455,459, 

553.  555.  557 
Seneca,    175,    199,    208,   283,   2S7,   290, 

318-319,  569 
Sensuality,  no,  137,  212,223,  ^55,  285, 

35I'  372,  399.  400,  422,  426,  441.  447. 

521,  539,  541,  550,  557-559.  570,  575. 

583,  609,  611,  616,  618,  627,  651 
Sequence,  33-34,  124,  349 
Seri,  14,  17,  125,  132,  497 
Servites,  216,  624 
Sextus  IV,  256 
Sforza,  Caterina,  650 
Shaman,  325,  337,  511,  567 
Shame,  109-1 10,  1 16,  251,  314, 320-321, 

381,  391,  420,  424-428,  433-435'  440, 

452,  468,  530,  547,  554,  581,  584,  650 
Shamelessness,  487,  530,  545,  618 
Shield,  pubic,  432-433.  43^ 
Shinto,  91,  123,  608 
Shows,  159,  193,  195,  250,  574,  604 
Siam,  142-143,  488 
Siberia,  88,  461 

Sicily,  236,  247,  281,  487,  542,  589 
Sikkim,  338 

Simeon  of  Jerusalem,  236 
Sister,    112,  484;   becomes  wife,   482- 

485,  489-490;  two  taken  to  wife,  485, 

4S7-488 ;     abuses  brother  for   good 

luck,   516 
Sitting  or  squatting,  191,  323,  461 
Six  Nations,  270 
Slap  the  thigh,  512,  514 
Slave  owner,  no  one  fit  to  be,  305 
Slave  trade,  265,  270,  273-274,  298-300, 

304 ;  suspended  in  time  of  calamity, 

300 
Slavery,  58,  64,  90,  106,  109-111,  114- 

117,  156,  161,  164,  174,  178,  261-280, 

282-307,  516,  540,  615 
Slaves,  4,  12,  14,  83,  90,  144-145,  152- 

153,  176,  178,  188,  208,  234,  236,266, 

269-270,  272-273,  277,  280,  293,  298, 

300,  315.  352,  374-375.  414.  529.  541- 

542,  551-552.  565.  568,  575.  584 
Slavs,  326,  366-367,  453,  518 
Snakes    as    food,    339,   341,   511,   522, 

548 


"  Snares  to  the  soul,"  609 

Sozialpolitik,  38,  97-98 

Socrates,  572,  578 

Solicitation,  base,  369 

Solomon    Islands,    1 50-1 51,   157,    187, 

272,  325,  330,  441 
Son,  367,  388,  454,  486,  544,  553-554 
Sorcery,    183,    209,    211,    237,   241-242, 

281,  1,},Z^  337.  429.  510.  558,  591 
Sot,  le,  596 
Soul,  74,  103,  216,  243,  274,  321,  332- 

333'  338.  424. 535-536.  566-567,  612- 

613,615,623 
Southern  states  of  the  United  States, 

77,  90,  306 
Spain,  62,  139,  246,  256-257,  281,  299, 

320,  350,  560,  596,  626,  634 
Spectacle,  571-572,  592 
Spee,  Count  Frederick  von,  241 
Spermatorrhea,  418 
Spirits,  397,  411,  446,  468-469,  497,  510, 

512,  518,  547,  554,  567,  617 
Spirituals,  216,  625' 
Spit,  209,  421,  430,  454,  517-518 
Sport,  70,  121,  140 
Sports,  56,  159,  162,  207,  250,471,  572, 

583.  5S6.  599.  639 

Spouses,  358,  360-361,  364-365,  368, 
379.  3S1.  397,  404-406,  409.  411,413. 
458-459,  482,  599 

Staff,  breaking  one's,  495 

Stairs,  going  up  or  down,  132 

Standard  of  living,  164,  1 71-172,  310 

State,  8,  15,  36,  49,  51-52,  54,  63,  66,  68, 
83,87-88,97-98,  loi,  103,  115,  117, 
144,  151,  154,  162,  166-167,  169,208- 
209,  217,  222,  228,  230,  239,  246,  264, 
278,  289,  292,  297-29S,  316,  352,372, 
374,  382,  393.  400,  404,  413-414,  464. 
470-471.  478,  503-508,  537.  549,  582, 
618-619,  644 

Statecraft,  59,  470,  646 

Statesman,  64,  87,  97,  117,  206,  229, 
289,  47S,  646 

Status,  13,  55,  62,,  66-67,  163,  287,  292- 

293-  354-355.  375'  413-414.  503.  551, 

562,  574;  of  women,  117 
Status- wife,  355 
Statute    de    heretico   combtirendo,    256- 

257 
Steal,  get  into  the,  115,  170,634 
Steam,  266,  284,  451-452 
Stews,  531 

Stone-implement  making,  125,  130,  132 
Stranger,  505,  541-542,  544 
Strife,  222,  246,  470,  503,  582 


INDEX 


689 


Struggle,  49,  106,  134,  164,  393,  416, 
423,  464,  647;  for  existence,  2,  7,  12, 
16,  29,  34,  61,  106,  107,  123,  131,  146, 
151,  157-159,  162-164,  1S3,  265-266, 
269,  276,  309,  31 1,  327-328,  345,  347- 
348,  351,  629 

Stupidity,  4,  80,  423.  573,  5S0 

Success,  5,  7,  39,  41,  105,  107,  113-114, 
117,  123,  130,  161,  170,  174,  195,  202, 
212,  253,  255-256,  334,  447,  509,  516, 
555'  629,  636-639,  641,  646-652 

Suffering,  181-182,  212,  235,  471,  522, 
524,  553,  624 

Sitffert7ig  Christ,  the,  581 

Suicide,  21,  103-105,  107,  212,  219,  313, 
327,  401,  453,  572,  581,  607,  630 

Sumatra,  154,  273,  329,-435 

Superstition,  21,  25,  32-33,  93,  100,  119, 
135'  155'  2TI,  219,  237,  334,338'  353. 
419,  427,  429,  432-433'  439'  45''  4^2, 
489,  492,  496,  509,  516-518,  520,  562, 
565'  572,  585'  593'  603,  633,  640,  646, 
649-650 

Surname,  502 

Sweden,  297,  503 

Switzerland,  127,  129,  527 

Sycophancy,  100,  163 

Symbiosis,  17 

Syncretism,  76,  11 5-1 16,  405,  474,  489, 

537.  559-  565-  568 
Synod  of  Westminster,  411 
Syphilis,  443,  531,  536 
System  of  philosophy,  85,  262,  271,  304, 

334'  343.  354'  378,  386,  411-412,  460, 

467,  469,  539,  549,  593,  625,  628,  633- 

634,  643-644 

Taboo,  17-1S,  26,  28-31,  35,  55-56,  68, 
70,  80,  84,  86,  99,  100,  146,  207-209, 
232,  235,  309,  333,  343,  348,  465-472, 
479-492,499,  510-514,  521-526,  534, 

537'  547.  551-552'  558'  57°'  573-574, 

603,  606,  611,  613,  616,  621 
Tacitus,  100,  318 
Talent,  19,  40-41,   154,    183,   230,   334, 

491 
Taro,  123 

Tartar,  88,  332,  334 
Tarrying,  528 

Tasmania,  124-125,  127,  339 
Tattoo,  133,  152,  202 
Taxpayers,  48,  99,  628 
Teacher  and   pupil,    52,    112-113,    117, 

201,  545,  631,  633 
Teeth,  120,  125,  150,  203,  317 
Templars,  23,  241,  257,  470,  637 


Temples,  234,  541,  611,  613-615 

Tenth  child  eaten,  333 

Terence,  591 

Terrorism,  106,  253 

Teutons,  116,  282,  320,  322,  571 

Theater,   69,    159,    191,    255,    561-570, 

580-582,  591-595,  601-603 
Theologians,  the  Nicene,  581 
Therapeuts,  294,  526 
Those-who-have-not,  loi,  106 
Thrall,  295,  297 
Tiberius,   the   emperor,    237,    577  ;    the 

proconsul,  556 
Tie,  sacred,  no,  269,  498-499,  506;  of 

a  woman  to  a  man,  348 
Till  Eulenspiegel,  597 
Timotheists,  215,  623 
Tobacco,  197,  304 
Togo,  267,  317,  351,  437 
Toleration,  6S-70,  93,  96,  185,  232,  245, 

257'  45O'  472'  521.  529.  531.  565.  574' 

594 
Toothbrush,  457 
Torres  Straits,  317,  439 
Torture,    114,   118,   176,    182,   193,   210, 

212,  217,  232-241,  245,  250,  254-255, 

255,  260,  262,  274,  276,  280,  294,  297, 

323,  38S,  401,  450'464'  470-474'  522- 

522,  570,  583,  625 
Totem,  440-441,  497 
Totemism,  26,  354,  568 
Trade,  M6-I47'  I49'  154-^55'  '57'  161, 

169,  175,  193,  195,  285,  608 
Trades  union,  53,  96,  178,  463 
Training,  60,  71-72,  120,   125,  196,  394, 

460,  468,  633-634 
Traitor,   21,   95,   232,   242,   392;   eaten, 

334 
Transcendentalism,  220 
Transgressions,  251 
Transmission  of  culture,  91,  635 
Transubstantiation,  223 
Travel,  15,  27,  78,  loS,  112,  195,  224, 

31O'  433'  440,  455'  457'  512 

Treasure  of  salvation,  213 

Tree  felled  with  stone  ax,  128-131 

Tree  married,  3S9 

Trent,  Council  of,  228 

Tribe,  43,  68,  146,  151,  331,  354,  356, 
358,  422,  498,  504-505 

Tricks,  136,  179,  191,  2S3,  449,  640 

Trullo,  589 

Truth,  27-28,  38,  79,  97,  113,  132,  171, 
181,  184,  194,  200,  210,  217,  220,  225, 
238,  240-241,  343,  361,  400,  418,  435, 
464,  470,  473,  489,  616,  640-642,  643 


690 


FOLKWAYS 


Truth  =  fidelity,  361 

Truthfulness,  639-640,  643,  645 

Trygve  Olafson,  297 

Tsar,  88 

Tshi-speaking  peoples,  512 

Tuaregs,  264,  339,  423,  426-427 

Tunguses,  14,  84,  441,  461 

Tupis,  13,  325,  332 

Turks,  236,  302-303,  335,  448,  462,  587 

Tuscany,  292,  543 

Twins,  316,  318,  484,  596 

"Two-child  system,"  321 

Tyrannicide,  180,  649 

Tyranny,   71,   106,   221,    230,    261,   372, 

437,  464,  523,  575,  626 
Tyre,  339,  443,  557 

Ukrain,  the,  367,  527 

Ulpian,  241,  284,  360 

Una>?i  sandam,  the  bull,  259 

Uncle,  maternal,  324 

Unclean  beasts,  615 

Unclean,  ritually,  512-515 

Uncleanness,  25,  no,  340,  399,  509-511, 
513-515-  546,  567.  615 

Uncultivated  land,  80,  105,  306,  562 

Underpopulation,  194,  311 

Unedifying  plays,  591 

Unfree,  the,  83,  281,  295 

United  States,  14,  63,  66,  86-90,  102, 
no,  113,  127,  167,  169-170,  180,  352, 
471,  479,  503,  525,  589,  628,  636; 
National  Museum  of  the,  14,  323, 
353'  423.434,  479,  512 

Unity  of  a  group,  429,  477,  504 

Universities,  206,  632,  634,  636 

Unmarried,  358,  401,  421,  43S ;  com- 
pelled to  remain,  351 

UnreaUty,  160,  232,  362,  478,  578 

Unsanitary,  509 

Unsitten,  476-477 

Upsala,  295,  499 

Upstarts,  163-164 

Urban  population,  55 

Urbino,  598 

Uriah  Heep,  179,  580 

Usage,  57 

Use,  116,  125,  127,  130,  146,  169-170, 
176,  215-216,  235;  use  and  wont,  8, 
35,  62,  79,  loS,  494,  523,  547 

Useful,  not  shameful,  651 

Usury,  209 

Utopia,  303-304 

Vagabonds,  320,  370,  598 
Valentinian,  293 


Valois,  298 

Value,  39,  40-41,  43-44,  53,  58,  97,  101, 

104,  no,  131,  135,  143-144,  147-148, 

154-155,  163,  165,  171,  175-176,  178, 

210,  241,  263,  356,  359,  362,  461,  473, 

535'  558,  628-629,  638,  640,  650 
Vandals,  557,  586 
Vanity,   119,    133,   142,   155,    165,    182, 

187,  200,  202,  208,  213,  219,  235,  238, 

242,  261-262,  293,  334,  346,  359,  387, 

419,  424-429,  433,  466,  482,  507-508, 

579,  630,  647 
Varieties,  126-127,  146,  208,  300,  363, 

417,  421,  473 
Vatican,  227,  627 
Veddahs,  339,  357,  484,  641 
Vedic  age,  326,  486,  545 
Veil    and    veiling,    363,    386,    420-422, 

425-427,  454,  456,  515,  517 
Vengeance,  209,  221,  233-236,  250,  334- 

335,  465,  502,  536,  649 
Venice,  63,  74,  183,  189,  256,  258-259, 

300,  350,  352,  593,  599,  602-603 
Verification,  55,  84,  97,    177,   181,   201, 

354,  473'  481,  606,  632-633 
Vespasian,  292,  583 
Viceroys,  Spanish,  258 
View,  the  anterior  and  posterior,  65- 
'      66 
Views  of  life,  228,  428,  475,  534 
Village,  Russian,  368 
Villanage,  85,  92 

Violate,  399,  546,  563,  574,  626-627 
Virago,  648 
Virgin  and  virginity,  226-227,  235,  353, 

358-359,  389-390,  392,  401-402,  485, 

525,616 
Virgin    Mary,   the,    385,   401-402,  414, 

472 
Virgin  wife  and  mother,  385,  540 
Virtii,  648 

Visconti,  Gian  Galeazzo,  64 
Visit  to  newly  married,  409 
Visits,  229,  430,  462 
Vivez,  Louis,  254 
Void  ab  imtio,  380 
Voluptuous,  1 98,  557,  569 
Vow,  226,  542,  544-546,  609,  614-615, 

619 
Vulgar  and  Vulgarity,  141, 164,  260,447- 

449,  471,  572,  650 

Wages,  36,  164,  169,  178-179,  193,  263, 

267,  269,  273 
Waldenses,  217-218 
Wall  Street,  176-177 


INDEX 


691 


War,  5,  12-13,  28,  32,  35,  49,  54,  63,  65- 
66,  71,  74,  77,  80,  83,  88,  90,  95-96, 
loo-ioi,  103-106,  116,  134,  150,  156, 
164-165,  178,  183,  190,  212,  229,  231, 
235,  244,  263,  266-272,  289,  299,  301, 
308,  318,  325,  328,  335,  343,  354-355. 
362,  422,  46S,  49S,  500-504,  508,  526, 
538,  554,  561,  568,  582,  598,  608,  61 5- 
621,  638,  648 

War  captive,  262,  268,  270-278,  295, 
305,  338,  467,  543,  552-553,  583 

Watchwords,  15,  21,  176-179,  181, 
476 

Ways,  108-111,  114-118,  129,  235,  349, 
464,  470,  472,  474,  481,  561-562,  578- 
579,  598,  609-610,  648 

Wealth,  45, 104,  145,  147,  158-166,  168- 
171,  204,  207,  285-286,  362,  375-377, 
415,  444-  452,  483,  490-49I'  502,  528, 
558,  568,  583,  603,  615-616,  619,  621, 
623,  625,  627,  629;  current  of,  to 
Rome,  280 

Wedding,  67,  70,  349,  374,  389,  397- 
398,  400,  402,  406,  454,  516,  518,  521, 
565-566,  589,  599;  day,  366-367; 
songs,  410;  Russian,  368 

We-group,  12,  143-144,  155.  See  In- 
group 

Weights  and  measures,  155,  157 

Welfare,  3,  9,  15,  iS-38,  53-64,  79,  95, 
99-100,  132,  135,  158,  163,  167,  172, 
184,  222,  225,  239,  245,  255,  260,266, 
309.313'  323-324.  328,  400,  473,  494, 
508-519,  531-538,  559,  563,  604-607, 
633,  640 

Well  living,  17,  32,  38,  57,  59,  62,  94, 
168,  201,  473-474.  476-477.  535 

West  Africa,  145,  317,  322,  331,  337 

Westminster,  Statute  of,  83 

Wheel  (for  execution),  237,  239 

White  men,  24,  77-78,  90,  loS,  iio- 
113,  121,  127,  150,  157,  179,  442, 
578 

Widow,  27,  80,  239,  318,  370,  388-389, 
390-393.  408,  480,  487 

Wife,  13,  55,  67,  109-112,  146-152,  202, 
218,  226-228,  269,  302-303,  311-313, 

339.  344-351.  352.  355-377.  396-399. 
403,  408,  422,  424,  453-461,  468,  481- 
488,  498,  506,  511,  522,  551,  578,  596, 

653 
Winchester,  Bishop  of,  531 
Wine,  no,  208,  378,  505,  608-609,  615, 

618 
Wisdom,  31,  47,  51,   105,  308,  323,  478, 

522 


Witch,  21,  23,  59,  194,  231-232,  247, 
470,  517,  522,  532;  persecution,  59, 
1 1 8,  260,  531 

Witchcraft,  58,  114,  209-211,  241,  518, 
532 

Woe  to  the  vanquished,  276,  ;^23 

Woman,  12,  23,  31,  54-55,  100,  104-1 12, 
121,  125,  138,  159,  180,  184,  185-190, 
195-208,  210,  214,  22S,  230,  237,  243, 
262-270,  273,  286,  314,  322,  325-331, 
344-352,  379-390.  393-396,  413.  421- 
423.  430.  434.  441-454.  462-483,  497- 
517,  523-545.  551-557.  562-581,  584. 
589,  594,  598-603,  608-609,  614,  620- 
621,  630,  648,  651-652 

Womanish  to  wear  clothes,  439 

Wooing,  408,  526-529 

Words,  104,  122,  126-129,  134,  135, 
138,  426-427,  461,  547,  639-640; 
tabooed,  68,  545 

Work,  61,  70,  96,  123,  129-130,  134, 
158-159,  205,  262,  267,  272,  278,  294- 
295.  297.  303.  305.  422-424,  429,  458, 
504,  535.  608,  629,  642 

World,  the,  84,  86,  89,  102-104,  113, 
123,  130,  134,  162,  198,  211,  218,  221, 
228,  237-238,  255,  278-281,  286-287, 
294,  306,  494,  503-504,  510,  537,  574- 
577,  582,  60S,  614,  618,  633,  645,  647- 
648 

"World,"  the,  567,  612,  619 

World,  end  of  the,  loi  ;  two  make  a, 
372;  of  fact,  53,  59;  of  light,  103; 
commerce,  36,  150;  philosophy,  33- 
34,  67,  79,  86,  96,  105,  553,  555,  558, 
563.  570,  610-612 _ 

"  World,  getting  on  in  the,"  578 

World,  the  other,  29,  31,  211-212,  221, 
255'  386-38S,  393,  469,  567 

Worship,  159,  239,  366,  534,  562-565, 
567-568,  615,  644 

Wrath,  of  superior  powers,  333;  of  God, 
213,  248,  300,  555,  608 

Writings,  Chinese  sacred,  549 

Writings,  edifying  concocted,  642 

Wullenweber,  524 

Wycliffe,  223,  531 

Xenophon, 360 
Xerxes,  109,  468 

Yakuts,  25,  84,  326,  422,  433,  461,  485, 

495 
Yama  and  Yami,  4S6 
Yayati,  641 
Yezidi  community,  620 


692 


FOLKWAYS 


Ynglinga  saga,  488 
Yoni,  546-547 
York,  411 

Young,  the,  67,  104,  153,  159,  191,  309, 
314,  322,  325,  335,  343,  648 

Zambesi,  140 


Zeal,  134,  219,  232,  242,   248,   252,  460, 

611,  625,  629,  644-645 
Zefid  Avesta,  418,  486,  558 
Zeus,  364,  425,  452,  467,  487 
Zoroastrian  religion,  159,  339,  480,  510- 

512,  514 
Zulus,  265,  422,  430 


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